No longer recievable on here in Stouffville, even with a VHF antenna. That low ERP isn't going to cut it. It appears it's a major reduction in their service contour. They need to go back to 18 where I had no issues at all.

I'm getting it in Stouffville. I added a Y5713 antenna last summer(?) in anticipation of CTV/CHCH going VHF, as well as WNGS. It's on my mast aligned with the aim of my 4221.

I usually keep the rotor pointing more towards Rochester (150'), as it doesn't lose any locals (TOR/BUF/HAM), and gets Rochester sometimes (including 10 & 13 since adding the VHF antenna).

Since the switch by CH today, I can no longer get the station unless I swing around to 170'. The 4221 has a nice wide beamwidth (great when CH on 18), which my VHF Hi Yagi apparently doesn't come close to.

I was wondering If I should temp. do away with the VHF antenna, to test the 4221 on 11, but judging by other peoples posts, there doesn't seem much point.

If there's any chance of them jumping on that RF35 xmitter that CTS is leaving, they should nab it.

P.S. Mediaportal can't add the station in. The scan pauses on 11 for a while, and then says nothing found (in stream) - not no signal. Must be something wrong in their stream that Mediaportal doesn't like.

It was always marginal here with the adjacent flame 12 CHEX, I had to point right at it. I was hopeful of some improvement. So now it’s nothing.

I guess if I am in CHCH fringe now even a CS5 would not help only yagi.. glad that I did not shell out yet :)

According to the signal map on the CHCH website, I'm supposed be be right in the middle of the 60dB range and have great reception. And I did right up till today. Yesterday I had the digital channel crystal clear. Today I don't even get it with glitches. I have no signal at all. I have a new TV and a new VHF-ready in-house antenna, and have scanned and re-scanned my channels and nothing. :confused:
Not happy here.

This sounds similar to what i experience with the U.S stations that moved back to VHF hi down here in the SW corner of the province.
Analog looked real good but the vhf-hi digitals, while appearing rock solid in the 80-100 percent range, were actually "brittle" and easily effected by any electrical noise, but mostly from lightning.

Then again, I am a good distance from these stations (77-110 km) so those living closer to the tower should have better reliability in this regard.

I'd say if anyone saw good amounts of static on the analog VHF side when there was lightning interference or sparklies in the picture could have random dropouts now in digital.

Best of luck everyone!

Is there any chance CHCH switched over early to help out TVO? TVO is switching on their Digital Channel 18 transmitter tonight at 1AM in London right?

Was anyone in London able to receive the old CHCH RF18?

I can see the signal of CHCH on ch11 with my spectrum analyzer although the signal strength is good, the noise level here is just too high to recieve it. SNR is low. Maybe I need a good outdoor yagi aimed in their direction to recieve it with a lock.

About the best comparison I can come up with here so far,
previously CBLT & CHCH were roughly the same SNR wise here, give or take a dB or 2.
Here's a snapshot from the 4th Tuner here, which reports SNR in dB (divide by 10 obviously).
Finally was able to get it to lock for a bit...

CBLT-DT UHF 20

status SCVYL | signal -813 | snr 175 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -813 | snr 175 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -808 | snr 180 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -808 | snr 180 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -808 | snr 180 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK


CHCH-DT VHF 11

~ $ femon -a1
FE: Samsung S5H1409 QAM/8VSB Frontend (ATSC)
status SCV | signal -848 | snr 140 | ber 0 | unc 0 |
status | signal -848 | snr 140 | ber 0 | unc 0 |
status SCVYL | signal -833 | snr 155 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -833 | snr 155 | ber 5927 | unc 5927 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -833 | snr 155 | ber 366 | unc 366 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -833 | snr 155 | ber 524 | unc 524 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -828 | snr 160 | ber 61 | unc 61 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -833 | snr 155 | ber 117 | unc 117 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCV | signal -838 | snr 150 | ber 532 | unc 532 |
status | signal -863 | snr 125 | ber 2508 | unc 2508 |
status | signal -853 | snr 135 | ber 0 | unc 0 |

So, in a nutshell I'd guess lost ~ 3 to 5 dB in performance.
Which for me is just enough to keep the usb stick tuner from locking.
Not unexpected I guess...

Edit: And a couple hours later, as all the man made trash in VHF calms down, it's actually
better than CBLT...

