Hi all,

I keep looking at the Buffalo and Toronto map and contrasting the signal strength of the US stations (up to 1000 kW) to Canadian stations [from 2.2 kW!!]. Does anybody else imagine these stations being powered by hamsters on a treadwheels?

I don't know who is to blame, but if the CRTC starts mandating minimum signal strengths for major stations, things have to improve. So here is my online complaint.

I hope other Canadians will contact the CRTC with their own personal experience and frustrations. Heck, Americans demanding more Rick Mercer and Canadian news would be interesting too. Remember the spring when some of us couldn't get CITY or Global or sound on CTV during the Royal Wedding or the Stanley Cup?

Have fun. You'll see I referenced Remote Central's excellent channel database.

Sue

CRTC complaint form link:
[Link: crtc.gc.ca]


COMPLAINT

Organizations: the CRTC, southern Ontario broadcasters

The CRTC must get more serious about over-the-air broadcast quality and the power of signals. Since the digital switch, some stations have much worse digital reception than before -- CHCH TV is an example of that. Part of this reason is that the stations do not have adequate power to transmit appropriate distances. Take a look at the Western Lake Ontario list of stations: [Link: remotecentral.com]

You will see that American stations like FOX and WNLO broadcast at 1000kW. Here in Canada, both CITY-TV and SUN-TV have signals with less than 3 kW -- that's 0.3% of American signals' power. I live in Toronto, 18 subway stops from the CITY-TV building and cannot receive their signal reliably. SUN TV, Global Toronto and Omni 2 have very similar problems and tiny power.

More people are switching to antennas because of budget, but many are also switching because the quality of HD signals, especially with American stations. These pictures are often much better than satellite or cable. OTA'ers are not a fringe population any more; in fact, many tech savvy homes are taking advantage of the quality of US digital TV signals.

Surely the CRTC can and should set better standards to promote Canadian programming actually reaching Canadian TVs. Please regulate the TV stations in Southern Ontario so that they have the signal strength to reach more Canadians.

Couldn't agree more - and I'm two days ahead of you. I sent my complaint already. I had a plan (in my head anyway) to "cut the cord" with cable TV or Bell or even satellite. Why should I pay Rogers cable for cable TV and then be forced to sit and watch those awful commercials? My plan was to watch OTA digital in HD. Kiss that goodbye unless you live at the base of the CN tower...
Anyway, I intend to keep watching to see if they (the CRTC) do anything...

I on the contrary disagree. with the exception of CHCH the rest of the pack from Toronto has increased power and therefore improved signal quality for the most of its coverage area. Living so close to the CN tower specially in a city with so many high rise buildings its a disadvantage , too much multipath to fight with . I rather live in Missiisauga for instance, not too close , not too many high rises reflecting signals.

But heck this a free country , the freedom to complaint for even the uncomplainable is certainly a freedom that canadians seem to even enjoy pretty much like playing a sport.

Also in Mississauga, I concur with hd fan that the Toronto signals have improved. Really enjoying addition of TVO in the HD lineup.

I live in Pape & Danforth area in Toronto and lost CFTO (9.1) and CHCH (11.1) with the switch. Prior to the switch, CFTO was great, and CHCH was sketchy but at least there. CIII actually seems to have improved, and it was nice to see TVO finally arrive.

Thanks for the link to the CRTC. I posted a complaint about the signal issues all around.

[UPDATE] My tuner on my PC can't find CFTO, unless I manually add it and use their new frquency of 9, and not 40 as it was before.