So after August, the analog OTA here in Cape Breton is gone for good, no chance of DTV ever getting here?:(

You're still going to have analogue OTA in Cape Breton. You can see on the following list of "Mandatory Markets" that the Halifax stations must transition to DTV. For Cape Breton and all other parts of Nova Scotia the analogue OTA repeaters will remain in operation indefinitely.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1080441&postcount=27

You can find the list of all Nova Scotia TV stations here:

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/Canada_TV_Stations/

In the future it will be up to the broadcasters and perhaps some future regulations as to whether they replace their remaining analogue transmitters with digital ones, but there is no such rule at this time.

I noticed a message on my Eastlink (Charlottetown) HD box this morning - CTV Toronto HD on Channel 602 will be replaced with CTV Moncton HD on May 12, 2011.

I'm assuming this is cable only for now - I could find no info about any CKCW-DT OTA transmitters coming online on this date.

Charlottetown transition info from the heritage canada DTV site (http://digitaltv.gc.ca/eng/1298735302506/1298735302550):

CBC Prince Edward Island (CBCT)
Analog Channel: 13
Digital Channel: 13
Transition Plan: Switching to digital, August 31, 2011

CTV Atlantic (CKCW-TV-1)
Analog Channel: 8
Digital Channel: 8
Transition Plan: Switching to digital, date to be determined

Radio-Canada (CBAFT-5)
Analog Channel: 31
Transition Plan: Shutting down, August 31, 2011

Global Maritimes (CIHF-TV-14)
Analog Channel: 42
Digital Channel: 42
Transition Plan: Switching to digital by August 31, 2011
Station Contact:
Telephone : 902-481-7400

Do anyone know about the Analog to Digital Convertion in Halifax, Saint John, PEI or Elsewhere in Nova Scotia, PEI and NB (Inculding Newfoundland)

What I want to know is when the digital tv signals going to be online to all or most areas in Nova Scotia.

----------------------------------

New Glasgow, NS (Analog until Aug 31 2011)

04 CBC Halifax
09 CTV Sidney
15 Radio Canada French
34 Global TV Halifax

Hey guys,

So I just redid my TVFool report for the apartment I'll be moving into in September that can be found here (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d001b52318bccd3)

It's South End Halifax, 19th floor, so I put 180 feet roughly.
Before I didn't get any good results, but now I'm seeing 4 channels (3,5,8,13) that are only 4 miles away and all at the same 280 degrees/

:D

@DefconZero: If you select "pending" in TV Fool, you should see only THREE digital television stations for Halifax: CBC (CBHT), CTV (CJCH) and Global (CIHF).
Digital stations are listed with blue type in the report. (Analog is purple type.)

Ah yes, you are correct!
Channels are 8, 39, and 48.

Good stuff!

all at the same 280 degrees

Uh... You *are* facing that direction right? :-)

Cameron

More or less, yes.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f91/DefconZero/apartment.jpg

In the above pic, the red dot is the location of my apartment, corner unit, 19th floor; green line is roughly where the signal is coming from. In both bedrooms there's definitely a clear view, worst case scenario I'd put the antenna outside the window.

Your angle is almost identical to our view of the CN Tower, and placing the CM4221HD on a patio umbrella stand in the corner of the room facing out the window at the CN Tower works fantastic here, so your idea will work.

Just be aware of metal screens in the window... They kinda blunt the signal a lot... :-) Thus, make sure the upper part of the window without screening is used.

Cameron

Yep, I will definitely look for that when we move in :).

I'll be making one of those simple DIY Biquad Antennas to test it out first, then see if I need to invest in something like you have.

I figure, the channels are being broadcast only ~4.0 miles away, so I should be able to pick them up with pretty much anything, given my height advantage.

I thought this was a good page:
http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/dtv/Halifax_CBC.shtml
A FAQ covering the switch from analog ch9 in Halifax to digital ch 39, on Aug 31. The transmission tower is in Clayton Park (suburb of Halifax). It's supposed to cover a large area of many miles.
There's been reports of test digital signals in Halifax already, but I can't pick up any of the existing analog channels even though I'm only 4 miles away. I'll have to make friends with someone on a hill with an HDTV, who's willing to let me mess in the back of the cabinet when I bring over an aerial :)

Has anyone seen digital tv in halifax yet? I'm curious to see it. I wish I could record the last moments of analog.

