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BC - Delta, Richmond, Surrey, White Rock - OTA

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#1 ·
This thread is a one-stop-shopping location for info on receiving Over The Air High Definition and Digital broadcasts in the GVRD not including the cities of Vancouver, North Vancouver, and West Vancouver as experienced by Digital Home Canada members. Use the British Columbia thread for all other BC areas. In your posts please specify:

1. Your Location (city, town, locale, on a high rise, in a valley, etc...)
2. Receiver and Antenna Brand/Model
3. Stations Received with their Picture Quality (excellent, pixellated, etc...)
4. Other helpful info...

Here's a template for posting: http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showpost.php?p=189140&postcount=2

Here are some web resources on OTA stations:

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/Canada_TV_Stations/ for the Industry Canada listings of all OTA stations in Canada

http://members.shaw.ca/nwbroadcasters/ for the BC Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island, including U.S. stations

http://www.mcquarrieweb.ca/canada/ for Cable and Satellite station listings
 
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#2 ·
North Delta

North Delta in high spot in northernmost end

BEV 6100 receiver

Channel Master 4228 8-bay UHF (non VHF) antenna with Winegard 8275 PreAmp

Antenna is not mounted on mast yet, just propped up on side of house facing south, so that makes my results pretty interesting. I'm optimistic.

Stations:

18 KCPQ-DT Tacoma WA no digital lock, but activity on receiver's meter

19 (mapped to 24.1) KBCB-DT Bellingham WA clear with a bit of pixellation, few dropouts, but fluctuating signal strength

35 KVOS-DT Bellingham WA no digital lock, but activity on receiver's meter

38 KOMO-DT Seattle WA no digital lock, but activity on receiver's meter

39 KIRO-DT Seattle WA no digital lock, but activity on receiver's meter

48 KING-DT Seattle WA no digital lock, but activity on receiver's meter

Other notes:

I get lots of analog stations, including Q13 from Tacoma very weakly and sometimes KONG in Everett on 16 and a bunch of religious and shopping channels from the SeaTac area too, all very weak, grainy, or snowy. CBC-HD will be on 58 in autumn, SRC-HD on 16.

I will properly mount the antenna some time soon but I expect multipath and pixellation problems from the tall cedars and firs on my property.

cheers,
stampeder
 
#3 ·
North Delta Update May 14, 2005

May 14, 2005

North Delta in northernmost end near Scott and 96th

BEV 6100 receiver (LG LST4200A Receiver is being shipped to me from U.S.)

Channel Master 4228 8-bay UHF antenna with Winegard 8275 Preamp

Channel Master Quantum 1111 VHF/FM antenna with CM0094 Preamp

UHF antenna is not mounted on mast yet, just propped up on side of house facing south, with its back to aluminum siding facing a house with aluminum shingles, and with large cedars and firs all over my property. It sounds like it would be hell for TV signals, and thats what makes my results pretty interesting so far. Unfortunately I might have to put up a tower ($$$!!!) to get SeaTac signals from over the trees on the south property line. I'd be very interested to see how other Lower Mainland people do with SeaTac DTV signals.

DT Station Results:

18 KCPQ-DT Tacoma WA (FOX) - rare digital lock remaps to 13.1, but irregular activity on receiver's meter

19 KBCB-DT Bellingham WA (IND) remaps to 24.1, clear with rare pixellation, rare dropouts, but fluctuating high signal strength

31 KONG-DT Everett WA (IND) no digital lock, but slight and irregular activity on receiver's meter

33 CIVT-DT (CTV Vancouver) clear with a bit of pixellation, few dropouts, but fluctuating high signal strength - very sensitive to antenna aim - PQ, AQ are superior to satellite or cable

35 KVOS-DT Bellingham WA (IND) no digital lock, but slight and irregular activity on receiver's meter (see my post about KVOS-DT in this forum)

36 KSTW-DT Tacoma WA (UPN) no digital lock, but slight and irregular activity on receiver's meter

38 KOMO-DT Seattle WA (ABC) no digital lock, but slight and irregular activity on receiver's meter

39 KIRO-DT Seattle WA (CBS) no digital lock, but slight and irregular activity on receiver's meter

41 KCTS-DT Seattle WA (PBS) no digital lock, but slight and irregular activity on receiver's meter

48 KING-DT Seattle WA (NBC) no digital lock, but slight and irregular activity on receiver's meter

Other notes:

I get lots of analog stations, including Q13 from Tacoma very weakly and sometimes KONG in Everett on 16 and a bunch of religious and shopping channels from the SeaTac area too, all very weak, grainy, or snowy.

Occasionally I DX the DTV channels to see what's out there, but haven't seen anyhing else interesting at this point since I don't shop at home or need my soul saved. ;)

CBC-HD will be on 58 in September, SRC-HD on 16. Global's CHAN-DT license has been granted for Channel 22 but no sign of signal on it so far.

