Over the Air Television after the Digital Switch
There has been a fantastic amount of misinformation about Canada's digital transition spreading around the Internet and the media. I will try one more time to set the record straight about DTV in Canada.
an HDTV channel received FOR FREE with my antenna
It is important to realize that the switch to digital does NOT mean you need to subscribe to cable or satellite to continue to receive TV. You can continue to receive programming over-the-air with THE SAME antenna you used before the transition. Broadcasters are simply transmitting a digital signal rather then an analog one, and you simply need to purchase a relatively inexpensive converter box to receive these digital signals on your analog TV set. Have a look at my DTV page for a list of links and videos that explain the truth about DTV in Canada.
The transition on BC's South Coast
Between the evening of August 30, 2011 and September 1, 2011 a lot of changes happened in the broadcast TV market on BC's south coast. Here is a quick summary:
- August 30, CHNU-TV-1 (analog repeater of CHNU TV in Victoria) flash cuts to digital, the broadcast was a test pattern until the next day
- August 31, 12:02AM CIVT Vancouver shuts down their analog transmitter on 32 and their temp. digital transmitter on 33 and turns on their full-power digital signal on ch 32
- August 31, 12:30AM CIVI Victoria flash cuts their Vancouver transmitter on ch 17 to digital, they also shut down their Victoria analog transmitter and moved the digital signal to ch 23
- August 31, 10:00AM (approx.) CKVU TV Vancouver moves their digital signal from ch 47 to ch 33, the analog signal is terminated later
- August 31, 11:15AM (approx.) CHEK-TV turns on their digital transmitter on channel 49, the analog broadcast shuts down later
- August 31, 11:30AM - 11:40AM CHNU-TV shuts down their digital signal on ch 66 and turns on their full-power digital signal on ch 47
- August 31, 12:30 (approx.) CKVU and CHNM turn on their digital repeaters in Victoria
- August 31, 3pm(approx.) CHAN turns off their signal on analog channel 8, digital transmission was already active on 22 for months.
- September 1, 12:00AM CBUT (CBC) shuts down their analog signal on ch 2 and their temp. digital signal on ch 58, final digital signal on ch 43 is on-air by 1AM
- September 1, 12:00AM CBUFT shuts down their analog signal on ch 26 and turns on their digital signal on ch 26
The repeater for CHNU in Victoria went live on Aug. 30
Reception in Victoria post-transition
Post-transition in the city of Victoria BC there are quite a few digital television channels that can be received over-the-air. The four channels that come from a tower located in Rockland can be received with an indoor antenna across most of the city. Of these channels two broadcast in full 1080i high definition. The channels are: CityTV (HD), CTV2 (HD), Omni TV, and JoyTV. With a larger antenna mounted on a rooftop stations like KVOS (Bellingham), CBC HD (Vancouver), CTV HD (Vancouver), Global HD (Vancouver), KBTC (PBS Bellingham), CHEK TV (Victoria), and CBC French can be received. In some parts of Victoria it is even possible to receive American broadcasters from Seattle such as ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX.
All the stations that broadcast from Victoria, Vancouver, and Bellingham are on the UHF television band. These sets of frequencies are higher in the radio spectrum than the original television channels 2 through 13. Because UHF broadcasts are higher in frequency they require a smaller antenna then older VHF transmissions. A good antenna chart (built buy the great guys at the DHC Forum can be found here.
a UHF antenna suitable for recption from Vancouver, Bellingham, and Victoria.
There are a lot of resources available on the Internet, for a list of links and videos have a look at my DTV page.
