Can anyone in Detriot pick up CBET HD?

[MRX37]

According to TVfool, Canada is broadcasting a DTV duplicate of Channel 9 on DTV channel 35. For the life of me I can't pick this station up!

There are apparently more then a few stations I should be able to get, but don't. Can anybody in Warren or the surrounding areas tell me what DTV channels they can get over the air?

[Carmine]

When I set up my digital box for the first time, I didn't pick up any Canadian stations. (But I receive analog channel 9-CBC very well).

Since the only digital channel worth watching is RTN, I just set my box up for RTN 7.2, and wired it into my house distribution system... So now I get analog and RTN when I tune to channel 3. Thus I haven't searched the "dial" in a while.

I did notice this interesting little tidbit during our last thunderstorm (Sunday?)

The digital channel turned to unwatchable crap. Surprise! Surprise!

Meanwhile, the analog channels continued along just fine. I have a pretty good yagi antenna, about 30 ft in the air. Pointed at Southfield, source of channel signal. Pretty much a line-of-sight straight down 696. It's all 75 ohm, with a 10db signal amp. If I can't get a good digital signal from about 15 miles away from the transmitter during a storm, this confirms all my feelings about the suckiness of DTV.

During a storm is about the only time I even care about watching TV!

[MRX37]

My setup has no amplifier, and I get very few dropouts.

You might want to try the "Coathanger HDTV antenna" in the DIY forum here. I built one today and mounted it outside and... I'm impressed. In any case, my antenna's only a few feet off the ground, and I get few dropouts during rain or snow.

I hope the reception issues disappear when the transmitters go to full power after Feb 17th... otherwise I'll come to miss analog FAST!

EDIt: Since you're in basiclly the same area as me, care to scan the dial and tell me what you get? Maybe we can compare notes.

[Robert Grant]

NO

It's not on the air (channel 35 is just an allocation - Canada DTV allocations are shown as "APP" even though there are no applications).

It would appear that Canada's plan for the future of TV is to have Digital TV ONLY in Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver. After 2011 31 August, all other Canadians will have to subscribe to some form of pay TV to see any TV at all.

I hope they change their mind. I like CBET, grew up with it back when it was CKLW-TV.


Rob

[MRX37]

That sucks... I happen to like "Royal Canadian air farce".

That explains CBET, but there are supposedly some other channels I'm supposed to get, yet can't find even a hint of them.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

NO

It's not on the air (channel 35 is just an allocation - Canada DTV allocations are shown as "APP" even though there are no applications).

It would appear that Canada's plan for the future of TV is to have Digital TV ONLY in Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver. After 2011 31 August, all other Canadians will have to subscribe to some form of pay TV to see any TV at all.

I hope they change their mind. I like CBET, grew up with it back when it was CKLW-TV.


Rob

So after that date, all Canadian NTSC stations will go dark in the other cities and there will be no ATSC stations to replace them? So if I go into Canada with a TV with an ATSC tuner outside those three cities, as they say in "Futurama," does that mean "I'm boned?" If that's the case, it's a shame. I know I really don't like how they forced it on us in the U.S. but at least we will still have terrestrial TV and the TV box program to soften the blow.

[Robert Grant]

Unless some apps actually start rolling into Industry Canada, really "boned" (lol).

The plan also calls for some NTSC transmitters to remain on after the 8-31-11 cutoff date in "outlying areas", but were not clear on how far "outlying" is, suggesting Nunavut (IMHO, Elliott Lake should be "outlying" enough).

If you're lucky, they'll decide anything more than 100km from Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver is "outlying".

I don't know if they realize that there is still importance to terrestrial TV in Canada. Sure, cable subscriber rates in Canada have been extremely high long before it was common in the USA (American stations can't put transmitters on Canadian territory, but can be carried on cable throughout the country), but for those who don't live on the cable grid, satellite service can be problematic. Much of Canada is, or course, at Northerly latitudes, from where geostationary satellites are closer to the horizon. Too, much of Canada is covered with boreal forest, so some may need to cut down dozens of trees to get a clear window just above the horizon for TV.

A practical option I would suggest for Canada would be to do "flash cut" ATSC installations through the existing antennas on the existing channels (e.g. CBET could replace their analog ch 9 transmitter with a digital channel 9, rather than building channel 35). An added bonus would be that they would not have to replace every transmitter (e.g.,CBEFT [ch 54, SRC] and CICO32 [ch32, TVO] could be presented in SD on 9.2 and 9.3).