Hi guys:

I am a long time reader of the Digital forum and figured it was time to register as we (near St. John's, NL) are about to finally get digital OTA. The local NTV (CTV, Global affiliations), CH 6, has gone off the air for a few weeks to upgrade to HDTV on UHF 21. I have installed a new CM 2020 in the attic to replace an older VHF unit and am waiting for some digital signals (scanning every day for even test signals!) to check out my tuners (in monitors and new CM 7000PAL.

The other local station, CBC, CH 8, has not given any downtime announcements for going digital staying on CH 8, nor have they actually indicated HD....hopefully it will not be just digital SD.

There has not been too much distress noted by the loss of CH 6, maybe most people here are paying cable and I am in the small minority. I have learned lots from this forum in the past and if I have any problems with the transition, I am sure this is the place to be...

Here is to OTA HD
P.E.H.

Hey phannon.

As of this week NTV now has their old antennas removed from the tower, so I imagine in the near future they will be wiring up and mounting the new digital antennas, getting the digital transmitter installed, and then we should start seeing some test signals, nothing quite yet.

From what I understand, CBC will be flash cutting to digital on August 1. They are going to be using their current antenna. I believe their digital transmitter is on site now, and they are most likely doing offline testing, so we probably won't see any testing from them, it should become digital sometime around August 1. I also understand that they will not be going HD, just SD digital. I was hoping for more from them as I find their signal around St. John's not so great.

Can't wait to see NTV HD. They have a great team working on the upgrades and invested a lot into it, which I'm very happy about since they are a private broadcaster. Good for them!

Hi Wharfe

Nice to hear there is someone else in this area who is an OTA person.

I was afraid that CBC would cheap out and go SD, though I thought their digital push was for HD, at least in their general web statements and all the "available in HD" notices. I was also under the impression that the Canadian rules were for full HD and not a watered down version, but I guess CBC gets around it by going SD....a shame if it is true. Even if they remained SD for local news, etc. (still a cheap way out!) they should be able to transmit HD for network programming as it is virtually all now in HD!

The difference in the picture between channels should be quite noticeable with SD vs HD....assuming the NTV signal is good in my area...the analogue ch 6 could be quite noisy and weak when the transmitter "drifted" as it had been for the last couple months.

I can't wait to get some digital signal capture on the new antenna and see if I get good signal strength (pretty much straight line of sight to the transmitter area). I will do a scan every day, and was hoping for something by this week, but maybe next week....only having CBC is getting rather boring....

Is the CBC transition planned forAugust 1 or September 1....I figured they would wait for the last second....

Cheers,
P.E.H.

For most existing local CBC stations that are on the air in digital, SD digital for CBC seems to be the norm for local news programming only. Everything else (i.e. from the network) should be in HD.

All CBC News operations have been 16:9 widescreen digital for a long time (centre-cut for analog and 4:3 viewing). Only the large centers (i think only Toronto and Montreal (fr)) have HD newsrooms. But even if you watch a local report on their website it is all framed 16:9, just have to show that for local news then pass thru the HD feed the rest of the time.

Thanks for the information on the usual CBC practice. We should get HD on national feeds and only have local news in SD, but it should be 16x9. That is good to hear.

No signal from the NTV digital channel as of yet, still checking for test broadcasts (I hope they will do OTA testing). The channel is supposed to become active the first week of August. There should be a month of overlap with HD NTV vs SD CBC....should be interesting.

Cheers,
P.E.H.

im new to this digital thing, im trying to get ctv, and global back. i got a access hd converter box from wallmart and a lava hd 468 indoor antenna. according to tv fool it doesnt show digital for my area, but there should be?

i tried just putting antenna on top tv and did a scan finding nothing. i live right on the main street of liverpool, nova scotia about 3 storeys up. i did some googling to see that it neeeded to maybe be pointed right? how can i figure out howto easily point without a compass?

also should i have the amplifier on highest setting on the antenna all the time?

thxs so much, im pulling my hair out with all this change lol.

p.s. my tv fool report is below:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d03f30fc005519f