CHCH applying for boost

It’s potentially good news for those having trouble receiving CHCH since Canada’s digital transition.

Canada’s broadcast regulator, the CRTC, announced Thursday that the station has applied for a licence to broadcast on UHF channel 15. Currently the station transmits on VHF channel 11, the position it has occupied since its first sign-on in 1954.

In the cover letter, president Cal Millar says the station has received numerous complaints from those having trouble receiving its signal, since it shut off its analog transmitter on August 15th. Up to that point, CHCH was also sending out a high-definition digital signal on UHF channel 18, as assigned under Industry Canada’s digital transition plan. The station moved its digital transmissions to channel 11. However, the coverage area was in practice found to be significantly smaller than the analog and transitional digital footprints.

Under the application, the station’s power would go from 6.1 kilowatts effective radiated power on channel 11, to 132 kilowatts on channel 15. However CHCH is not abandoning Lucky Channel 11: the virtual channel will remain 11.1.

UHF channel 15 is also expected to improve reception of Mobile DTV, a service the company hopes to begin in the future.

The frequency became available when Sun TV ceased over-the-air operations last month.

Anyone wishing to support the application can submit comments through the CRTC’s website.