I will properly mount the antenna some time soon but I expect multipath and pixellation problems from the tall cedars and firs on my property.

cheers,
stampeder
 
#5 ·
stampeder said:
We had bigtime skip conditions the last few days so I'll fire up my system and see if its still happening.
Hey stampeder, I was just thinking...in the "wintertime" (not really familiar with BC Geography), do the leaves not fall of the trees that would allow you an unobstructed view to the South instead of looking at those beautifully tall trees?

Just curious as to see how your setup might work in wintertime vs. the summer and the full bloom trees and whatnot. If it doesn't "winter" where you are and the trees remain in bloom, I guess its all for not, but just thought I'd remind you..even though we are in the middle of July. :)
 
#7 ·
ryans said:
Just curious as to see how your setup might work in wintertime vs. the summer and the full bloom trees and whatnot. If it doesn't "winter" where you are and the trees remain in bloom, I guess its all for not, but just thought I'd remind you..even though we are in the middle of July. :)
Well, these firs and red cedars do shed quite a bit of deadfall over the winter but they're evergreens so they don't lose the vast majority of their bulk. Here's some photos I posted to another thread:

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showpost.php?p=207003&postcount=22

Back in the winter when I was first discussing with Tigerbangs the nutty idea of using that giant fir tree as an antenna mast and putting my gear up on top of it I could see all sorts of great places to mount that stuff. Now in the high summer its obvious to me that many of those same spots are obscured by birches that have grown up alongside it and the cedars. Now I need to consider the idea of a tower. Thanks for your ideas though! :)
 
#10 ·
The Rang said:
Where can the CN4228 and pre-amp, Winegard or otherwise, be purchased locally.

I'm in Ladner, pretty low out here. What are my chances of getting a decent signal?
I think you'll do fine in Ladner if you can get the antenna up on the roof or up high. Sarke's got a good point: 4DTV_HD is a professional and can give you the heads up on expectations or assessing your location.
 
#12 ·
Recieving CTV-HD on a Panasonic STB in Tsawwassen

Hi -I'm new to this forum. I just picked up a Panasonic TU-HDS20 DTV / DirectTV receiver cable of OTA, and I'm trying to recieve the new CTV hd signal with it. I have a monster Radio Shack 13' long combination UHF/VHF antenna 30 feet in the air and it has an antenna rotator. ....but no luck so far... my first questions are:

1. Is CTV broadcasting their HD signal in 8VSB ? ( hope so!)
2. If I have a mast-mounted amplifier ( Radio Shack "Archer" UHF/VHF) will that block/screw up the HD signal ?

...any comments/advice greatly appreciated... :)
Thanks! ...Dave
 
#13 ·
Just picked up Channel 24-1 Bellingham...Is this DTV ?

Hey - I picked up a channel which came up as "24-1" called "KBC_"... is this the bellingham station's DTV feed ? It is showing "ANT: SD" on the on-screen display. I also get this same channel's video as channel "24" (some cooking show right now... as of 1:40 pm saturday afternoon). DJ
 
#14 ·
Cost of towers in Lower Mainland of BC?

I've spent hours reading the posts in this forum for the last month or so.

And we've finally made the decision on a new TV so this has come to a head: can we get OTA reception. Well, here's an overhead view of our house with the trees in darker.

Obviously, we've got tree issues. All but 3 are deciduous and most are full height (I don't have a clinometer but I'd guess 60+ feet thanks to some trig and a shaky measurement with a ruler & protractor).

I've read people saying "$33 for a 10foot length" and then I've looked on the net and found these for example which scare me a bit (if my trees are 70feet and I want to go self supporting then ... yikes!

Who do I talk to locally (BC lower mainland) for accurate pricing about towers ? Or can someone give me ideas about what they've paid and where they've found things?
 
#15 ·
The 30 ft tower that I had put up cost me $300 for materials (not including antenna and rotator) and $150 for installation. But I am relatively free of trees.
I would suggest that if you do not have good line of sight for a satellite signal, then forget about a tower. Perhaps the only option maybe cable.

Stampeder will be the man to give you the most help since he lives out there and would likely understand what signals would be available in your area.
 
#16 ·
Hmmm $300. I guess that would mean that anything that would do me any good (eg 60-70 ft) would be around $700-800 or something at least (?). Fairly pricey though perhaps not out of this world if I could guarantee some sort of reception (and justify the cost to SWMBO).

I'm in South Surrey just 3 min from the Washington border and on a bit of a high spot (59 meters in my back yard if you can trust the GPS).

I'm probably signing up for BEV but the tower still interests me ... if it's feasible and the cost is ok. Thanks for the input.
 