Rob

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

Unless some apps actually start rolling into Industry Canada, really "boned" (lol).

The plan also calls for some NTSC transmitters to remain on after the 8-31-11 cutoff date in "outlying areas", but were not clear on how far "outlying" is, suggesting Nunavut (IMHO, Elliott Lake should be "outlying" enough).

If you're lucky, they'll decide anything more than 100km from Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver is "outlying".

I don't know if they realize that there is still importance to terrestrial TV in Canada. Sure, cable subscriber rates in Canada have been extremely high long before it was common in the USA (American stations can't put transmitters on Canadian territory, but can be carried on cable throughout the country), but for those who don't live on the cable grid, satellite service can be problematic. Much of Canada is, or course, at Northerly latitudes, from where geostationary satellites are closer to the horizon. Too, much of Canada is covered with boreal forest, so some may need to cut down dozens of trees to get a clear window just above the horizon for TV.

A practical option I would suggest for Canada would be to do "flash cut" ATSC installations through the existing antennas on the existing channels (e.g. CBET could replace their analog ch 9 transmitter with a digital channel 9, rather than building channel 35). An added bonus would be that they would not have to replace every transmitter (e.g.,CBEFT [ch 54, SRC] and CICO32 [ch32, TVO] could be presented in SD on 9.2 and 9.3).

Rob

I was doing some Googling research and it appears to me that Canadian TV stations all over will switch to digital like our stations. I don't know if it will be a flash cut or now, but I'm assuming that like here in the States, you will be able to use rabbit ears and antennas for HDTV. At least that's how I understand it, otherwise with millions of people left in the dark on OTA TV, I'm sure there will be lots of people who'd want to tar and feather "the powers that be."

[Kuma]

I've got the Radio Shack decoder box (which is fantastic, btw), but there is no channel 35.

I'm located at 9 and Woodward, and with only a dollar store rabbit ear antenna, this is my channel lineup:

2-1, 2-2, 4-1, 4-2, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 20-1, 20-2, 38-1, 38-2, 50-1, 56-1, 56-2, 56-3, and 62-1.

Thinking of rigging up the coat hanger arrangement, but everything's fine with what I've got. Are there more channels to be had with a better antenna?

I can't believe how good the picture is - better than cable, and it's FREE!!!

[Kuma]

I wish CBC would broadcast digitally - I'm a bit of a hockey fan...

[MRX37]

Originally Posted by Kuma

I've got the Radio Shack decoder box (which is fantastic, btw), but there is no channel 35.

I'm located at 9 and Woodward, and with only a dollar store rabbit ear antenna, this is my channel lineup:

2-1, 2-2, 4-1, 4-2, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 20-1, 20-2, 38-1, 38-2, 50-1, 56-1, 56-2, 56-3, and 62-1.

That's exactly what I get too. 50 (14) is the weakest, but comes in fine with a good antenna.

According to TVfool, there should also be a channel 8, a channel 48, and the Canadian channels, but I can't find a trace of them.

[Kuma]

I keep tinkering with the notion of creating a super coat hanger array - but I'm so happy with the quality of reception I get now I wonder if it's worth the trouble.

I just dropped cable (WOW) yesterday. The picture I get over the digital airwave is much better - and I didn't really watch many cable stations anyway (except for FSN during hockey season). And with the money saved, in just a couple months I'll be able to get a quad set of tubes for the Dynaco.

But TVfool's claim has me thinking of some sort of antenna project...

[MRX37]

Originally Posted by Kuma

I keep tinkering with the notion of creating a super coat hanger array - but I'm so happy with the quality of reception I get now I wonder if it's worth the trouble.


But TVfool's claim has me thinking of some sort of antenna project...

Ehhh I'm kinda heading down that road... but I suspect these channels are just FCC allotments and aren't in use yet.

I wouldn't mind being able to pick up the digital stations from Toledo Ohio, as I can with their analog counterparts, but I suspect I'd need a powerful antenna, and even then I'd get large drop outs.

Having 3 PBS stations is pretty cool, and 56 is one of the strongest signals I get.

[Kuma]

My weakest channel is 2-1. In fact, I'm glad 2-2 broadcasts the same thing, because it comes in much better.

And I agree about the three PBS stations - great programming, and it's one of my strongest signals, too.

[MRX37]

Originally Posted by Kuma

My weakest channel is 2-1. In fact, I'm glad 2-2 broadcasts the same thing, because it comes in much better.

That makes no sense to me, as from what I can tell by looking at the signal strength, 2.1 and 2.2 come from the same transmitter.