Digital TV: CICA-DT

CICA is the local Toronto TVO station. Today is the day they switched over from broadcasting in analog to digital. Logged them this morning at 1204-1215 UTC (8 a.m. local) with children's programming. Not DX and not a new station, but a new addition to the digital TV station log. Digital channel: 19-1. RF channel: 19 (500 MHz). Callsign: CICA-DT. This is the 30th distinct digital TV station I've received.

Digital TV DX: W42CO Rochester NY

This morning there was good tropo propagation from the south and it yielded a new digital TV station logging (the first in two years):

• W42CO, Rochester NY, from 11:55 to 12:08 UTC (around 8 a.m. local time). This is digital channel 42 and also operates on RF channel 42 (638 MHz). This station is a Christian broadcaster in the TCT network - I think it is actually rebroadcasting the programing from WNYB 26 in Jamestown, NY. It had four subchannels: (1) Religious programming, (2) health infomercial, (3) TCT Family with children's cartoons, and (4) TCT La Frente with children's cartoons in Spanish. It operates at only 8 kW so it's a good catch.
  

This is the 29th distinct digital TV station I've received here.

Equipment: Toshiba TV connected to outdoor four-bay UHF antenna through Tivax STB-T8 digital TV converter.

SSTV on 20 Metres

One of the many transmission modes that radio amateurs can use on the HF bands is slow-scan television (SSTV). SSTV lets one transmit pictures using a narrow bandwidth signal, one narrow enough to fit in the 3 kHz legal bandwidth limits on the HF bands. The tradeoff is that low bandwidth means slow transmission and low resolution. In fact, it can typically take between 30 and 120 seconds to send a single frame. There is also no audio. So SSTV doesn't allow for the transmission of video. Instead, it is more like a slow slideshow, with pictures in SSTV mixed with talk between them in standard SSB.

Anyone with a shortwave receiver that supports SSB and a computer with a soundcard can decode SSTV signals. I use free software called MMSSTV for this. MMSSTV also generates SSTV signals that can be sent to a radio transmitter, of interest if you're a radio amateur that wants to try out this mode.

Radio amateurs using SSTV tend to stick close to a small range of frequencies so they can find each other. On the 20 metre band they're usually found around 14230-14240 kHz.

Today I had MMSSTV running, monitoring 14230 kHz to see what would pop up. I caught two stations operating in SSTV:

• WB5UXC, Pearlington MS at 2200-2220 UTC with a fair signal. He was in contact with KA0UNB (who wasn't visible to me) and with an N9 station. At 2219 he was calling CQ using a special CQ image.
• XE1RK, Mexico City (D.F.), Mexico at 2221-2230 with a good signal. This station answered WB5UXC's CQ call and they swapped pictures and talked in SSB. Fairly clear picture.

It may just be a slow slideshow but I think it's great that amateurs can transmit a type of television signal on shortwave.

Note that SSTV is different from ATV (Amateur television), where amateurs transmit standard broadcast quality television signals. ATV allows for full video with audio, but is restricted to the UHF bands because of the wide bandwidth needed.

Recent Digital Television Loggings

A couple of tropo openings have yielded some more DX stations for the digital television log.

44. WNYB-SD, RFC: 26, DC: 26-1, Jamestown NY, 2009-08-12, 23:54 - 23:56 UTC, TCT - Religious.
45. WNYB-HD, RFC: 26, DC: 26-2, Jamestown NY, 2009-08-12, 23:56-23:58 UTC, TCT.
46. WEWS, RFC: 15, DC: 5, Cleveland OH, 2009-08-16, 12:22-12:34 UTC, ABC.
47. WQHS-DT, RFC: 34, DC: 61-1, Cleveland OH, 2009-08-16, 13:03-13:07 UTC, Univision - Spanish.

The two from Cleveland are the most distant digital TV stations I've got now. WQLN from Erie PA was also coming in, but that one I already have in the log. It's interesting that the signals on all three of these stations were strong enough that there was no pixellation or drop-outs. Essentially they were as good as if they were local.

FM and DTV Loggings Aug 5 to 7, 2009

There was some decent tropo this week (Aug 5-7) that yielded two new FM stations and another digital TV station. These were received at home here in Toronto.

FM:

89. CBCK, 107.5, Kingston ON, 2009-08-05, 05:00-05:05 UTC, CBC Radio One.
90. WQLN-FM, 91.3, Erie PA, 2009-08-07, 12:53-13:00 UTC, NPR.

Digital TV. Three subchannels of the same station, all carrying different programs:

41. WQLN-HD, RFC: 50, DC: 54-1, Erie PA, 2009-08-07, 12:20-12:25, PBS.
42. WQLN-1, RFC: 50, DC: 54-2, Erie PA, 2009-08-07, 12:25-12:30, PBS.
43. WQLN-2, RFC: 50, DC: 54-3, Erie PA, 2009-08-07, 12:30-12:32, PBS.

Getting CBC Kingston was nice. My first time logging it in Toronto and it's from my home town (where I often listened to it). And the three loggings of WQLN TV are exciting because I think this is the most distant digital TV station I've received.