CHCH-DT VHF 11
~ $ femon -a1
FE: Samsung S5H1409 QAM/8VSB Frontend (ATSC)
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 210 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -773 | snr 215 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK

CBLT-DT UHF 20
~ $ femon -a1
FE: Samsung S5H1409 QAM/8VSB Frontend (ATSC)
status SCVYL | signal -788 | snr 200 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -783 | snr 205 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -783 | snr 205 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -788 | snr 200 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -788 | snr 200 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -783 | snr 205 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -788 | snr 200 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK
status SCVYL | signal -788 | snr 200 | ber 0 | unc 0 | FE_HAS_LOCK

Since dinner time, I have not been able to view CHCH rf11 digital even with my combo yagi antenna. It is pointed at Buffalo, not Toronto/Hamilton. Perhaps the rain? Anyway, it proves that if one wants to lock-on to CHCH 11 digital from Toronto, one will have to go pretty much all out with a proper outdoor vhf antenna aimed correctly at the transmitter.

I'll probably get my rotator next week.

I have an attic mounted (aimed at Buffalo) CM4221 with a CM7777, feeding a CM3414 distribution - that I have been getting 18RF and 11RF from for the last 6 months. I have really just been catching the two CHCH channels - "from the side" of that antenna, as Buffalo is really about 85 or 90 degrees from the Stoney Creek tower. I'd say that 11RF is no worse for quality (for me at least) than 18RF.

11.1(11 RF) seems ok, but hovering 18.8dB > 19.6 SNR on a Samsung panel here.


I'd rather not invest in additional hardware, and ensure success with the WAF (wife acceptance factor) - it needs to "work like cable". This means no rotator, and few drop outs. I suppose that I just need to let this shake loose a bit....

Watched Goodfellas on a solid CHCH signal last night... 0% tonight.

I re-scanned the PAL-DVR, no luck.

I read some of the posts here and I was getting worried. I Checked CHCH analog and yup its gone. Punched in channel 11 on the digital..... nothing. Did a rescan and yup...there she be ... nice solid signal. So my next question was now than 11 analog is gone did it effect reception of my fox 29 from Buffalo? It was always borderline for me to get. Much to my surprise... came booming in just like the guys on this site suggested it would happen once CH was gone. I'll keep checking it over the next few days to make sure its not just the weather affecting it but so far I'm liking this.

marknmel, A CM7777 and a distribution amp is overkill for me here in Kitchener, never mind Burlington. I wouldn't be surprised if this combination is causing some issues for you.

Is there any chance CHCH switched over early to help out TVO?

No. The digital equipment (formerly used on channel 18) is needed in Ottawa for the CHCH conversion there.

Also are FM traps sold separately or are they only included with pre-amps?


They are sold separately. In Toronto, I believe Tin Lee (http://www.tinlee.com) sells them.

I'd rather not invest in additional hardware, and ensure success with the WAF (wife acceptance factor) - it needs to "work like cable". This means no rotator, and few drop outs. I suppose that I just need to let this shake loose a bit....

Yup! In today's household, usually there are multiple Tv's being watched at any given time. It is highly unlikely that two different TVs are being tuned by the viewers to watch the same channel at the same time, which means that using a rotor to aim an antenna is the least desirable solution.

That narrows the options down to have either multiple ganged antennas fixed aim at the various markets or a single omni-directional antenna.

These are the options:

Have a highly directional antenna with a rotor and re-aim it when you change channels.
[best for distance]

Have a multiple-ganged [fixed] antenna array to cover each broadcast market.
[no rotor required, but self defeating gain losses from combining the antenna feeds and risk of self inflicted multipath issues]

Have an omni-directional antenna to generally cover the entire local 360° broadcast market.
[settle for reception of what channels are within your local reach]


The most important factor with any antenna setup is to get your antenna outdoors and mounted at an appropriate height to achieve LOS.
__________________________________

So the bottom line is that we can't always blame the broadcaster. We have to sometimes accept that we can't always have our cake and eat it too:(

BTW, this morning, while listening to the news on CKOC, I heard them mention the switch today.

I'm in waterloo and usually never had a problem receiving CHCH-DT when it was on RF18. Now I'm getting 0 percent signal when trying on RF11. This is on both my TV and tuner card in my PC. I've done a full rescan on both and nothing.

I'm using a CM4228 with a CM7777 preamp. I could receive the analog channel 11 fine, it was snowy, but still came in....

Yesterday CHCH was at 18-22 percent depending on the rain yesterday. Today it's at 30-34% during rain. Hope it'll be higher tomorrow. Looks like the old VHF antenna left on the roof is doing it's job. I'm in St.Kitts btw. I'm hoping people are using vhf antennas....I know alot of people just have the uhf antenna mounted in my area and are probably cursing the wind...

I think we will find that the bow tie does not cut it for VHF