Now that 15 from Buffalo is off-the-air, I have been getting a very good signal of Star Ray TV on UHF 15 analog for the last few weeks. When the antenna is pointed at Main & Gerrard, I get a perfect analog picture.
Do we have confirmation that WBNF-CA (WNYB analog repeater in Buffalo) has gone off-air permanently?

I have no idea about rf15 from Buffalo. I'm just glad it's gone for now so I can add Star Ray TV to my list of reliable stations. But Star Ray must be very weak to be only about four kilometers from my house and yet be overpowered by rf15 WBNF.

there is nothing new in the fcc's "correspondence folder" for that station, if that means anything?

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/corrp_list.pl?Facility_id=14326

There application to flashcut includes a new directional antenna away from Canada which provides much better protection to Sun in Hamilton.

rob50312: Do you have a link to that information?

Info from FCC TV querry for WBNF.Ignore Special start up as the STA was cancelled by WBNF.Look in application and at bottom the usual pages of techical stuff.

HWP, if Ch 13 from Kitchener getting to Buffalo is any indication of present VHF Hi conditions, It's barely coming in here now (snowy B&W picture with sound). Normally doesn't get here at all. On the other hand I've seen CH 9 from Toronto, and CH 11 from Hamilton much stronger in the past. Doesn't look like anything extreme in the Hepburn forecast either. So, in a nutshell, to me doesn't look like any extraordinary VHF propagation, based on what I'm seeing from this end.
may be a positive sign for your optimisation efforts???

I had WNGS last night--very strong. So strong, that I rotated over to Cleveland to see if I could get channel 8--no luck there.

Last night I've been testing the signal on the channels I had no luck before. To my surprise, channel 23 (51.1-3) came in strong. It is still on as of this mourning! Now I have channels 51-1 to 51-3 running without a hitch. Is it due to the increase in the transmitter power? I certainly hope so.

...to me doesn't look like any extraordinary VHF propagation, based on what I'm seeing from this end.
may be a positive sign for your optimisation efforts???

I certainly hope you're right! I didn't change the aim all that much, so I'm still sceptical. Let's hope it's a reliable channel from now on!

By the way, since you're in Buffalo, could you keep us updated on what you're getting on your TV for rf15 WBNF Buffalo? On TV Fool, rf 15 Buffalo shows up as a digital channel 15.1.

Since the analog has completely disappeared for me here in Toronto, I'm curious to find out if Buffalo 15 is gone-for-good for us.

By the way, since you're in Buffalo, could you keep us updated on what you're getting on your TV for rf15 WBNF Buffalo?

I haven't seen it since people first started reporting SUN TV suddenly working for them. It's never been a particularly clean signal here, but I think it's safe to say it hasn't been transmitting (i.e. it's not here at all). I've even seen some blips of Sun 15 myself, so there can't possibly be any analog RF 15 signal radiating from it presently.
Just a theory / hunch, maybe it's antenna suffered some weather damage? Does anyone have the date it first went AWOL? We can probably dig back thru weatherunderground history to see if any inclement weather was in the area around the same time?
We haven't heard of anything "official" from anywhere, thru any other means.

That big storm, with high winds came through on Wed. June 8th. It took out power for 10,000's at the east end of Lake Ontario. Maybe their transmitter got taken out then.

Dunno, mere speculation on my part, but plausible. The site looks like it's on Grand Island, near WUTV. Woulda been fairly close to that storm?
If ur thinkin of the freaky one that went thru Niagara/Hamilton region where they were investigating if it was a Tornado, I saw nothing that day down here further south. The first post in this thread regarding the AWOL signal was on June 13th, post # 217

Is channel 15 LP back up in Buffalo?
Last night I had good signal on 15.1 Hamilton, but no service--which typically occurs either when the LP station in Buffalo is coming in, or WEWS-DT Ohio is bursting over....

Jase88, Just checked, still nobody home on 15 here.

Thanks, Majortom. It must have been WEWS-DT.

Finally, WBNF-CA has been granted a Construction Permit from the FCC to fire up a their digital channel with a new directional antenna on CH-15 which will broadcast 3 sub-channels and an increase in ERP to 15KW. It will broadcast a pattern of North, South and to the East with little signal to the west to protect CKXT in Hamilton.

I take it that it isnt live...

It's not live yet, i checked, but i think it will be very soon. This is an interesting one, because it's the only station that I've seen that actually got an increase in ERP and remained on the same channel. Their analog was 9.2 KW, and digital is 15 KW but directional. I'm hoping this one will work at my location since their analog was quite clear, and WNYB is only tropo at my location now.

Do you think we'll get it in Toronto? I'd give up my pirate analog 15 Star Ray TV in exchange for three more digital channels. But I wonder what those three channels might be of...