Two More Digital TV Loggings

Yesterday I logged two more channels on digital TV. Actually they're the two subchannels of the same station. There was a decent tropo opening.

39. WWTI-DT, RFC: 21, DC: 50-1, Watertown NY, 2009-07-31, 13:30-13:31, ABC.
40. WWTI-2, RFC: 21, DC: 50-2, Watertown NY, 2009-07-31, 13:31-13:31, CW.

Dates and times in UTC: RFC: Actual broadcast channel, DC: Displayed channel number.

Three Useful Sites for Digital TV DXing

Here are three websites that I've found to be very useful for TV DXing:

• RabbitEars: A very useful site for looking up details about digital TV stations broadcasting in your area. This is where I go to find out the actual RF channel that stations broadcast on.
• FCC TV Query: The FCC's official site for looking up TV station information. You can get the RF channel numbers here too, but they don't list the displayed digital channel numbers so it is slightly less useful. But they do list the station's transmitter power, which the RabbitEars site doesn't.
• This techFAQ article shows the RF frequencies for each TV channel. If you want to know what the actual frequency a TV station is on, you can find out here.

Digital TV Loggings

I've occasionally dabbled in TV DXing over the years and now that over-the-air television is transitioning to digital, I decided to give digital TV DXing a try. That was one reason I bought that Tivax converter last month. Another, of course, was just that I wanted to see what was available to watch on digital TV. On the latter count, the results greatly exceeded my expectations.

I'm not sure how much DXing is going to be possible on digital TV. A month isn't enough time to get a good feel for it, especially as there hasn't been much good propagation lately. What I have seen so far is that, using my home-made TV antenna from my 12th floor apartment balcony, I get all the Toronto and Hamilton stations without fail; the Buffalo stations are present most of the time, and stations from Rochester NY are often present (maybe a third of the time). Beyond that, the only DX I've got is WSYR TV from Syracuse, NY, which has put in an appearance a couple of times. I also saw, once, poorly, a station from Jamestown, NY, but that was before I started logging digital TV, so it isn't in the log yet.

Here's what I've logged. Dates and times in UTC (subtract 4 hours to get local Toronto time). Each subchannel of a station is logged separately. There are two channels listed: RFC (RF Channel; the actual TV channel the station broadcasts on), and DC (Display Channel; the channel number that the station is displayed as). This list is basically a list of the digital TV stations you can expect to see here in Toronto.

1. WGRZ-RTV, RFC: 33, DC: 02-3, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-06, 01:50-02:16, RTV.
2. WGRZ-US, RFC: 33, DC: 02-2, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-06, 02:16-02:17, US Network.
3. WGRZ-HD, RFC: 33, DC: 02-1, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-06, 02:17-02:25, NBC.
4. WROC-DT, RFC: 45, DC: 08, Rochester NY, 2009-07-06, 02:24-02:26, CBS.
5. WXXI-HD, RFC: 16, DC: 21-1, Rochester NY, 2009-07-06, 02:27-02:30, PBS.
6. WXXI-W, RFC: 16, DC: 21-2, Rochester NY, 2009-07-06, 02:31-02:34, PBS.
7. WXXI-C, RFC: 16, DC: 21-3, Rochester NY, 2009-07-06, 02:34-02:36, PBS.
8. WUHF-DT, RFC: 28, DC: 31, Rochester NY, 2009-07-06, 02:39-02:41, Fox.
9. CBLT-DT, RFC: 20, DC: 05, Toronto ON, 2009-07-09, 03:40-03:44, CBC.
10. WKBW-HD, RFC: 38, DC: 07, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-09, 03:44-03:47, ABC.
11. CFTO-HD, RFC: 40, DC: 09, Toronto ON, 2009-07-09, 03:48-03:51, CTV.
12. CHCH-DT, RFC: 18, DC: 11, Hamilton ON, 2009-07-09, 03:52-03:55, CH.
13. WIVB-HD, RFC: 39, DC: 04-1, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-09, 04:12-04:18, CBS.
14. WHAM-HD, RFC: 13, DC: 13-1, Rochester NY, 2009-07-09, 12:06-12:06.
    
15. WHAM-CW, RFC: 13, DC: 13-2, Rochester NY, 2009-07-09, 23:35-23:39, CW.
16. WSYR-DT, RFC: 17, DC: 09-1, Syracuse NY, 2009-07-09, 23:43-23:45, Tropo.
17. WHEC-HD, RFC: 10, DC: 10-1, Rochester NY, 2009-07-10, 03:30-03:36, NBC.
18. WHEC-DT, RFC: 10, DC: 10-2, Rochester NY, 2009-07-10, 03:36-03:38, Weather.
19. WNED-HD, RFC: 43, DC: 17-1, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 15:35-15:38, PBS.
20. WNED-SD, RFC: 43, DC: 17-2, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 15:38-15:39, PBS.
21. WNED-TH, RFC: 43, DC: 17-3, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 15:39-15:42, PBS–TH.
22. WNLO-HD, RFC: 32, DC: 23-1, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 15:43-15:45, CW23.
23. CBLFT-D, RFC: 24, DC: 25-1, Toronto ON, 2009-07-19, 15:45-15:47, Radio-Canada French.
    
