Also, don't forget to contact Maine PBS to let them know where you live, and that you're interested in receiving their signals. Back in January, Maine PBS was considering shutting down their Calais transmitter WMED-DT for six months due to budget problems. Luckly that didn't happen. It's important for them to know that people are watching. And by knowing this, they just might request transmitter power increases with the FCC. This can only help everybody in NB that uses OTA for TV reception.

The same goes for all the other border stations.

Also, I was moving the red pointer on the FCC site maps (www.dtv.gov) around Grand Manam Island, and WLBZ-DT even poped up. That is the NBC affiliate in Bangor. I don't know how realistic that is though.

WVII-DT 7
http://www.wvii.com/contactinfo.html

WMED-DT 10 & WMEM-DT 10
http://www.mpbn.net/About/ContactMPBN/tabid/165/Default.aspx

WAGM-DT 8
http://www.wagmtv.com/contact.aspx

WLBZ-DT 2
http://www.wlbz2.com/company/contact/default.aspx

Thanks again, Blackburst -- you too, freaked.

I doubt that the NBC affiliate in Bangor's going to be a reality, not with the money I'm going to spend on this, anyhoo.

Really, I want some Canuck telly back. Tired of watching everything a week after the fact on the web. For instance, there was an interview with Dave Cronenburg on The Hour, the other night . . . would have loved to have seen it, but settled for a re-run of Seinfeld on US telly.

Hi,

I want to try and get some OTA HD and I live about 90km away from Halifax Nova Scotia (near Lunenburg) and was wondering what to expect to get, with a HDTV antenna? Also, what one should I get, will an indoor get the same quality as an outdoor? The whole antenna thing is all new to me.

Thanks,

Hi derrick1985, at this time there are only analogue stations in Nova Scotia. I've moved your post into the thread for your area of Canada so please read through it to get a better understanding of OTA there.

Here is a list of all Canadian OTA TV stations:

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

Also see the OTA FAQ:

TV Fool tells me that I should have a good signal from channel 61.1 on PEI.

Can anyone confirm that observation?

TV Fool tells me that I should have a good signal from channel 61.1 on PEI.

Can anyone confirm that observation?

Sorry, but for Canadian stations, TVFool does not differentiate between licensed, operating stations, and stations that are in the digital transitional plan, but will never actually operate.

There are currently no Canadian digital stations east of Quebec City, and there are not likely to be any before 2011. (And then probably only in provincical capitals and large centres.)

That should read 13.1 or 66 for channel connection.

TV Fool tells me that I should have a good signal from channel 61.1 on PEI.

Can anyone confirm that observation?
TV Fool tells me that I am one for even trying to get an OTA digital channel.

Well, I had to get a new TV and it has a digital tuner in it. That got my curiosity piqued and I took a truly sad looking hacked together Hoverman (Not a Grey Hoverman) antenna up on the roof where the Sat dish used to be.

I can report that with this setup that I cannot receive any digital stations but I can receive 5 Canadian analog stations: Fredericton CBC, CTV, Global and CBC French. The surprise is that I can actually get grainy video of Global from Saint John.

3 of the 4 local stations are somewhat messy but still watchable. CTV is very watchable. The best and most hopeful part is that this is a piece of crap DIY antenna made of hanger wire and a piece of strapping. There are no signal amplifiers either.

It is attractive due to its similarity to the Grey-Hoverman that was designed here at DHC and the cost is reasonable. What are the opinions of this antenna?

que3jxp, I'm sorry you haven't seen the following thread but the company that makes that crappy antenna is not welcome at digitalhome.ca:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=828359&postcount=1

The antenna you highlighted was actually nothing like a Grey-Hoverman, but somewhat similar (though much less capable) than an M4.

Boo on them then!!!

I will not give them ANY money!!!

Thank you for that. :)

I just relocated to Halifax and called the 3 local stations (CBC-E, Global, and CTV - sorry, no ability to do CBC-F) about their timelines for OTA HD in the Maritimes. CTV's engineer told me the plan had been to go live before the Olympics, but unless the ball's rolling behind his back it looks like not till sometime after due to logistics (such as a full transmitter tower possibly needing a new tower to be built). Global indicated they'd put it off as long as possible due to money woes, and would shut down existing smaller-market analogue transmitters post-deadline once the main HD transmitter was live. CBC is also cash-strapped but planning to comply with whatever deadline the CRTC enforces (apparently there's talk of it being pushed back some), and due to coverage policy would actually have HD up in Fredericton and Moncton, + 1 city each in NS, PEI, and NL.

This isn't exactly good news for small markets and local television, so make yourselves heard and save what you can!

Last night, I was channel surfing and I stopped on the french CBC channel. Lo and behold, the whole Telejournal show was in 16:9 format. Does this mean that they are preparing to be broadcasting in digital format? I mean the whole news cast was widescreen as well as the reporters source. Not even the CBC News at 6 had the same treatment. They were the plain old 4:3 format.

Simply no. It is just all CBC/SRC newscasts are going 16:9, regardless of any possibe local digital broadcast transition.
See thread below for setails.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=110689

More and more content is shot in true HD or at least 16:9 SD to be compatible with HD transmissions.

SRC French made the decision long ago to letterbox their SD channels. I believe they do this for all programs.

For most programs CBC English center cuts the 16:9 image to fill the 4:3 screen. A few air letterboxed. I'm not aware of any upcoming changes to this practice.

Oh darn...I was hoping we'd have at least 1 digital channel in NB so I could try out our ATSC tuner.... :(

I know that's a subjective question but I am looking for input. Is it worth my time and money for materials to erect an antenna in my area of Nova Scotia. I have used tvfool dot com and came up with this

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d8ecd905912b81a

Looks like I might get 2 or 3 stations but it also looks like they could be kinda week and need a fairly robust setup. Just looking for some simple opinions on whether or not its worth the trouble.

Thanks

Dover

From what I know of the local HD plans you're going to be quite out of luck out in the Antigonish-area. It looks like at most you'll get 2 channels by OTA, and those are likely going to be weak like you say. I wouldn't sink much money into it myself, but if you find a second-hand VHF antenna you can put up on a mast or rooftop or tree or something you may be pleasantly surprised. You might want to consider a do-it-yourself solution as well just for fun, but I wouldn't expect great results given those NM figures on your plot. Not that it isn't worth trying, but take what you can get as a bonus.

Diversion: rather than mandating OTA coverage for Canadian stations, given the geographic spread and comparatively small population, should the government just scrap the OTA requirements and mandate basic (HD) universal satellite receivers be provided with local stations/programming for free?

Diversion: rather than mandating OTA coverage for Canadian stations, given the geographic spread and comparatively small population, should the government just scrap the OTA requirements and mandate basic (HD) universal satellite receivers be provided with local stations/programming for free?

Couldn't have said it better myself. This is a workable solution for EVERY Canadian.