[STL]

I've had a bit more time on my hands during the holidays to keep looking into this and WVNY continues to come and go. In my location, in Saint Laurent, it seems fair to say I receive the channel no more than 30-40% of the time.

A family member has lent me a software-defined radio (SDR) : this essentially combines an oscilloscope and radio scanner to run on the computer, with a hardware dongle to feed the antenna signal. I took a few measurements in the 174-180 MHz vicinity and what I've found was interesting.

Image 1
WVNY was rock-solid today just after lunch time. The ATSC pilot broadcasts on 174.3 MHz and showed an apparent power of -31.4 dB. Notice the blip at 175.016 MHz on the scope screenshot. Its apparent power was at -44.4 dB and was not in the way of solid, pixel-free reception.

Image 2
Then early in the afternoon, before 2 PM, this 175.016 MHz "tone" grew much louder and reached -19.1 dB in apparent power. I tuned it in with narrowband FM modulation and it hears like a steady tone. WVNY was not watcheable at this time. Notice how the ATSC pilot apparent power is near-identical to the lunch-time power-reading.

Image 3
As a control measure, I tuned to WFFF on 482 MHz. WFFF always comes in strong for me and is not problematic. The ATSC pilot apparent power is -30.1 dB which is right where WVNY comes in. No RF interference was found across the 6MHz channel spectrum.

My takeways:

• My antenna and pre-amp setup receive the WVNY signal just fine;
• Reception is hindered by interference from an unknown source on 175.016 MHz.

Since my SDR rig is mobile (runs on laptop), I'll take a few readings around town to determine how local this interference is and will share back here.

I'm just glad I can finally stare at the WVNY reception problem. Fixing it is another step of course.

 

[northbear]

What I like to say, WVNY always reduces the power when they need: such there are 'good' programs ....

 

[EdT586]

I've had a bit more time on my hands during the holidays to keep looking into this and WVNY continues to come and go. In my location, in Saint Laurent, it seems fair to say I receive the channel no more than 30-40% of the time.

A family member has lent me a software-defined radio (SDR) : this essentially combines an oscilloscope and radio scanner to run on the computer, with a hardware dongle to feed the antenna signal. I took a few measurements in the 174-180 MHz vicinity and what I've found was interesting.

Image 1
WVNY was rock-solid today just after lunch time. The ATSC pilot broadcasts on 174.3 MHz and showed an apparent power of -31.4 dB. Notice the blip at 175.016 MHz on the scope screenshot. Its apparent power was at -44.4 dB and was not in the way of solid, pixel-free reception.
View attachment 11738

Image 2
Then early in the afternoon, before 2 PM, this 175.016 MHz "tone" grew much louder and reached -19.1 dB in apparent power. I tuned it in with narrowband FM modulation and it hears like a steady tone. WVNY was not watcheable at this time. Notice how the ATSC pilot apparent power is near-identical to the lunch-time power-reading.
View attachment 11739

Image 3
As a control measure, I tuned to WFFF on 482 MHz. WFFF always comes in strong for me and is not problematic. The ATSC pilot apparent power is -30.1 dB which is right where WVNY comes in. No RF interference was found across the 6MHz channel spectrum.
View attachment 11740

My takeways:

• My antenna and pre-amp setup receive the WVNY signal just fine;
• Reception is hindered by interference from an unknown source on 175.016 MHz.

Since my SDR rig is mobile (runs on laptop), I'll take a few readings around town to determine how local this interference is and will share back here.

I'm just glad I can finally stare at the WVNY reception problem. Fixing it is another step of course.

I'm in Saint-Laurent (Decarie/Poirier) district too and would like to know what that 175.016MHz RF interference is. My antenna since mid October is only able to receive most of the local channels except for 35.1, 47.1 and 62.1 and the two US channels 3.1 and 5.1 with my CM-3410 drop-amp turned off. I strongly suspect it is Telus's LTE transmitters or the city's new LED street lamps that use WiFi to control them. If you notice the street lamps your street you will see a red LED blink every 10 seconds on top of the lamp.

The ground-breaking roll-out of 132,000 LED street lights - Lux Review

North America’s biggest roll-out of smart LED street lights is set to turn Montréal into a so-called ‘smart city’ with potential applications such as snow and flood detection, pollution monitoring and waste management.

www.luxreview.com

 

[STL]

So I filed an RF interference report with Innovation, Science and Economic Developement Canada (previously Industry Canada) and they contacted me the very next day. They have very curteous and professional staff and were able to dispatch a team to my vicinity to confirm my interference signal readings.

