Sorry, I keep forgetting that we are also on 11 in Ottawa.
As Roger posted, Ottawa will be later than Aug 1 as the current channel 18 Hamilton DTV transmitter must be re-tuned for use in Ottawa which cannot be done until we flash cut Hamilton on channel 11 and shut 18 down. We also must wait until our Ottawa post channel assignment (22) is vacated by its' current user.
Sparx

Thanks Roger. The wait seems to last forever! I can't wait to get CHCH in digital here in Ottawa because right now the station looks horrible in analog mode. I cannot watch it at all. It's way too snowy. Yet digital channels transmitted from the same tower come in perfectly for me. I'm really anxious to see CHCH, Global, and CTV go digital here in Ottawa. Since Sun TV removed all of the good shows, digital TV has not been as good in this region.

Hey Sparky2k,

What about target dates for other CHCH channels going digital? It looks like sometime in August. I'm mostly interested in the already "Authorized" by IC in London (Alvinston) CHCH-DT-2 on channel 51.

BCF, go back a page to Post #199 and the following few posts.

According to Stampeder's mirror of the Industry Canada database (http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/Canada_TV_Stations/DT.html), the CRTC has approved the post-transitional DTV station for CFTU (Canal Savoir) Montreal.

Montrėal; ch. 29; CFTU-DT; 453010 lat.; -733653 long.; 208.5 m HAAT; 450 watts max.; 387 watts avg.

The co-ordinates correspond to the current transmission site at the Université de Montréal. The higher HAAT (compared to analog) seems to be a mathematical correction, as the antenna remains 91 metres above ground level.

I found this on NTV's website:

http://www.ntv.ca/news/hd

They'll shut down the channel 6 St. John's transmitter some time in July and fire up the channel 21 UHF transmitter some time in August. So no OTA coverage and in theory no simsubs for St. Johns for a few days/weeks this summer.

Wow that is the first time hearing of an OTA Outtage in order to perform the upgrades.

^^^^
From that web site:
but HD compliant antennas work best

What does "HD compliant mean"? A TV antenna is a TV antenna. There is nothing about them that makes one "HD compliant". As always you need one that provides sufficient gain on the desired channels. It's no different than analog. However, according to what I read, viewer may need to replace a VHF antenna with a UHF one. Perhaps they should say that, rather than "HD compliant".

Not that unusual, I don't think. It happened during the transition in the U.S.
I figure it should happen quite a bit in Canada, especially for stations that are changing frequencies and need to replace an antenna while maintaining the same antenna height on the station's broadcast tower.

I think it is just easier to say HDTV compliant because many ANTs are marketed that way HDTV Ready etc. Playing off that logo that you see on products.

Yep, those kinds of shutdowns are pretty rare but have to be done when the possibility of RF danger to the workers is present as they do the upgrades.

As for the "HD compliant antenna" part... :rolleyes: sigh... some strange ideas just never go away, even after years and years of correction and rebuttal.

The only argument I have heard about "HD antennas" that makes any sense at all is they are designed to provide a more uniform gain throught each channel's 6MHz band. This isn't necessary for NTSC transmissions, but I would say it is uncomon for antennas to have signficant gain variations within a single channel.

^^^^
Given that most consumer antennas are wide band, covering all of UHF, VHF high, VHF low bands, or some combination, how does that happen. It might be an issue with high gain, single channel antennas. It sounds like that "argument" came from someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, such as a sales clerk, or worse in marketing.

If you look at a CM4228's gain chart for VHF-High, you can see some wildly skewed gain on some channels.

Anyone have a switch-over date for this station. I checked their website and emailed: bpollock@checknews.ca, and rgermain@checknews.ca ... both of which bounced back.

Anyone have a switch-over date for this station. I checked their website and emailed: bpollock@checknews.ca, and rgermain@checknews.ca ... both of which bounced back.
Because cheknews.ca has only one "c", not two.

According to their website (http://www.cheknews.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82&Itemid=108), try info@cheknews.ca

after removing the 2nd c I heard back from CHEK...nothing newsworthy however the response being by 8-31-11...really!

I found this on NTV's website:

http://www.ntv.ca/news/hd

They'll shut down the channel 6 St. John's transmitter some time in July and fire up the channel 21 UHF transmitter some time in August. So no OTA coverage and in theory no simsubs for St. Johns for a few days/weeks this summer.
NTV has their current TV antenna's at the very top of their tower, and I assume they'll be taking advantage of that height which is the reason for going off-air to perform upgrades.

Their 100,000 watt FM station is also on that tower -- I assume they'll need to lower the power on that while working. So all of their broadcasts will be impacted in some way.

An interesting thing, being on Channel 6 means NTV's audio can be dialed in on 88.7 MHz on FM Radios. This is something they even advertise on NTV. This will exist no more after the switch!

I'll do my best to get some pictures of the work being performed.. not sure how long it will take so can't make any promises.. they could finish quickly before I even notice!

Does the radio station share an antenna with the TV station (possible with channel 6) or does it have it's own? If shared are they moving it lower on the tower? I would have thought they would want radio at the top.

OZ FM (no other stations with the same coordinates as NTV) from W9WI FM database:
St John's , NF [94.7C] CHOZ-FM 100.000/100.000 226.00/226.00 47-31-36.00N 52-42-46.00W CA-OP rock

CJON-TV from W9WI
t John's , NF [6] CJON-TV 212.800 250.10 +dH 47-31-36.00N 52-42-46.00W S-OP NTV
CJON-DT from W9WI (but the channel number is wrong, so perhaps this data is incoreedct. I'll have to check my copy of the IC dB later...)
St John's , NF [42] CJON-DT 250.000 300.00 H 47-31-36.00N 52-42-46.00W VL-AL NTV

So it looks like the antennas are at different heifghts.