AB - Calgary, Lethbridge, Southern Alberta - OTA

[timcat]

They are there on 36.1 I see them but unwatchable now. They seem to have lost a little power. They were allways on the fringe here in Nanton but now below the thresh hold. I had my antenna lowered on the pole just to avoid the winds. I tried raising it back up where I had optimal before...still no luck. I guess I will just have to wait untill their transmitter is permanant.

[timcat]

Woke up this morning and CFCN has a huge improvement in Nanton. They must have moved to the new location last night.
Looks like more then double the power here now.

[timcat]

I did a rescan since my last post and Found CFCN is running dual. Looks like full power on 29-1

[downbeat]

Using a simple bowtie antenna indoors (third floor) CFCN-DT on Channel 29 comes in about halfway between "normal" and "good" on my TV's signal meter.
It is a slight improvement over CFCN-DT on Channel 36, which has always come in very well on one of my antennas (but not the other).

[5seconds]

with CTV switching to a new channel, does that mean I should re-tune my TV? Are they going to shut down channel 36? Any reason they are using a new channel?

Thanks!

[downbeat]

@5seconds: Channel 29 is CFCN-DT's final, full-power DTV channel. They've been using Channel 36 as a temporary measure and it will be turned off at some point, according to someone I correspond with at the station.
Are you able to get Channel 29 at your location? You can try to manually add the channel — or do a whole new scan for it if you wish. To tell them apart, Channel 29 will display "CFCN DT" with no programming info (only the station's telephone number under program) while Channel 36 displays "CFCN-HD" with a current EPG.
For more history on the channel change, please search through the Alberta station status thread:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=128296

[tanker]

Nice ! CFCN Ch29 coming thru beautifully (2.5 miles south of the tower); whereas on channel 36 my new Samsung wouldn't even lock on. (Stealth Hawk on top of 8-foot high bookcase).

Aside: you would think that the local staff at CTV news and weather would at least mention that they were now digital -- but not a peep. They should be announcing every station break; cheap advertising/boasting .

[poutanen]

DTV wasteland... Well I'm moving from Grimsby, ON to Calgary, AB and the tvfool report makes it look like a DTV wasteland. Sorry guys but I'm going to miss all the American networks! I haven't had a cable bill for over two years back home.

How are you finding OTA only if any of you are running that setup? I used to catch Nova and Nature on PBS, all the football games, etc. I suppose if I want football I'll have to get cable/sat or put up with Canadian announcers?

[downbeat]

@ poutanen: I know the feeling. That TV Fool report for Calgary does look sparse, doesn't it? My parents, near Montreal, have access to the full range of American networks OTA. I marvel at the reception there every time I return for a visit.
As for local reception here in Calgary, it's not that bad in the end IMHO. A great deal of U.S. network programming is available on the big three private Canadian networks.
If you are able to, you might consider setting up an FTA satellite receiver to get unencrypted programming from PBS … but that's off topic for this thread. (See this link in the FTA forum — http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=106434 — instead.)
What will your TV Fool report be? Will you at least be able to adequately receive all the Calgary stations?

[Billsmith]

Yes - it seems that they have both channel 29 (virtual 4.1) and channel 36 (virtual 36.1) on the air at the same time! Seems that there is some testing of the new transmitter taking place. I guess that they need to feel comfortable with it's operation and performance. I am receiving Channel 29 at 79% and 36.1 at 66%. (14% difference in the signal strength). I would have thought that there would have been a greater diffference since 10 times the E.R.P. corresponds to 2 times the signal strength???

[snap01]

Receiving CFCN-DT ch. 29 much better than ch. 36.

I have a coat hanger antenna that sits on a window sill behind some metal blinds. Whenever the blinds were down, I would lose CFCN-DT 36. CFCN-DT 29 is coming in nicely with the blinds down!

[downbeat]

Several messages relating to the current and planned operations of CFCN-TV-5 and CFCN-DT-5 in Lethbridge have been moved to the Alberta station status thread:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=128296
Let's use this thread for reception reports only, please.
Cheers,
downbeat

[blader]

An update to my previous post

I did a re-scan and am now receiving 4 digital channels all with good reception. I am still using rabbit ears located in the basement.

2.1 Global
4.1 CTV
5.1 City
9.1 CBC

[calgeddy]

Located in Kincora NW. Using an outdoor SR15 antenna about 20 feet off the ground feeding to a HDHomeRun network tuner which feeds to my PC.

Channel/Signal St./Signal Quality

Global 60/67
CTV (ch.29) 100/100
City TV 75/100
CBC 62/75

I am yet to try changing the direction a little to see if I can get better quality on Global and CBC.

[stampeder]

Are you getting a solid lock on all of them?