Terrific maps, GerryB! We owe you a big round of thanks for these. I downloaded them, put location names onto them, and put them back up here.

Clearly anyone living in the top third of a south-facing hi-rise near Metrotown in Burnaby will be getting booming signals from SeaTac with probably a small bowtie or yagi antenna on their balcony or maybe even indoors.

People living in all those new south-facing condos up at SFU will get booming SeaTac signals too!

Folks, just remember that this is a theoretical projection and that there are a variety of local factors that could create problems that aren't shown on these simulations. Trees, adjacent buildings, nearby RF or EM interference, etc. etc. can ruin what might otherwise be a steady digital lock.

Gerry, the Lower Mainland topology has more ups and downs than a Midol users convention. :)

Since the altitude range is within about 100m (sea level to Simon Fraser University not including mountainsides) the maps would tend to average out the altitudes of all depicted low-lying areas below 100m as being equal, wouldn't they?

If so, would it be too intensive a computational task to increase the granularity (to maybe even 5 meters)?

The altitude/elevation accuracy is 1 meter. When I said the CDED had a point accuracy of 100m I meant in the horizontal plane. So there is an elevation sample for every 300 feet north/south and again east/west. It's about as accurate as most of the mapping tools get.

Yes I agree there are a lot of ups and downs - I know that the model doesnt take buildings into account but Im pretty sure the latest CRC Predict DOES take into account the vegetation (like fir trees) - there is a variable in there for that - it's rough but it adds to the accuracy.

I'd be interested to know if people are getting results that are close to what the tool predicts.

But I'm like you in that I see it as a tool but not the definitive map. There are probably reflections off the sides of mountains between Vancouver and Seattle that would modify the results a bit. And then there's tropospheric activity that makes a difference depending on the day. Remember the curves are F(50,50) curves which means the signal is better 50% of the time and worse the other 50% of the time.

The altitude/elevation accuracy is 1 meter.Thanks, I was unclear about that. :rolleyes:

In my experience your maps are very accurate regarding the Lower Mainland, and I hope 4DTV HD will take a look at them and compare them to his lengthy experience in the TV reception business.

I caution anyone from making decisions without testing first. The maps are a huge help!

Someone up on Mount Seymour would seem to get the best signal of all. Would lead me to belive that people in Seattle have an easier time picking up Vancouver than the reverse. With all those amazing mountain tops I dont understand why the Sea-Tac stations would locate on some pathetic hill in the middle of the city.

I can say this the map shows me why I can get so many stations with just a slight skip condition and whu I get KCPQ mornings and evenings very often for a short time. As for the vhf they are even more in line with the map as I can get snowy Sea Tac stations with just the little fading in and out less determined by skip for that.

The fellow who did my site survey did mention Sea Tac signals weak but they are there none the less, As I use TS reader I can see parts of the signal even though there is no complete lock whisch is a great tool for seeing what active.

Would lead me to belive that people in Seattle have an easier time picking up Vancouver than the reverse.Some of the old analogues like CBUT and CHEK carry well down there but if you check through this thread there is a fellow who posts here from Bellingham who hardly ever gets Canadian digital station locks even just that distance.

Thanks for the maps Gerry. I overlayed the images into Google Earth, typed in my address and voila!

I'd also like to thank you for the maps, GerryB; Much appreciated!

Two of the Bellingham translator stations recieved contruction permits on December 26th for their digital stations.

Both stations are owned by Venture Technologies. One on channel 24 and the other on channel 34. Powers of 15 kW and 12 kW. Both directional towards Vancouver. I think these are the companions to analogue 38 and 65 (neither of which are operational.)

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=167292

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=167302

Channel 24 is occupied until Feb 2009 by the shopping channel that will stay on channel 19 digital.

I'm not holding my breath for these to go live.

Uh oh...

I just had a look at the contour map on the Channel 34 document and it is supposed to actually aim towards Port Townsend and Anacortes, about 160 degrees from Vancouver. At an ERP of 12kW I doubt we'd get anything strong in most parts of the Lower Mainland.

I don't think a contour map is available for Channel 24 yet.

Venture Technologies has been keeping us in suspense for a few years already with their various LP applications, so I'm also taking all this pretty casually.

I just had a look at the contour map on the Channel 34 document and it is supposed to actually aim towards Port Townsend and AnacortesYou're right. I saw a power of 1.00 at 0 degrees. I missed the 162 degree rotation on the antenna.

There is a deal in place that could possibly see KVOS-12 become a spanish station. Check out the article here: http://www.thebellinghambusinessjournal.com/december2007/kvos.php#

It doesn't seem to make sense for KVOS to go Spanish - a good portion of their advertising dollars come from Canada, wouldn't they loose that?

Any idea what physical channel Global will be broadcasting digital on?

I could see it working if they did multiple language broadcasts then it wouldd not cut off all the english only viewers? :eek:

There is a deal in place that could possibly see KVOS-12 become a spanish station. Check out the article here: http://www.thebellinghambusinessjournal.com/december2007/kvos.php#

I think a Spanish station will do better than what they have been doing.

They are a part of the Seattle DMA according to wikipedia:

According to the FCC, Bellingham is part of the Seattle market, and therefore is KVOS is officially a Seattle market station. However, while some viewers in the Seattle area are able to receive the station over the air, syndex rules have forced the station off the cable lineup in Seattle itself.

By going Spanish they should be able to go back on Seattle cable and satellite. Right now they are part of the Vancouver marked for syndicated / non-network programming. They cannot be on Seattle cable because another station has the rights to programs such as Seinfeld and whatever else they carry. If they switch I think the FCC will require ‘Mandatory Must Carry’ of their signal in Seattle. I can’t see the Canadian cable operators dropping the channel. Therefore they will get access to both markets!

Seattle has two Spanish stations now (KUNS Univision and KHCV Azteca America on a part time basis / full time basis on digital sub-channel). A third Spanish station may overcrowd the market. The 2000 US census had 321,000 persons who speak Spanish in Washington State – majority probably in Seattle or with access to Seattle TV (I can’t determine if this is total Spanish speakers or the total who speak Spanish at home.) I assume that this is a growing market in Seattle.

The 2006 census shows 58000 Spanish speakers in Vancouver and another 8000 in Victoria. I have noticed a sizable increase of Spanish speakers around town over the last number of years. The Canadian audience would be a bonus.

I don’t think that they are profitable right now playing seventh fiddle in the Vancouver English TV market. The new owners probably see the need to be included in the Seattle market. They probably would do worse in Seattle than Vancouver as an English station (there are at least nine English non-religious / non-shopping channels) so they probably decided for an alternate language. The Mandarin (?) station (KBCB) didn’t work out in Seattle. What else could they try? Looking at the US census I see no other language besides Spanish that would have to market and growth potential to try. Telemundo is probably looking for a Seattle affiliate anyways.

If they aren’t going HD maybe they can put something interesting on their sub-channels too!

The reason I was told from KBCB for the dropping of the Mandarin multicultural programming was as of the actions of the CRTC complaining infringement on the multicultural staions on cable here in BC.

That p....d me off as they had really good variety awh now I can order a great collection of top end ?

I see they now are having a sub now. 18.1 and 18.2

Is KCPQ-DT's second sub-channel carrying anything yet?

KCPQ-DT 13.02 carries weather similar to KING 5.02.
It's 'Q13 Fox First Forecast Channel', powered by Accu Weather.