#17 ·
tomcollins said:
I'm in South Surrey just 3 min from the Washington border and on a bit of a high spot (59 meters in my back yard if you can trust the GPS).
Welcome here, and I'm happy to tell you that you'll do great with the right gear and the ability to get over the trees. I would suggest that you send a PM to 4DTV_HD who is based in Aldergrove. He's an antenna/satellite professional and he gets terrific reception in your area. He can give you a full picture of what to expect. Regarding towers, I'd also suggest calling Burnaby Radio to see who they can recommend. They're not as expensive as has been suggested. Also, you're on a rise already so I don't know if you need much additional altitude for the new antenna(s). A mixture of BEV and OTA would give you all you could want, with the superior HDTV of OTA to rock your socks off!

Big trees... sigh... welcome to my world! :mad::rolleyes::)
 
#20 ·
stampeder said:
Lets just say that with enough elevation and the right gear you should do okay but that some tests with a signal strength meter beforehand could save some grief.
Will signal strength testing work well even when I'm behind the trees? I mean, will it still pick up enough of a signal to reliably predict what will happen with towers of various heights?

In any event, I've PM'ed and will arrange a site survey with 4dtv_hd. And let you know what happens.
 
#21 ·
The analog pictures I'm getting have bands on them. The sound, however, is fine. Previously, with the Televes, I was getting fairly good pictures. It could be multipath because the pictures strength appears good. I'm not sure how to recognize multipath.

Is there anyway I can get a more consistent signal? I notice with wet or cloudy weather, the signals are poor. The last couple of days, with good weather, the signals were again strong, reaching 100% on a couple of stations.
 
#22 ·
Antenna direction bearings from North Delta, BC

I've calculated the following antenna direction bearings from the north end of North Delta, BC to these broadcast antenna sites:

  • Vancouver antenna farm on Mount Seymore: 350°
  • Victoria: 194°
  • Seattle/Tacoma, WA: 165°
  • Bellingham, WA: 175°
  • Mt. Constitution, Orcas Island, WA: 180°
Your results in other parts of the GVRD will vary depending on where you are, but at least these bearings will give you a starting point for aiming.

Also keep in mind that broadcast transmission antennas are seldom located right in the city of their studios so its important to do the Industry Canada and FCC station searches for their proper Lat. and Long. coordinates.
 
#23 ·
North Delta rethink

For about a year I've been contemplating how to really make my OTA experience top notch, given that my property is bordered by collosal firs and cedars. I still think a tower is in the future for my antennas, but for now I've made a compromise.

I've mounted an unamplified CM4228 on the chimney on a 14 foot pole and aimed it at the local stations on Mt. Seymour (CTV-DT, a whole bunch of analogs, and soon to be joined by CBC-HD and SRC-HD). My LG tuner locks onto CTV-DT perfectly and reception is better than ever for the Vancouver locals, but I've lost KBCB-DT even though its signal strength is almost good enough. Also KVOS 12 is quite weaker now due to multipath from the southern side cedars right behind the antenna.

I'll stick with this setup for now and continue thinking about a 60 foot tower with my CM1111 VHF/FM and my CM4228 (perhaps a stacked pair of CM4228s) on a rotator, and maybe even a permantly fixed UHF antenna pointed straight at Mt. Seymour.
 
#25 ·
ran94 said:
Stampeder, I live in your neck of the woods, just off 94 and 118th. What kind of $$$s would I be looking at for the equipment?
I'm a couple of blocks north of you and my CM4228 on the roof gets all the Mt. Seymour digital and analogs beautifully despite all the huge fir trees. For the SeaTac stations to the south I'll need to put up a pretty tall tower to see over the trees.

I'm not sure what 4DTV_HD is asking for a CM4228 these days but you should expect to also figure in the cost of a mast, mount, cabling, and other stuff too if you don't already have that stuff. Try sending him a PM and feel free to drop me a PM too.
 
#26 ·
Real world signal strength comparison

My LG LST-4200A ATSC tuner, as terrific as it is, has a weird signal strength meter that doesn't seem to be very helpful, but it shows CBUT-DT (CBC) to be just a sliver stronger on my system than CIVT-DT (CTV). I also patched my antenna into my BEV 6100 to check its signal strength meter (which actually is a ratio meter of clean data packets to unresolvable ones) and it showed 80 to 83 for CBUT-DT and 70 to 73 for CIVT-DT on a scale of 100. Considering that my antenna is on the wrong side of a stand of huge cedar trees from a clear shot at Mt. Seymour, I'm delighted with the results because the LG tuner has a clean, solid signal lock on both channels and does not have any dropouts (the 6100 had a few minor droupouts on CTV but its ATSC tuner is just not in the same league as the LG).
 
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