WBXZ Channel 56 (RF17) is now on the air from the HSBC building in downtown Buffalo try and see if you can get them.

Comments on their facebook page are that people in Whitby, and Scarborough are able to pick this new channel up pretty good.

They're in the testing mode right now so it's older "public domain' programming

WBXZ will be home to COZI, Retro TV, PBJ and Heartland. They hope to get Movies! too.

56-1 thru 56-6.

Thank you for the heads up, but so far black screen (as in no signal) for DTV 56, and I played a lot with my indoor antenna located very close to the balcony facing Lake Ontario. Eglinton Ave E and McCowan Rd in Scarborough.
We don't know transmitter's power and height yet.
As soon as I get it on, I'll post back in this very thread.

[Link: facebook.com]

All the best.

PS I don't think their signal is ever gonna cross Lake Ontario, at least for now:

[Link: wbxztv.com]

They are using a low-powered transmitter.

Is there a service available to stream ION and WBBZ?

I live NW of Toronto and get most of the Buffalo stations with a decent antenna and preamp on a 48' tower. ION and WBBZ are the two that are missing. TVFOOL shows ION to be 2edge. WBBZ is just not there despite having a VHF fringe antenna.

If I set up a stream myself, HDHomeRun Plus could work if I set it up a friends house near Fort Erie. But I'd pretty much own his upload capacity when streaming.

Any idea's?

For years, I've had zero problems receiving CBC OTA (5-1). It has always been rock-solid -- until the past couple of weeks when the signal strength drops to zero for a few seconds, then to full strength, then back to zero. It doesn't happen all the time time but when it does happen the channel is not watchable. Anyone else having this problem and do you know how to fix it? I have a good outdoor antenna (CM 2448 I think?) and I am really puzzled by this. I am located in the west end of Toronto near Bloor and Runnymede.

Sounds like a "bounce" off of an apartment or office tower causing multipath, slight shift of your antenna direction or higher gain type may help. Or TREES!

A little more info as to antenna direction, any seen blockage, trees, etc would be helpful to us

Thanks Nueatit. There are no trees on my property that would be causing this, but there are large, mature trees across the street. It had occurred to me that the trees are now full of leaves and that could be a factor, but ... CBC is the only channel with this problem. I get all the Canadian channels off the CN Tower with no issues and also get all the main networks from Buffalo perfectly. I'm in the west end of Toronto and the antenna is positioned such that it is pointing slightly right of the CN Tower and slightly left of Buffalo -- ie. in the middle -- so that it captures both. I am mystified as to why it is only happening with CBC and was thinking it might be a transmission rather than a reception issue. I have a good antenna (CM 2448) and have never experienced this before in 5 years of OTA viewing . The problem started a few weeks ago. Signal goes from 10 to 0 and back to 10 several times a minute when it's happening. Other time no problem at all. Anyone else experiencing intermittent signal loss with CBC 5-1 or have a theory?

Make sure your Antenna is not slightly moving around. Not sure if trees will have that much effect on an Antenna Signal. I do know for a fact trees affect Satellites.

I'm at Hwy #7 and Yonge St. the CBC signal has not changed. It still sounds like a multipath or tree blockage of some sort. Even thou the signal may show you are at a 10 that mormally is the start part of rf curve in a receiver, if signal is stronger (eg receiver close to TX site) AGC pulls gain back and signal meter still shows a 10. so the difference between a 10 and zero may not be that much at all if at lower end.

An antenna swing would be random and seldom go back into the same position. Visual inspection could rule that out.

For fun, try an indoor antenna for local CBC station ALSO some UHF antennas/pre-amps have less gain at lower part of the spectrum, CBC is chn 20, but if chn 11-1 is OK (rf chn 15) then this is not a problem.

I picked up an amplified indoor antenna and I am now getting CBC trouble free -- well, I have to move the antenna around sometimes but once I find the sweet spot the signal is solid. Still not sure what the original problem was but I can now watch World Cup and The National. I suspect that when the leaves are gone this fall the outdoor antenna will return to delivering flawless CBC reception. I appreciate all the advice.

Just caught CTV news and they said that Bell and Rogers have an application before the CRTC regarding pick-and-pay (which will NEVER be cheaper) One of Bell's request is to eliminate their over-the-air stations from transmitting free TV...I'll look into this more, hope others, here in the forum will too and hopefully voice your opinion.

I woudn't miss CTV if they went off the air anyways, but it's the principle. Simply a cash-grab for a billion dollar company that just keeps gobbling up everything in sight...

As long as people are watching, advertisors are paying.
Would have thought the whole off air thing would give them a fudge factor to add to their viewership numbers.
Hope the CRTC stands firm on this, otherwise they just add fuel to people finding ways to pirate the shows.
Sat signals have been hacked before, and now the internet is a great resource for finding what you want to watch without paying cable or satellite TV bills.

Do you mean a ATI Wonder? If so, cool, haven't seen one of those in a while. Will get you some nice OTA HD channels for sure. Like this?[Link: products.amd.com]

Rescanned chn 49 and yes there is "Get TV" 49-2 available. They still need some adjustment, got a 16 by 9 format in small screen based on an SD (4 by 3) format signal.

However, lately lost PBS chn out of Grand Island, was always weak at Hwy 7 and Yonge, sent e-mail to them over a year ago, stating signal strength and their rf power was low, they stated so be it attitude. However, chn 23 is solid all the time, same general transmitter location and more rf power. Same type of problem at Jane & Finch area!

Anyone else having low signal from PBS chn 17?