I would like to all the stations power up so I can depend on that rather than a crane.... now how do I put that into context in a letter?
I need repeaters - prolem solved eccept for one thing ain't going to happen arrrr

Has Global HD dropped out for anyone else? happened during House at about 8:15. CBC, KVOS, and CTV are all coming in with above average signal strength.

And now it's back at about 9:15.

I've just had some terrific news confirmed by people in the know regarding CIVT-DT 33.1 in Vancouver:


CTV has been aware for quite some time of the dissatisfaction amongst viewers of their very low ERP on 33.1
CTV applied to the CRTC for a license change to do a major power boost on 33.1
a new Rhode & Schwartz transmitter has been installed on Mt. Seymour beside the original one, already configured and ready to go
NOTE: transmitter power does not mean ERP, it is the power from the transmitter before the antenna's multiplication factors, so:

the new transmitter's power is between 320 and 350 watts at the transmitter end instead of the original one's 15 watts
the 15 watt transmitter level (giving a maximum ERP of 900 watts) had been set by Industry Canada many years ago and has frustrated CTV people all along
this doesn't mean that the new ERP will be between 320-divided by-15-times-900 and 350-divided by-15-times-900, it is more complicated than that due to antenna factors
they are expecting the CRTC to allow between 25Kw and 30Kw ERP to cover their A Contour
regardless of the actual number, the expected ERP will be very competitive with CBUT-DT and CHAN-DT
CRTC approval is expected some time in the next 2 months
no change yet in the Industry Canada database entry for CIVT-DT's maximum ERP
when they get the green light they will flash cut to the new transmitter at the earliest opportunity
regarding HD programming or ATSC data stream CTV Vancouver is not a dummy satellite of a central hub
CTV Vancouver is a self-contained HD production facility that injects its own data into its ATSC stream after recording network programming from its own sources that include CTV in Toronto
regarding KPWX, research by IC and the FCC has proven that no interference will be experienced between channels 32 and 33 so that is now a dead issue
regarding A Channel Victoria's digital plans for 23.1, no information is available at this time

So for those of you hoping for stronger CIVT-DT 33.1 signal your wait is almost over - we should see the new power level come up some time before December. :)

Great News!!!!

This news is really great I'm looking forward to being able to pick up CTV on a much more consistent basis.

That's great news!! I thought I'd go to bed grumpy but now I've got something to look forward to! Wonders never cease...

Point of confusion though: various sources rated CIVT's present output at either 319W (CRTC app) or 0.9kW (nwbroadcasters) - was that pre-antenna output, and which was right? Now you're talking about 320/15 (future/present pre-antenna ERP?)? I get that the antenna multiplies the applied power by a certain factor, so I guess my confusion is what is the difference (ERP & AF) between what we get now and what they're hoping to bring online soon? I know this is good news...but how good is I guess what I'm asking. Is this 25kW scheduled for September 2011 after the analogue shutdown? Either way, I'm so thrilled I may just become excited! Why yes, I am smiling.

Once it comes online I think anyone who complained as well as anyone who notices or appreciates the difference should write in and express their satisfaction. Throw them some love after putting up with a lot of whining!

lordhelmet, a transmitter's power is rated at its output with a dummy load, but when an antenna is hooked up there are many factors that determine the ERP and the Contour of the signal. This is where antenna engineering comes in.

Intuitively we might think that since the original transmitter power is 15 watts with maximum ERP of 900 watts and the new one is at least 320 watts that we can just divide 320 by 15 and then multiply that number by 900 to get what we think a new ERP figure ought to be: (320/15)900 = 19,200 watts = 19.2 kilowatts
(350/15)900 = 21,000 watts = 21 kilowatts
Nope. This is where the RF Engineering voodoo happens. ;)

Sometime in the next 2 months the CRTC (from what my sources tell me) will approve the transmitter swap, at which point CIVT-DT will immediately cut over from their 15 watt transmitter to the new 320-to-350 watt transmitter. The expected approval is for an ERP in the range of 25 to 30 kilowatts.

No matter what the final figure turns out to be, my sources say that people in the Lower Mainland should see equivalent coverage and signal quality of CBC HD, Global HD, and CTV HD.

I am wondering if the crane will start to glow at night :)

I had my doubts about getting any reply on this I admit I am surprized and pleased.

Now that M-Channel is officialy OMNI do you think we'll see rogers fire up the DTV on seymour?

Another quick question does anyone know why I loose DTV reception around 7:30-9:30 weekday nights. CBC and Global routinely drop out during this time. KVOS and KBCB are always unaffected. This is a really annoying problem and I would like to know if there is a simple fix for it.

Does the signal drop off from 730 to 900pm until the next day?, or does it return later that night?

It almost always returns later in the evening ie it is gone for about 2 hours then it comes back.

Well
the one thing thats remains the signal is still there.

there must be a reason why the signal is weakened or somehow distorted during that time frame, noise other signals or a atmosphere change or combination or both.

I am able to loose a signal when it is weak border line locking just by turning on my satilite unit something it sends out when on is enough to loose the signal on both units the antenna is connected to. I say that just to show there are many wierd things that may not be easy to sort out very easily how ever with a strong signal this has no noticeable effect on the units,

Thanks for your help. Hopefully I will be able to sort out this problem soon. I am trying to get a hold of a better antenna so hopefully the improved signal strength will eliminate this problem.

