... as I [disappointingly but not surprisingly] assume will be the case for all CTV stations.
Y'know, I bet BHell Media's intent is to wait until the eleventh hour so they can run as many of those "quick, subscribe to Bell TV!!" PSA/commercials as possible! :mad:

I don't expect CTV Southwestern Ontario's newscast to even acknowledge when Baden finally switches to ATSC since surely that will just be an invitation for complaints when viewers realize there's no plan to have any local HD content at all.

Whoa, let's not get carried away.
Where technically possible/economically feasible, CTV has made the transition ahead of time.
Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal all saw their CTV stations come on the air in digital format during the transition period.
A deadline is a deadline is a deadline. No one was obliged to start before then. Stations should not be faulted for waiting until the deadline — as much as we all wished *every* TV broadcaster in the country had come on the air in the transitional period.

I really don't expect much to happen until August 30th
The next big one will be Global. They are supposed to be transitioning...well at least Toronto, this Thursday. Shutting off their 41 analog, and moving their digital 65 to 41, and upping their ERP.

CTV will be the true test for me...and possibly one that CH is going to be monitoring. Will an ERP of 10kW perform THAT MUCH better than a 6kW signal? My gut tells me, I'm going to be one of the ones commenting on a lost signal.

CTV will be the true test for me...and possibly one that CH is going to be monitoring. Will an ERP of 10kW perform THAT MUCH better than a 6kW signal? My gut tells me, I'm going to be one of the ones commenting on a lost signal.Especially since they are moving from channel 40 to channel 9. How well will we be able to receive that channel with a UHF antenna? I am in Scaborough and I have trouble with CFTO-DT today.

CFTO 9RF analog has always been my strongest channel. I'm not expecting 10kw to make the grade. If it does, it will most likely be on the cliff and not worth watching the pixelations and dropouts half way through a program.

CFTO-DT has always been my least reliable signal. Not sure why, but I assume that it's my setup as it's supposed to be a strong signal.

Once they migrate to RF9 I'll either get it or I won't. If CFTO can't be bothered to deliver a decent signal, I'll get my TV from the US.

Signal on 40 is weak. USA will always be our fallback if we are close enough.

What you now have on CTV 40RF is irrelevent to the end result of the transition. Let's compare apples to apples. CFTO on 40.1 is only a low power pre-transitional test channel.

The real transition is from the current analog CTV broadcast on 9RF to digital CTV on 9RF. From what we've experienced so far, I'm expecting to see many that will entirely lose CFTO reception when the analog shuts down.

Don't believe those old contour maps that were required for license renewal applications. Those contour maps are bogus maps based on the current analog contour, which apparently means very little once they kill the strong analog signal to transition to digital.

CTV use to be one of the most reliable channels, although lately it hasn't been coming in that well.

It's hard to say how well it will come in after the transition because although they're going to a lower power they're also going to be on low VHF. According to TV Fool I should be able to get it fairly well. So I'm really going to have to wait and see.

CTV ...although they're going to a lower power they're also going to be on low VHF. ..Techincally they are on VHF Hi (174-216MHz) which is the band from channels 7-13. VHF Lo is channels 2-6 (54-72 and 76-88 ). The 88MHz band of Channel 6 somewhat overlaps with FM radio. In fact, I can remember picking up the audio from GlobalTV Channel 6 on my car radio.

Channel 6 does not overlap with FM radio per se. Channel 6 ends just before 88 MHz. FM starts at 88.1 MHz. It's just that most FM radios tune down to at least 87.7, and the FM subcarrier for analog audio for channel 6 is at 87.75 MHz.

Note that after Global Paris converts to digital, all you will hear is fuzz, which is what a digital ATSC signal sounds like when decoded by an AM or FM demodulator. There will no longer be an FM subcarrier at 87.75.

Okay, I have to eat a few of my words since they mentioned the digital transition on tonight's newscast... ;)

But... another unbelievably confusing article (http://swo.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110822/ctv-swo-digital-satellite-shaw-110822/20110822/?hub=SWOHome) on their website... :eek:

As required by the CRTC, the station has upgraded its transmitters to digital.
-- "transmitters" plural??? umm, no

Here (http://swo.ctv.ca/linksandnumbers)'s where you can find CTV Southwestern Ontario:
Digital Over-the-Air: 7
Rogers Cable: 12 and 109
Shaw Direct: 375 (Classic) / 67 (Advanced)
-- DTV channel 7??? I thought they were abandonning that and flash-cutting on their existing channel 13?!!!

**Edit: After pointing out the mistake, they corrected at least one mention of channel 7...

That is a factual error in the article: CKCO will not be using channel 7. According to my source today at CKCO, the station's digital transmitter will go into service 23-August-2011, and broadcast in analog until 00:01 August 31, 2011, when it will commence broadcast in digital.

CKCO was assigned RF 7 for testing. You know run parallel Analog and DTV systems. But after the august 31 it was reassigned to
RF 13.

If fact, only the biggest markets in Canada got the honour of Parallel Analog & Digital service.

Read ya l8r,
Al

That is a factual error in the article: CKCO will not be using channel 7. According to my source today at CKCO, the station's digital transmitter will go into service 23-August-2011, and broadcast in analog until 00:01 August 31, 2011, when it will commence broadcast in digital.


The station will actually only be testing its digital transmitter overnight Wednesday Aug 24 from 1am to 5am. It won't run concurrently with the analog signal.

They fixed it to show digital OTA on channel 13

http://swo.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110822/ctv-swo-digital-satellite-shaw-110822/20110822/?hub=SWOHome
Here's where you can find CTV Southwestern Ontario:
Digital Over-the-Air: 13
Rogers Cable: 12 and 109
Shaw Direct: 375 (Classic) / 67 (Advanced)

I didn't mean to imply that the digital signal and analog signal would be running concurrently. That obviously won't be the case.

The A, err I mean CTV Two stations still say "by August 31st". I'm guessing they will wait until last minute.

The A, err I mean CTV Two stations still say "by August 31st". I'm guessing they will wait until last minute.
Yup. I can barely wait.. I mean what's the harm in doing your "switch" a few days before and make it better by August 31st. I'm pretty sure lots of DTV stations will have stupid problems like having incorrect PSIP/whatever... It'll take them some time to fix that. They better not have issues.

Just In!! CKCO 13 is coming in digital. Picked it up with at 20dB on my one TV. Was anyone expecting this?

This is from the Hamilton West Mountain...I think off my Scatter Forager antenna. This may bold well for RF9. Will have to see if it drops during the day.