My interference readings could not be confirmed with their professional-grade equipment. It's possible the noise on the 175 MHz frequency was induced by my SDR setup. So I am less convinced about the interference theory now.

Another development on WVNY reception though has been a neighbor from a few streets over sharing that he's been in telephone contact with the WVNY broadcast engineering team. A few highlights from that call: 1) the directional broadcast pattern is being adjusted to increase the relative power sent towards Massena, NY 2) the total broacast power is now about 70% of the maximum authorized power and 3) there are plans to further increase the broadcast power over the coming months.

He has a CM4228HD + CM7778 aimed at Mt. Mansfield, 25 ft AGL and here in the St-Laurent borough, and says he has good reception of WVNY throughout the day.

On my end, I have a 13-el channel-cut yagi + KT700 at 34 ft AGL and I've also been enjoying great reception over the last few days. I wish I could measure the SNR ratio to see how I'm doing with a reliable figure.

This reception improvement is likely thanks to that power increase towards Massena and the silver lining is a potential overall broadcast power increase in the spring time. However, those who are east of Mt. Royal will likely not experience this same increase in directional power.

 

[EdT586]

So I filed an RF interference report with Innovation, Science and Economic Developement Canada (previously Industry Canada) and they contacted me the very next day. They have very curteous and professional staff and were able to dispatch a team to my vicinity to confirm my interference signal readings.

My interference readings could not be confirmed with their professional-grade equipment. It's possible the noise on the 175 MHz frequency was induced by my SDR setup. So I am less convinced about the interference theory now.

Another development on WVNY reception though has been a neighbor from a few streets over sharing that he's been in telephone contact with the WVNY broadcast engineering team. A few highlights from that call: 1) the directional broadcast pattern is being adjusted to increase the relative power sent towards Massena, NY 2) the total broacast power is now about 70% of the maximum authorized power and 3) there are plans to further increase the broadcast power over the coming months.

He has a CM4228HD + CM7778 aimed at Mt. Mansfield, 25 ft AGL and here in the St-Laurent borough, and says he has good reception of WVNY throughout the day.

On my end, I have a 13-el channel-cut yagi + KT700 at 34 ft AGL and I've also been enjoying great reception over the last few days. I wish I could measure the SNR ratio to see how I'm doing with a reliable figure.

This reception improvement is likely thanks to that power increase towards Massena and the silver lining is a potential overall broadcast power increase in the spring time. However, those who are east of Mt. Royal will likely not experience this same increase in directional power.

Can you provide me with the contact that you used for Innovation, Science and Economic Developement Canada, I thought they no longer do RF interference investigations.

 

[STL]

Sent the contact info as a private message.

-Have others noticed stronger / better WVNY reception since mid-January ? Those in-line with or East of Mt. Royal would normally not see this power increase as Massena is North-West..

 

[ISO ABC MTL]

Hello - I live in NDG and have a rooftop antenna that was installed by Mario Trottier - I get a bunch of channels but not ABC. I would really like to get ABC because I like to watch sports. I read here OTA DTV in Montreal that he added something to get ABC reception in NDG. Would anyone be able to install an antenna that could get me ABC reception? Let me know if you can and would be able to do it. I'm not very handy so I can't. Also I'm not really sure how this message board works. But if ever anyone could help me I would really like to get ABC if it's possible. Thanks!

 

[Gibsons]

I'm in Saint-Laurent (Decarie/Poirier) district too and would like to know what that 175.016MHz RF interference is. My antenna since mid October is only able to receive most of the local channels except for 35.1, 47.1 and 62.1 and the two US channels 3.1 and 5.1 with my CM-3410 drop-amp turned off. I strongly suspect it is Telus's LTE transmitters or the city's new LED street lamps that use WiFi to control them. If you notice the street lamps your street you will see a red LED blink every 10 seconds on top of the lamp.

The ground-breaking roll-out of 132,000 LED street lights - Lux Review

North America’s biggest roll-out of smart LED street lights is set to turn Montréal into a so-called ‘smart city’ with potential applications such as snow and flood detection, pollution monitoring and waste management.

www.luxreview.com

I'm not in your area but when I put up a small antenna outside, I got poor reception until I added the Channel Master LTE filter. I got a few more stations that I couldn't get without it. These frequencies are pretty crowded and it worked for me. It's around $30 on Amazon, so it's not a big purchase... can always send it back if it doesn't work for you. There are preamps with LTE filtering in them now, as well.

 

[STL]

As most of you already know, work started yesterday to refit the WVNY transmitter on Mt. Mansfield, VT. Some closer to this have described that WVNY will get its own transmitting antenna (as opposed to shared with WFFF) and that the broadcast power will also increase.

