Some R&B...

CHCH comes in for us in south Ajax.
Turn the antenna to point away from the signal source and in it comes...

CKXT going into permanent retirement - after backing into a cable channel they say they are returning the broadcast licences in October, after the provincial election... speculate that they don't want to deal with Bell/G/M for the channel 40 transmitter... did they get the funds from Bell and Rogers for their {ahem} cable channel?... SNN says they are killing everyone in western Canada... Moses Z may want to try fixing another station?

A number of years ago, the MotherCorp made a big stink about WGRZ going to 1,000 watts on channel 33, their Barrie transition allotment; which they were going to run at 1,000 watts. The alloment was never used, and now channel 16 is being turned off - just like London Ont.

Did some more checking on CHCH for me in Richmondhill, due north CN Tower, chn 11 signal is at about 35% but I think that reflections at the VHF frequency are more pronounced than UHF. Still a no go for me on two different TV sets.

Also, Global is 50% stronger on their final chn 41, TVO is at 80%, while Buffalo chns except for chn 4 are all at around 60%, lately though having some trouble with Grand Isl. chns around sundown.

With regard to CKXT going dark OTA, not a big loss for me, way too righwinged news and commentaries, I can get more balanced info on the internet news channels from around the world!

Probably not, and I'd wager that's why they're dumping their terrestrial licences; once those are shut down, Quebecor can argue that SunTV now requires carriage fees from BDUs, whereas while transmitting OTA their cable/sat/IPTV competitors could argue that they were simply retransmitting a terrestrial signal not subject to carriage fees.

Curiously, I remember the head of Quebecor making noises about opposing carriage fees for OTA broadcasters during the Kabuki debate last year. I wonder if dumping their Sun-branded OTA assets has been in the works all along.

Hi gang,

I too am disappointed and frustrated over the recent loss of CHCH (my "superstation" lol). I've also been trying to catch channel 67.1 but it doesn't even show up on the radar.

I wanted to ask some of the experts: I have a DB8 VHF/UHF antenna high atop my roof peak in north-west Brampton. With the exception of 11.1 and 67.1 (the two actual VHF channels) I can grab all the Buffalo and Toronto channels with good reliability. I think 26.1-.4 is the weakest, with ION channels second weakest but pretty regular.

My preamp is a CM 777 (I think, or a 776) - its only a UHF pre-amp. I'm considering swapping that for a good VHF/UHF preamp to see if I can pull in 11.1 and 67.1 but because some folks have said CHCH drastically cut their strength does anyone think I'd even have a chance of pulling that in from where I live?

The DB8 is a UHF antenna, and 11.1 and 67.1 are VHF. (as you already pointed out) While the DB8 may get some of the higher VHF channels, it will not get them with very much gain. Suggest you add a VHF-Hi antenna like the Winegard YA-1713 for VHF.

Son of a gun... I thought all this time my antenna was a UHF & VHF model (really?). I guess that's why someone recommended I buy the UHF only preamp.

This sucks. So will bolting up a VHF pre-amp to my DB8 will do anything? 11.1 (actual channel) is a high-er up VHF channel.

Actually question I should be asking is given CHCH current transmitter power level and my distance, would a real VHF antenna w/ preamp even be able to get that channel?

I get CHCH fine in North York with a DB8. The only requirement is that I must point the antenna towards Hamilton. You should be able to easily get CHCH with your DB8 but you must point it towards Hamilton. I am sure this is a nuisance for you since most other stations will be south-east from Brampton and Hamilton is south-west.... a good ninety degrees apart.

Once again, if I can receive CHCH with a DB8 in North York you should not have a problem in Brampton. I have learned with OTA that a lot of antenna experimentation is required.

Interesting results NFASTRO. Just curious if you are using a preamp and if so which one? (is it a VHF & UHF preamp?)

I haven't had my antenna adjusted in over 3 years and I'm sure a lot has changed. I probably should get up there to play around. Back when I first installed it we used NBC 2.1 as our target as at the time it was by far the hardest buffalo station to dial in. We adjusted the antenna until we got the strongest 2.1 signal and then tightened her down. I think right now the antenna is actually facing a bit east of Buffalo (its hard to say). Its definitely aiming "towards" buffalo and I'm picking up all the Toronto stations no problem with my east facing wing. We'll see how much movement towards hamilton I'd need to get 11.1 back without losing too many other stations. I'd imagine the odd time I get a rochester station would diminish completely. But who cares.

To Northwest Brampton. I am using a philips pre-amp, it was cheapie I got rather than the CM 7777 which is definitely better. However, with or without preamp I know I can get Hamilton CHCH. However, I must swing the antenna around to face Hamilton, especially a directional antenna like the DB8. I can almost guarantee you will get Hamilton. The only problem is you will lose most of the Buffalo stations. The only solution is to get a rotor or possibly install a second smaller antenna pointed toward Hamilton with a splitter. Again you might lose signal so is it worth just to get Hamilton.

My beef with CHCH is that if they had gone to higher power, possibly 20 or 30 KW when they moved to CH11.1 rather than a measly 6 KW, you and I would receive CHCH without having to rotate the antenna. I sent a feedback email to CHCH but have not received any reply.

Depends on your tuner. CHCH comes in on one TV but not the other. Seems that the firmware prevents one TV from recognizing digital signals on a vhf channel. I get 80% on the one tv and the other won't even recognize 11.1 This may be the problem for a lot of people. My JVC won't scan for digital signals below channel 12, yet my cheap Dynex does. I wonder if there is a firmware upgrade for JVC televisions.

chihawk:

You might be on higher ground than me, plus I've previously mentioned I'm in the downtown core of Welland and that may affect my reception,as well as height.

chihawk make sure your JVC TV is set to Antena type Air instead of cable. It makes no sense that a TV would have a digital tuner that only works from ch 12 up. I wonder how you know it starts on ch 12 only. I would contact JVC and see what they have to say. Yes some manufacturers release firmware updates for their TV's to fix bugs or enhance functionality.

It is set to Air and digital ATSC. I am guessing that this is the problem because the other tv has a signal strength of 83% so I don't think that it is not picking up the signal. When CTV changes over I will see what happens then.

Channel Master model 7775 was a UHF only amplifier. Internally it is the same as the 7777, but missing the components for the FM trap and VHF section. As far as I can remember, (I did have it up initally but replaced it with the 7777) it will not pass the VHF, as the input has a filter. Connecting a VHF antenna to the 7775 will only reduce your UHF signals, as you are introducing more equipement for the UHF signals to travel through before it enters the amplifier. Replacing the amplifier with the UHF/VHF model (7777) should get you CHCH. I have heard of different people in the Toronto area getting 67.1, but they had a separate VHF antenna like the Antenna Craft Y10-7-13 or Winegard YA-1713.
I just built and installed a VHF-HI antenna based on the designs I found here:
[Link: imageevent.com]
[Link: digitalhome.ca]
With a separate VHF-HI antenna, you may get sporatic ch 67.1 reception, as weather plays a big role in reception. WBBZ may also make changes to improve their northern reception, as at one time when I inquired, they said they may look into that in the future once the Canadian digital switchover has taken place.

Ok guess I was wrong about some tuners not picking up digital channels bellow 13. Scanned today and got CTV on 9-1. So the tuner quality must make a difference if one tv gets it and the other doesn't.