Heehee.. . you know something? This is a classic case of "the grass is greener on the other side"! I want Global in HD and my Canadian friends want NBC.. . :-)

If Daniel's chart is indeed correct and the strong Canadian upgrades happen to several channels across the board, then I will be able to turn my antenna a little more toward Buffalo to get a stronger NBC, NBC Universal Sports, RTV with a few other signal without compromising my Canadian channels.

Right now I can get a nice strong NBC signal, but I would have to sacrifice at least 5 Canadian signals (CTV, Global HD, CityTV, OMNI 2, SUN TV) my wife would have my head if I ever did such a thing lol

Can’t wait for the signal upgrades. Should make for some great High Def viewing.

Well, Bill, I hate the metric system with a vengeance.....it was created for the laboratory and in the lab it should have stayed.
I want my temps in English....The Fahrenheit scale covers the comfort zone where most life lives or dies,so I watch Buffalo/Cincinnati weather. :-)

What CFTO has planned is actually a downgrade.

Speaking of, has anyone been having difficulty with CFTO reception? I'm at York University and there seem to be intermittent issues with receiving it lately. This has not always been the case, and I receive everything else (CBC, CBCF, CHCH, Global, OMNI1, OMNI2, SUN, CityTV) fine.

What direction is your antenna pointed towards? Alot of the Toronto channels are quite sensitive. I'm down in SW Missisauga near Oakville and can recieve CFTO fine from the side of my eaglestar 4bay.

They're downgrading their power because they are moving to VHF (RF9)

VHF apparantly needs less power to cover the same area.

Then again it could kill alot of people who have UHF only/weak VHF antennas.

Can someone back me up on this? :P

Its a circular Omni-directional.
Still a downgrade because my receiving of D-40 is hit or miss, as reported in earlier posts
and analogue VHF 9 is nothing to write home about because its grainier than analogue 57[CityTV]
and even that is sometimes unattainable. Needs more power.

Do you mean CTV? Yes, but if you look at the charts provided, it looks like almost ever other channel from Toronto is getting a nice signal boost. I rather get a nice boost in CityTV, GlobalHD, OMNI1, OMNI2, SunTV, CBC etc. vs. losing CTV. But who knows, I still might be able to recieve it even after the downgrade.

Signal Upgrades.
15-115-1Sun TV
CKXT-DT
8.2 kW634'15-1
493 kW
1100'Hamilton

5-120-1CBC
CBLT-DT
38 kW1611'20-1
100 kW
1640'CN Tower
(Toronto)

25-124-1CBC French
CBLFT-DT
2.5 kW1611'25-1
99 kW
1640'CN Tower
(Toronto)

36-135-1Crossroads
CITS-DT
10 kW1110'36-1
493 kW
1110'Hamilton

44-144-1OMNI.2 (69)
CJMT-DT
15 kW996'44-1
100 kW
996'Toronto
57-153-1Citytv

CITY-DT
2.2 kW1690'51-1
23 kW
1520'CN Tower
(Toronto)

64-164-1OMNI.1 (47)
CFMT-DT
15 kW996'47-1
99 kW
1645'Toronto

41-165-1Global
CIII-DT
3 kW1505'41-1
100 kW
1645'CN Tower
(Toronto)

66-166-1Sun TV (52)
CKXT-DT
2.81 kW1503'40-1
107 kW
1532'CN Tower
(Toronto)


Downgrading Signal for some reason?
9-140-1CTV
CFTO-DT
17.4 kW1532'9-1
2.4 kW
1532'CN Tower
(Toronto)

11-118-1CHCH
CHCH-DT
60 kW1110'11-1
6.1 kW
1175'Hamilton

Broadcast coverage area, frequency and power are all factors here.
lower bands do not need as much power to carry.

with the digital carrier/modulation, it seems even less power is required for the same coverage area.

i did find a digital vs. analog equivalency chart a couple years ago in my searches.
i'll have to see if i can find it again. City-tv was used as an example.
(likely because they were one of the early broadcasters up and running.)

Does CTV plan on switching before, or after the olympics?

I am sure, since they are the ones making the big deal about the Olympics, that doing so before, would be a career limiting move for the person who made the decision to do so......  

Going digital only is likely to be done as close to the cut-off date as possible, in case the CRTC or Industry Canada make changes to the conversion process.  We have the advantage of assessing the US conversion process where there is a similar geography and making changes to our conversion process before the stuff is actually built.  Suppose after the assessment of the US they decide that a station that was going to use 25kw really needs 45kw,  right now it's changing a number on a piece of paper, that costs 10 cents to reprint the piece of paper.  When the thing is actually built, changing from 25kw to 45kw can easily cost $100,000.  

There is probably a lot of leeway when your in "test" mode, so it's advantagious to stay in test mode as long as possible.  There is also the ability to service both analog and digital customers, something they don't have once the conversion is complete.  I don't see any Canadian station going digital only much before August 1, 2011.

I now realize that the conversion will most likely take place on the cutoff date.

Dunno what I was thinking when I posted that.. . :-/

Here's an update. Just made some minor antenna changes and now these are the new results. I've strengthen Global HD, SunTV HD and CTV HD signals
I had to sacrifice NBC 2-1, 2-2 & RTV 2-3 but I do get them on a good day the odd time.

CH. 4-1   - 92 - CBS HD - Colden, Buffalo
CH. 5-1   - 93 - CBC HD - CN Tower Toronto
CH. 7-1   - 91 - ABC HD - Colden, Buffalo
CH. 9-1   - 81 - CTV HD - CN Tower Toronto
CH. 11-1 - 71 - E! HD - Hamilton
CH. 17-1 - 96 - PBS HD - Grand Island, Buffalo
CH. 17-2 - 96 - PBS SD - Grand Island, Buffalo
CH. 17-3 - 95 - Think Bright - Grand Island, Buffalo
CH. 23-1 - 92 - The CW HD - Grand Island, Buffalo
CH. 25-1 - 94 - CBC-F HD - CN Tower Toronto
CH. 29-1 - 97 - Fox29 HD - Grand Island, Buffalo
CH. 29-2 - 96 - Fox29 SD - Grand Island, Buffalo
CH. 41-1 - 84 - Global HD - CN Tower Toronto
CH. 44-1 - 86 - OMNI.2 HD - CN Tower Toronto
CH. 49-1 - 81 - MyTV HD - Wyoming, Buffalo
CH. 57-1 - 78 - City TV HD - CN Tower Toronto
CH. 64-1 - 68 - OMNI. 1 HD - CN Tower Toronto
CH. 66-1 - 73 - Sun TV HD - CN Tower Toronto

When I see this, I think my own pathetic channel listing, and want to cry....

CH. 5-1,  9-1, 25-1, 41-1, 44-1, 57-1, 64-1, 66-1 and in analog 19.

All show up pretty good and full strength, but no Buffalo stations at all.  I think I know the problem, the antenna needs to be much higher, and outside, but that isn't currently possible since I don't have a way of getting through the window, without drilling and my landlord wouldn't like that, plus I would need somewhere to put the antenna without it showing.  This would all be possible at the back (North end) of the house where there is already a hole through that I could use and the antenna even if visible wouldn't be an issue.  That of course means having about a 75m cable run, to the front of the house.....   I wonder if a preamp would boost it enough to make it useful, or would I need a booster amp along the line....    Might just put up with it though, I get the same channels now in HD that I used to get in analog, so I may just leave it be, other then maybe rebuilding the antenna so it looks nicer.