Channel 68 mystery signal

I’m getting a very strong digital signal with no ID on channel 68. There is no picture or sound… just an open signal. Could this be Global in Toronto testing? The signal has now disappeared but I’m watching for it. I didn’t have a chance to turn my rotor to see if it’s a Toronto signal but it was very strong at over 90% here in Mississauga.

Was 68 not the channel Global was assigned for use in Toronto?
Maybe just maybe Global is about to surprise us all with the Super Bowl broadcast in HD OTA in Toronto!

Global is supposed to use 65 so i do not think it was them.

Well I got a lock on this mystery signal again and by rotating my antenna got a direction and it's coming from across the lake.... and not Toronto. So much for my idea Global was about to surprise us all ;)

Looks like it's these guys...

W68AJ NY BOLIVAR & RICHBURG USA

Licensee: WESTERN NEW YORK PUBLIC B/CING.ASSN.
Service Designation: TX Translator station

Channel: 68 794 - 800 MHz Licensed
File No.: BLTT-19810526JC Facility ID number: 71893
CDBS Application ID No.: 30743

42° 04' 9.00 " N Latitude Site in Canadian Border Zone 78° 11' 4.00 " W Longitude (NAD 27)

Polarization: Horizontal (H) Effective Radiated Power (ERP): 0.168 kW ERP Antenna Height Above Average Terrain: - meters HAAT Antenna Height Above Mean Sea Level: 666. meters AMSL Antenna Height Above Ground Level: 0. meters A

i'm not able to pick anything up on this channel. Are you sure the true channel is 68 and its not just remapping to 68

Yes it's true 68

A low power translator that is already running on ATSC? That'd be rare, but then again it would explain why your tuner is detecting a digital carrier but without any intelligible data. Either that or the station is likely running on NTSC and your tuner is picking up the analogue carrier but can't determine what its supposed to do with it.

The FCC site says it a PBS station and remember it was the PBS stations doing High Def before most everyone else was. PBS gets grants and alot of equipment donated to them to experiment with. To me this all looks like they are experimenting. This is for sure a digital signal.

2150 has it listed as W68AJ analog and a directional pattern to the east;

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=30743

http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapgen/map.gif?lon=-78.184&lat=42.069&iwd=750&iht=750&mlon=-78.184&mlat=42.069&msym=smalldot&mlabel=W68AJ&on=majroads,streets,water,miscell,counties,places,railroad,C ITIES&off=GRID,shorelin,cen_blkg,censusb,con_dist,indian,msa,tract s&ht=0.2%20&wid=0.2

There is also a ch 68 construction permit for Erie Pa. Considering where it is , I can't understand how anyone could pick this up unless you lived IN Boliva. :eek:

I just got of the phone with engineering at WNED (actually talked to someone other than the operator, a first!) and there is no change with any of their translator stations and surely not that one. BTW, they will all go dark in 2009.

So this ch 68 is somewhere near you. Any idea on a direction??

Does this help in your search?

http://www.recnet.com/cdbs/fmq.php?facid=&call=W68AJ&ccode=1&latd=&lond=&city=&state=&country=US&zip=&party=&party_type=LICEN&jaws=0

has anyone picked up this signal since the original poster posted back in February?

Rec Net would be a good tool if it wasn't covered in so much spam (pr0n?) and didn't take so looooooooong to load and operate. Anyway, I haven't heard of anyone still getting that signal on UHF 68.