The CKVR Hamilton repeater asked for RF35. No decision from the CRTC on that one yet.

132 kW for CHCH on RF 15 would make it the strongest of all the Canadian stations in the GTA, would it not? That is a great sign (except for those who can pull in WEWS from Cleveland and would probably be living in a null area).

As for WBNF, they are an LP which means that they have to accept interference from whoever uses RF 15. There is word that WBNF may have asked the FCC to move from RF 15 to RF 16. 16 is protected for WSEE (CBS, Erie PA) so this should be fine since that signal doesn't reach in to Buffalo.

The only people at a loss would be VX9AMK (Star Ray TV). Their small signal in the beaches would for sure get hammered and they will likely have to change frequencies.

I tend to lose some channels at night but durring the day I get them back. So for me I perform a scan durring the day to get max channels. Does this happen to anybody else?

You guys are assuming this will get rubber stamped, and it won't. Class A stations in the U.S. get protection from interference. Don't believe me, you can google this. Then explain why CKXT on CH15 was not allowed to broadcast to the south towards Grand Island and had a directional antenna broadcasting mostly to the north and west. Simple, they had to protect WBNF from interference. CHCH will simply have to use a directional antenna, broadcasting away from Grand Island if they go on UHF 15. By the way, LPTV stations don't get protection, but LP Class A stations do.
Here is an excerpt from the FCC's website regarding Class A television stations such as WBNF:

1. In April 2000 we released a Report and Order establishing a Class A television service.1 Our action implemented the Community Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999 (“CBPA”), which was signed into law November 29, 1999.2 Pursuant to the CBPA and our implementing rules, certain qualifying low-power television (“LPTV”) stations will be accorded Class A status. Class A licensees will have “primary” status as television broadcasters, thereby gaining a measure of interference protection from full-service television stations, even as those stations convert to a digital format. The CBPA and our Report and Order will facilitate the acquisition of capital needed by LPTV stations to allow them to continue to provide free, over-the-air programming, particularly locally-produced programming, to their communities. In this Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration, we dispose of petitions for reconsideration of the Report and Order, make changes to some of our rules, and provide clarification of other rules.3

It clearly states that they get protection from Interference from Full Power Tv stations such as CHCH.

Humph! :-(
it means I still won't get CHCH DT.

OK, understand about protection of WBNF from interference from CHCH and that the application may be a long shot.

Now that I digest all of this, my question is why is CHCH bothering to apply for a move to UHF15. In their application they state that the move is due to the reduced coverage on VHF11.

I ask again, why dont the engineers at CHCH simply ask for higher power on 11. Who is telling them to stay at 6 KW. I am sure if they went to 20 KW it would be just as good as moving to 15 at 132 KW. I dont get it.

Me neither, though 80-100 KW on VHF11 should make it weather-glitch proof.AFAIK.

You are right at that VHF power, they would cover a greater area solidly HOWEVER, they must now realize most OTA antennas will be UHF only and eventually the VHF spectrum will go to mobile applications.

Best now to secure UHF slot, same should go for CTV. In the north country away from southern Ontario VHF is better to cover larger areas and the chance of co-channel interference is very low.

Am I the only one that wonders what was wrong with Channel 18 for CHCH? I get 11 at 100% now--heck I can get CKVR and they're on channel 10, but I don't watch it, but I do feel for those who are having a hard time getting CHCH.

I hope whatever happens it makes it much easier for everyone to get them.

Maybe its my location, however, channel 10 and 11 even channel 7 are being recieved at a level around 45% that should provide the digital tvs (2) to decode this but I guess that my antenna view and the multitude of highrises south of me are causing serious VHF reflections/multipath. The "nulls" at these lower frequencies are wider and possibly deeper. These ghosts were very apparent when chn 9 & 5 were analogue. The UHF analogue chn 17, 19 23, 25 etc were always OK.

It all has to do with Industry Canada channel allotments. The allotments in the US/Canada border area are co-ordinated with the FCC. Channel 18 was a TEMPORARY allotment for the transition, not a permanent one.

|I ask again, why dont the engineers at CHCH simply ask for higher power on 11. Who is telling them to stay at 6 KW.

Again, Industry Canada.

The allotments are not etched in stone, but it is very cumbersome to get them changed. Look at it this way, to move to an existing allotment, all they need to do is get CRTC approval. To move to a new allotment, they'd need to go to Industry Canada, then Industry Canada would need to go to the FCC, and only after these approvals are received, approach the CRTC.

Keep in mind the FCC is busy trying to further reduce OTA tv spectrum, so any approval may be hard to get.

On another topic, I notice that CITY TV, OMNI1 and OMNI2 are much stronger even though it is raining here in North York.

Does anyone know if they have moved their transmitters from BMO building to CN Tower which was their plan by the end of November.

Not sure what their power output is.... I have heard that CITYTV was going to have a power of 100 KW on the low end to 1000 KW on the high end. I wonder what power they actually implemented. In any case, these three stations are coming in rock solid in North York at this point in time.

It will be interesting to see if viewers in Niagara-Buffalo area see an improvement.

Please ignore my last message. As I checked further, it appears that the signal strengths of these channels has not improved significantly (I have a second TV with a non-amplified antenna and it showed no improvement... so I think I may be mistaken).

You could have received an improvement. Other sites seem to indicate that there's been some testing going on at the CN Tower by Rogers.

Here is the latest news on CITY TV and OMNI broadcasting plans.

OMNI 1, 47 and City 44 will broadcast from the CN Tower starting Dec 12. OMNI 2, 51 will remain at FCP until approval for channel 40 from the CN Tower is approved by CRTC, see application on CRTC web site.

No information on what the power levels will be but broadcasting from CN Tower should be a big help. It will be interesting to see if our Buffalo/Niagara viewers see an improvement in reception on Dec 12.