This morning, between 6:30 and 9 AM, I was receiving WVNY strong and crisp on WVNY. In net contrast with the heavily pixelated / in-out image I was receiving days before. I remain hopeful that the transmitting characteristics (antenna, power, pattern) this morning before 9 AM correspond to what it will be after the refit is complete.

Interestingly, PSIP was not working this morning. So the channels were displaying as 7-3, 7-4, 7-5, and 7-6. And there was no program information..

Stay tuned fellows.. because this might get interesting!

 

[Ve2dgz]

As most of you already know, work started yesterday to refit the WVNY transmitter on Mt. Mansfield, VT. Some closer to this have described that WVNY will get its own transmitting antenna (as opposed to shared with WFFF) and that the broadcast power will also increase.

This morning, between 6:30 and 9 AM, I was receiving WVNY strong and crisp on WVNY. In net contrast with the heavily pixelated / in-out image I was receiving days before. I remain hopeful that the transmitting characteristics (antenna, power, pattern) this morning before 9 AM correspond to what it will be after the refit is complete.

Interestingly, PSIP was not working this morning. So the channels were displaying as 7-3, 7-4, 7-5, and 7-6. And there was no program information..

Stay tuned fellows.. because this might get interesting!

We were under Tropo. conditions this morning and still are I believe.
My reception of WVNY was normal this am before 9 : about 50% signal strength.

I did not know about the antenna change...But we`ll see, as you mentioned this might get interesting indeed.
Cheers

 

[STL]

The transmitter went back on air last night at around 7 PM and I've been receiving WVNY strong and crisp since. I did a rescan and the PSIP / program information re-appeared. Seems the refit work on the Mt. Mansfield transmitter is now done.

A neighbour a few blocks over, here in vieux St-Laurent, shared with me that he also enjoys strong and crisp reception with his CM 4228HD antenna which is 5 ft over flat roof, and a CM 7778 pre-amp.

Reception has never been this good for me since the RF7 frequency change last summer. Thank you to the engineering crew at WVNY who've made this possible.

 

[imeric]

Same here in Rosemont, a strong WVNY like never before! (including pre-repack). But WFFF is gone. I hope I get it back soon!

 

[WalterP]

WVNY and WFFF are both "off-air" (no signal lock) in my area (Plateau) as of a few minutes ago. It's likely that WFFF will reapear once the WVNY transmitter work is completed.

 

[ISO ABC MTL]

Can anyone help me get WVNY ? I don't mind paying money I would just like to get that station - I live in ndg so I feel I should be able to get it?

 

[rabbit73]

Can anyone help me get WVNY ? I don't mind paying money I would just like to get that station - I live in ndg so I feel I should be able to get it?

Hello, ISO ABC MTL, welcome to the forum.

How easy it will be for you to receive WVNY will depend upon where you live in NDG. Here is a sample signal report from rabbitears.info for a location near the intersection of Avenue Montclair and Monkland Ave, at postal code H4B 2J4, which is near Catherine Booth Hospital:
RabbitEars.Info

You can do your own signal report here (I use coordinates from Google maps):
RabbitEars.Info

At that location, which might not be near you, reception of WVNY would be difficult, but not impossible. The problem is that TVA and CTV are also channels on VHF-High and they are much stronger than WVNY. If you use a preamp to make WVNY stronger, the preamp might be overloaded by TVA and CTV. One possible solution would be to have a separate VHF-High directional antenna for WVNY. When it is aimed at WVNY, it will make the local channels much weaker.

This VHF antenna, the STELLAR LABS 30-2475 might be suitable for WVNY:
https://www.newark.com/stellar-labs/30-2475/fringe-directional-antenna-vhf/dp/48Y8141

 

[STL]

Hi ISO ABC MTL,

WVNY is completing the installation of a new broadcast antenna / power contour profile. The net of it is that the Montreal area will now be in a power lobe and receive higher signal strength which will make reception easier. The station went off the air this morning near 9 AM for this work, but is now back up again this afternoon.

How is your line of sight on the compass heading to Mt. Mansfield? Any tall buildings or obstructions in the way will decrease your signal strength.

Agree with Rabbit73: getting a dedicated VHF antenna for WVNY is a good way to proceed. The Stellar Labs is close to $50 last time I checked. Then, to deal with the signal coming from two antennas (one UHF and one VHF), you could buy a dual input pre-amp such as the Kitz Tech 700. This is close to $100 more.

Perhaps you can call your antenna installer back to install these parts when you receive them?

Best of luck!