24. WUTV-HD, RFC: 14, DC: 29-1, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 15:47-15:51, Fox 29.
25. WUTV-SD, RFC: 14, DC: 29-2, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 15:51-15:52, Fox 29.
26. CITS-HD, RFC: 35, DC: 36-1, Hamilton ON, 2009-07-19, 23:06-23:09, CTS Religious.
27. CIII-DT-41, RFC: 65, DC: 41-1, Toronto ON, 2009-07-19, 23:09-23:13, GlobalTV.
28. CJMT-TV, RFC: 44, DC: 44-1, Toronto ON, 2009-07-19, 23:14-23:15, Omni 2.
29. WNYO-HD, RFC: 49, DC: 49-1, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 23:15-23:17, MyTV.
30. WNYO-SD, RFC: 49, DC: 49-2, Buffalo NY, 2009-07-19, 23:17-23:19, MyTV.
31. CITY-HD, RFC: 53, DC: 57-1, Toronto ON, 2009-07-19, 23:23-23:26, CityTV.
32. CFMT-TV, RFC: 64, DC: 64-1, Toronto ON, 2009-07-19, 23:26-23:28, Omni 1.
33. CKXT-DT, RFC: 66, DC: 66-1, Toronto ON, 2009-07-19, 23:29-23:30, Sun TV.
34. WPXJ-ION, RFC: 23, DC: 51-1, Batavia NY, 2009-07-20, 03:16-03:20, ION.
35. WPXJ-Qubo, RFC: 23, DC: 51-2, Batavia NY, 2009-07-20, 03:20-03:22, Qubo.
36. WPXJ-ION Life, RFC: 23, DC: 51-3, Batavia NY, 2009-07-20, 03:22-03:23, ION Life.
37. WPXJ-Worship, RFC: 23, DC: 51-4, Batavia NY, 2009-07-20, 03:23-03:25, Worship.
38. WSYR-2, RFC: 17, DC: 09-2, Syracuse NY, 2009-07-21, 05:05-05:09, Doppler 9 Weather and News Ticker.

Build Your Own TV Antenna

A few posts back I mentioned that I got a converter to enable me to watch over-the-air digital TV. The other piece of gear one needs for watching over-the-air television is a TV antenna, and the one I already had is not very good. It's one of those "UFO" style omnidirectional VHF and UHF jobs and it worked but not quite as well as I'd like.

Coincidentally I happened to find a video on Make TV about how to make your own TV antenna out of scrap wood and cut-up clothes hangers. It's a DB4 "bowtie" antenna with four "bowties" that's cut for UHF.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/maker_workshop_dtv_antenna_steadyca.html

I built this and it really does work. I bolted it to a pole and set it out on my 12th floor apartment balcony, and it is providing noticeably better reception than the antenna I had out there already. Including on VHF, which is a surprise.

The results? I've gotten every local Toronto digital TV station, of course. I've also received every digital station from Buffalo, NY. And most of the Rochester, NY stations. Analog channels are also coming in much better. It works much better than I expected it would. And it's made out of clothes hangers. Cool!

Here's another site with plans for the same antenna:

http://www.tvantennaplans.com/

I also added some splitters and hooked this antenna up to the FM receiver on my stereo, which has improved reception on that thing considerably. And the antenna isn't even cut for the FM band. (This is temporary - I'm going to buy, or make, an FM antenna soon).

Digital TV - Tivax STB-T8 Converter

Over-the-air television broadcasting is in the process of switching from analog to digital. In the United States the official switchover occurred in June; in Canada the switch will take place in 2011. However, many TV stations in Canada are already broadcasting in the new digital format as well as in the traditional analog one.

I was curious to see what digital TV is like, so in June I bought a digital-to-analog converter to connect to my purely analog Toshiba television. The converter is a Tivax STB-T8, which I bought at Durham Radio in Whitby, ON. I hooked it up to the TV and to an old TV antenna I had on my balcony. The results were much better than I had expected.

First, not only are most of Toronto's TV stations already broadcasting in DTV, I also get most of Buffalo's TV stations regularly, and irregularly I've been seeing Rochester, NY's stations. This was a surprise because I'd heard that DTV signals didn't travel long distances well, and so I expected only to see Toronto's stations.

Second, the picture quality is excellent. As good as cable TV. It's astounding to me to be watching a station like WXXI, the PBS station in Rochester, with a cable-quality picture over the air. (Actually, the picture quality would probably be better than cable if I owned an HDTV).

Third, I get a lot more stations than I expected. It depends on propagation conditions, but I've gotten close to 40 channels. I'm counting the subchannels of a station as separate channels - e.g., there are three channels from WGRZ-TV in Buffalo.

It's really cool and I've been having fun playing with it.