Would it matter if you have two towers transmitting the same info on the same channel? I would assume that if you live in an overlap area, your receiver would just lock onto the stronger of the two signals whenever you tune to that channel.

Regarding Ch 11's change to physical channel 11, they are doing some testing now. I read the schedule and the next tests are on the following Mondays:
Oct 27th, 2-4 am
Nov. 24th 2-4 am
Dec. 22nd 2-4 am
At those times they will shut down their analog Ch11 and digital Ch36 transmitters and only broadcast Digital Ch11 (remapped to 11.1, as usual)

For the test, the total power output will be 12.5kw, which I know is low for Canadians. But you may be interested to know that the 12.5kw output will remain in place until at least 4/1/09, when they return to 100kw output. So, if you are getting digital Ch11 from Seattle now, you may see a 2 month or so interruption come 2/17/09.

Would it matter if you have two towers transmitting the same info on the same channel? I would assume that if you live in an overlap area, your receiver would just lock onto the stronger of the two signals whenever you tune to that channel.

There have been some experiments with this. The two towers would have to be synchronized to ensure their transmissions are occurring at exactly the same time. It also relies on the multipath canceling algorithm in the decoder chip. It would work well for those with 5th or 6th generation decoders but could be problematic for those with older decoder chips.

Not to be overly obsessive or annoying or anything like that, but is there any progress on CIVT switching over to the higher-power transmitter? Is there a CRTC case # or something I can track by?

Due to CanWest Global's worsening financial situation the head office in Winnipeg laid off 18 Victoria staffers, including on air personnel, all during a lunchtime meeting.

I think CHEK will just be another robot station. Global in Burnaby already does much of the production work for CHEK, so I imagine they'll just run it 100% remotely.

Remember when CHEK was a great station with a look and feel all its own? It is not much of anything now.

The following TV channels are broadcasting into the South Coast of BC and northern Washington State.

Please do not assume that you can automatically get them all from your specific location. See the helpful discussion links at the bottom of this post.

Digital:

Displayed Channel(s) | Actual Channel(s) | Call Sign | Network | City

2.1 58.1 CBUT-DT CBC Vancouver, BC
4.1 38.1 KOMO-DT ABC Seattle, WA
5.1 48.1 KING-DT NBC-HD Seattle, WA
5.2 48.2 KING-DT NBC-SD Seattle, WA
7.1 39.1 KIRO-DT CBS Seattle, WA
7.2 39.2 KIRO-DT RTN Seattle, WA
8.1 22.2 CHAN-DT GLOBAL Vancouver, BC
9.1 41.1 KCTS-DT PBS Seattle, WA
9.2 41.2 KCTS-DT V-ME Seattle, WA
9.3 41.3 KCTS-DT CREATE Seattle, WA
11.1 36.1 KSTW-DT CW Seattle, WA
12.1 35.1 KVOS-DT IND Bellingham, WA
13.1 18.1 KCPQ-DT FOX Tacoma, WA
13.2 18.2 KCPQ-DT WTHR Tacoma, WA
16.1 31.1 KONG-DT IND Everett, WA
16.2 31.2 KONG-DT IND Everett, WA
20.1 14.1 KTBW-DT TBN Tacoma, WA
20.2 14.2 KTBW-DT TBN Tacoma, WA
20.3 14.3 KTBW-DT TBN Tacoma, WA
20.4 14.4 KTBW-DT TBN Tacoma, WA
20.5 14.5 KTBW-DT TBN Tacoma, WA
22.1 25.1 KMYO-DT My Seattle, WA
24.1 19.1 KBCB-DT IND Bellingham, WA
28.1 27.1 KBTC-DT PBS Tacoma, WA
28.2 27.2 KBTC-DT CREATE Tacoma, WA
28.3 27.3 KBTC-DT PBS Tacoma, WA
28.4 27.4 KBTC-DT PBS Tacoma, WA
32.1 33.1 CIVT-DT CTV Vancouver, BC
45.1 44.1 KHCV-DT AZTCA Seattle, WA
45.2 44.2 KHCV-DT AZTCA Seattle, WA
45.3 44.3 KHCV-DT AAT Seattle, WA
45.4 44.4 KHCV-DT AMG Seattle, WA
50.1 50.1 KUNS-DT UNVSN Bellevue, WA

Analogue:

Channel | Call Sign | Network | City

2 CBUT CBC Vancouver, BC
4 KOMO ABC Seattle, WA
5 KING NBC Seattle, WA
6 CHEK E! Victoria, BC
7 KIRO CBS Seattle, WA
8 CHAN GLOBAL Vancouver, BC
9 KCTS PBS Seattle, WA
10 CKVU IND Vancouver, BC
11 KSTW CW Seattle, WA
12 KVOS IND Bellingham, WA
13 KCPQ FOX Tacoma, WA
16 KONG IND Everett, WA
17 CIVI A Chan Vancouver, BC
20 KTBW TBN Tacoma, WA
22 KMYQ My Seattle, WA
24 KBCB IND Bellingham, WA
26 CBUFT SRC Vancouver, BC
32 CIVT CTV Vancouver, BC
42 CHNM OMNI Vancouver, BC
51 KUNS UNVSN Bellevue, WA
66 CHNU JOY Abbotsford, BC


Important note: although stations may be listed as broadcasting from the same city, their locations may be quite far apart, possibly requiring re-aim.

Discuss the status of these stations here: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=42734
Discuss your own reception results, problems, solutions, assistance, questions in the various BC threads in the Reception Results sub-forum:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=129