OTA Station Status: Montréal, QC, Northern NY & VT

[JSP]

Also, four DTV approvals are currently pending: OMNI.1 and OMNI.2, which wanted to add DTV repeaters in Ottawa on channels 27 (CFMT1) and 66 (CJMT1) respectively;
Radio-Canada wanting a DTV station in Quebec City (CBVT) on channel 12;
and Télé-Québec wanting a DTV station in Montreal (CIVM) on channel 27.
The latter two will be heard during non-appearing hearings in May and June respectively. (see CRTC public hearing notices CRTC 2005-3 and CRTC 2005-4)

[foxfan]

You forgot Vermont (Burlington area):

WVNY: 22-13-13

WPTZ: 05-14-14

WETK: 33-32-32 (still pending approval from Canada)

WFFF: 44-43-43

WCAX: 03-53-?? Final channel still unknown because 53 out of core and 03 would be unwatchable because of interference. I'm wondering if WCAX will be able to get WVNY's old channel 22 allocation...

For WVNY digital, I strongly recommend viewers in the Montreal area get a single-channel 13 antenna. An all-VHF antenna simply causes too much cross-channel interference because of the four high powered VHF analogs in Montreal.

[stampeder]

Originally Posted by foxfan

You forgot Vermont (Burlington area)

Thanks Foxfan, I wasn't sure about the Vermont station reception when I pulled that data out of the original spreadsheet.

[tigerbangs]

Of course , it would be nice if Vermont got ONE DTV channel operating out of Burlington! As of yet, they haven't, which must frustrate all of those viewers in the Montreal area who watch OTA!

[foxfan]

Originally Posted by tigerbangs

Of course , it would be nice if Vermont got ONE DTV channel operating out of Burlington! As of yet, they haven't, which must frustrate all of those viewers in the Montreal area who watch OTA!

Well, at least there is one station WCFE-DT (PBS-HD) that broadcasts from Plattsburgh, NY...

For the Burlington ones, they are all being built at the same time, so there can't be one ahead of the others.

[stampeder]

Ettisl wrote:

Burlington, Vermont OTA Status

Anyone know if they have started building the transmission tower on Mount Mansfield yet?
It seems that this is our only hope for accessible OTA DTV in the Montreal area. This tower is to be shared by ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC and Vermont-PBS. Currently the only easily accessible channel is WCFE-DT Mountain Lake PBS with CBC/SRC being blocked by Mount-Royal for West-Islanders. CTV and Global seem to have no interest in OTA by saying that the market is too small for the 500,000+ English speaking viewers.


kApOO:

The construction is supposed to start this may for the two next summers. If everything is going as planned, you'll see DT signals in late 2006. Look here for the progress: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...threadid=299530

[stampeder]

A DHC Shaw Cable subscriber contacted the CBC about their upcoming schedule for HD stations and was given the response that Vancouver will be up in January or February, with Ottawa and Quebec City next in 2006, but no further cities mentioned at this time.

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/for...24&postcount=5

[nfitz]

Originally Posted by stampeder

... Vancouver will be up in January or February, with Ottawa and Quebec City next in 2006 ...

CBC in Quebec City seems an odd choice for priority ... they didn't get a network CBC transmitter (CBVE) until 1997 or so ... they had a privately-owned affiliate (CKMI - now Global Quebec). I guess SRC must be putting HD in there, and it only makes sense to do them both together!

Nick

[JesseJ]

I would assume, based on nothing, that Calgary and Edmonton and the 'Peg would be the next 3.....but who knows. I guessed Quebec City and Calgary next, and that was a month ago-ish.

[gmd]

Originally Posted by nfitz

CBC in Quebec City seems an odd choice for priority ... they didn't get a network CBC transmitter (CBVE) until 1997 or so ... they had a privately-owned affiliate (CKMI - now Global Quebec). I guess SRC must be putting HD in there, and it only makes sense to do them both together!

Nick

Why is it an odd choice, given SRC has excellent ratings while CBC does not... I wouldn't be surprise to see better numbers in some smaller markets in QC compared to CBC in bigger cities.

They'll be done by pair, not individually.

-gmd

[stampeder]

I just checked a map and I can picture your situation better now, Ianic. This is a tricky location since the local Montreal stations could easily cook your ATSC tuner if your antenna gain is too high. I'm glad you recognized this danger and were wise to check into solutions here.

Since your goal is the U.S. stations, go for the antennas that will be best suited to that. A Wade-Delhi 306 will do great for VHF, and for UHF I would suggest a Winegard 9032 Corner Reflector Yagi for its superior rejection of side and back signals. As an option you could use a combo antenna like a Wade-Delhi 936SR instead and keep things simplified. Clearly you will not require a rotor if the stations are all along the same line.

Having recommended those antennas, you will need some complex filtering to radically lower the gain on all Montreal signals while keeping the U.S. signals high before the downlead goes to your ATSC tuner. This can be done with special notch traps and attenuators from such companies as Tin Lee:

http://www.tinlee.com

The goal would be to have a low bypass (not a complete bypass!) notch trap for every Montreal channel (with an added attenuator on that line if needed) before the downlead goes into your ATSC tuner. Each trap has a signal strength cost, so that amount of filtering and attenuating is quite complex given the number of OTA stations so close to you. I would highly suggest getting a professional to assess your situation. If you are up to doing it yourself we can make further suggestions.

Any different solutions to this problem, folks?

[stampeder]

A francophone DHCer has learned that Quebec City will begin SRC-HD signal tests on January 21, 2006:

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/for...ad.php?t=35410

[Darwiner]

For what it's worth (I saw another post by someone mentioning this dated back a year ago), I just emailed Global and CTV, and both are still mentionning they still have no plans at the moment as far as broadcasting in HD in Montreal is concerned. *sigh*

CTV mentions the decision is up to CTV Toronto and the plans for CFCF have not been laid out...

Global says there's no immediate plans and they're still involved in studies about it.

Guess all I can do is stick with SRC/CBC in the meantime. :P

[stampeder]

You can bet that if there were several local U.S. stations already in digital beaming strongly into Montreal that CTV and Global would either be up and running already or have their plans well in progress, like what is happening in Toronto and Vancouver! To them no competition means no hurry.

[Ettisl]

This is the latest I have for the Burlington, VT stations. Maybe this will get them acting:

Net CH Station Live Date
ABC 13 WVNY-DT Dec 1 2006
CBS 53 WCAX-DT Aug 1 2006
FOX 43 WFFF-DT Jun 1 2006
NBC 14 WPTZ-DT FCC Extension
PBS 32 WETK-DT Sep 1 2006