a greater transmission antenna height is preferred for overcoming odd terrainTypically yes but not necessarily in every case, but you probably want to read about characteristics of the Fresnel Zone (Posts #40 through 43) (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=25774).

I've been noticing more and more CFCN promos recorded/produced in HD.
For example, bumpers for the local news featuring the anchors; PSAs with anchors pitching causes and fund-raising efforts; promos for the amateur Athlete of the Week, featuring the station's sports staff. The oldest ones are local versions of the "Believe" campaign, leading up to the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
So it appears CFCN is equipped to record, produce and replay material in HD.
With this in mind, has anyone heard if the station has a target date for producing its live local programming in HD?

Happy New Year.

did cfcn lower the erp output? i havent been able to receive a signal for 2 weeks, and used to have 75-80%. nothing has changed on my end.

any news on moving global to their new tower? I still cannot receive their signal.

I am in the Cochrane area.

thanks

Check out Stampeder's post from a few weeks ago for the latest news from CICT.
As for CFCN, I haven't noticed a change here. Have you tried contacting the station?

I also noticed that in the last 2 weeks CFCN has dropped 10 points on my signal meter(in Cranston). No amount of tweeking is getting those 10 points back. No drop for CICT.

I lost my signal completely. I did not change anything in my setup.

I am wondering if maybe the balun of something, maybe the -30 did some damage.

Hopefully someone can contact CFCN's engineering dept. with the news that several Calgarians in different parts of the city have seen a decline in the signal strength.

Has anyone else noticed a drop?

I have noticed the drop in reception.

For me it seems to have been quite recent, I would say within the last week. At first I was questioning antenna positioning or even whether certain shows requiring a stronger setup or better antenna placement from me?

At present, I get inconsistent reception (some noise 'artifacts?' on screen and sound drops to complete signal loss with blips of reception coming through.)

Anyway, this is the only station I have had some trouble with since recently moving from Varsity to Saddleridge. Hopefully CFCN gets back to normal, I thought it had the best HD going!

Turned on the TV again right now, and no problem with the reception. I found this to be the case too last night -- is it possible that there's some additional traffic in the daytime or some other reason for the reception to be poor earlier in the day?

I noticed too, lately, that CFCN seems to have lost about 20% signal. This has been going on for a few weeks now. Also their PSIP data is still no good, and the Virtual Channel 4.1 still is not recognised by my Sammy TV. It still thinks it is 36.1. But according to the techies at CFCN it is only a few brands and types of TV that seem unable to recognise the correct virtual channel. It started after their 'upgrade' a few months ago.

Ah well, patience is a virtue...

I've read elsewhere on this site about certain Samsung sets being finnicky when it comes to PSIP data. Your problem might not go away anytime soon ...
As for CFCN reception, I live fairly close to the transmitter site and have not noticed any significant change in reception conditions.

ClgShaft
I live in Cochrane AB and I am still receiving the CFCN-DT signal. Today, I am getting 4 out of six bars signal strength on Media Center PC with my simple Bow tie antenna.

ClgShaft
I live in Cochrane AB and I am still receiving the CFCN-DT signal. Today, I am getting 4 out of six bars signal strength on Media Center PC with my simple Bow tie antenna.
awesome, thats what I wanted to hear. something must have failed on my antenna.

where in cochrane are you? maybe send me a PM.

you got any pictures of your setup?

Here in Banff Trail District CFCN-DT seems to be coming in normally with 71% signal at the receiver. This is the same level as was received during 2009. I have seen this drop to 67% during last year but at present it seems to be normal here. Maybe there could be a problem at the Tx antenna - not sure?
Has anyone spoken to the CFCN transmission staff?

I spoke to one of the Global transmission engineers today and he reports that there are a number of factors presently standing in the way of the establishement of the permanent signal as follows:-

1. Outstanding work on the new antennas at the new tower. (Prioritized partly by activities by other mast/tower users).

2. The third party engineering work on a new tuned port style UHF combiner system. (required to permit other future broadcasters to use the same antenna system on the new mast).

3. Awaiting the required permit documentation for the new UHF transmitter from Industry Canada/CRTC. (The new design requires that the transmitter supplies 2.5 Kw to the new combiner for an ERP of 55,000 Watts from the antenna).

4. Tests by Industry Canada to investigate harmonic content in the final OTA signal.

5. Signal contour proving by Global TV.

With the above factors taken into consideration, it is estimated that the on-air date will likely be near the end of the first quarter of this year.

Just got a new OTA antenna (indoor one from the source) and is picking up CTV and Global very nicely.

Analog channels are horrible but that is probably just the antenna.

I read back a good 20 pages of this thread but does anyone have any idea if/when CBC will be broadcasting in HD OTA?


I also have to say, coming from Shaw and Bell HD, the picture quality on OTA HD is simply amazing!!!!

Congratulations bb147! Seems like antennas are slowly making a comeback!

I last heard that the CBC haven't yet made their switchover plans for

Calgary but that CityTV and Omni were to do something this year.

ClgShft
I am a little embarrassed at your enthusiasm as my set-up is the single UHF bow tie that came with my rabbit ear antenna years ago. I see US Radio Shack has them for less than 5 dollars. My only effort was to find that I get reception locating the antenna in front of the east window facing the broadcast tower. My fine-tuning is some string hanging the antenna off of the curtain rod. I had planned to make a home built antenna from all of the good information available on this web site but since I get the only digital OTA signal currently in the Calgary area that is possible at my location, as recommended by Stampeder, I thought I would wait until more of the stations had transitioned to digital before I proceeded. I can only think that I must be in the right place to get the signal from the transmission tower with such a simple antenna. My vision of a futuristic antenna is some fractal pattern etched in copper with some active elements powered by a battery charged by a little solar cell. :-)

bb147, once people see the difference they sure are impressed with OTA! :) Which neighbourhood are you in, or nearest major street corner are you by?

Corresponded with the folks at CFCN on Tuesday. Apart from correcting their PSIP data just before Christmas, their technical parameters have not changed recently.