Peter Vogel’s Tech Wise
Columnist Peter Vogel has been experimenting with these two inexpensive antennas to pull in TV signals. (Peter Vogel photos)
Perhaps Jim Erickson, better known to me as amateur radio operator VA7SHG, is indicative of the long-term issues and problems facing cable TV providers in Canada. He hasn’t used cable television in almost two decades, and certainly doesn’t envisage ever going back to having a subscription, at least not for himself.
Yet in his Chilliwack household there is a cable TV subscription, for his father who has lived with him in recent years. Jim, like many, is an inveterate streamer, but more recently an OTA (over the air) antenna user for TV.
His father only knows cable television in the standard form, a TV set with a remote control. But Jim has figured out a way to combine these different TV worlds – cable, OTA, and streaming – in his home using a combination of technologies.
Decades ago if you looked across any part of Metro Vancouver you saw a forest of TV antennas on tall masts. Today all but a handful remain, and those are falling apart.
Most people are unaware that many TV stations continue to broadcast over the air with signals that can be picked up by an antenna. Changing from analogue to digital technologies means antennas today are simpler and cheaper.
Peter Vogel's experimentation with radio and satellite signals has extended to over the air television.
About a decade ago I experimented with OTA TV and shared my experience with colleagues and students. The most common question was, “Is this legal?”
We’ve become conditioned to think of TV as something we pay for through a cable subscription, and some broadcasters are completely fine with that, particularly those that also own cable distribution companies.
The bottom line is that OTA TV remains a rather niche product or service. Few actually use it, something reinforced by the numbers of OTA antennas one finds for sale on places such as Facebook Marketplace. OTA reception varies dramatically by region, even within cities. Here in Metro Vancouver we might be able to pull in a dozen or two channels, but in Los Angeles that might be as high as 160.
Recently I decided to experiment again with OTA TV, not with a view to eliminating my cable subscription, but rather to see what channels I could get and how far the reach might be. Off the bat I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull in the likes of BBC World, CNN, and CTV Science Fiction – cable-only channels.
For my experiments I used two antennas that I was already using for radio and satellite experiments. I have two large screens that are usually hooked up to computers. I directed the antennas due south from my location and quickly discovered, after pressing auto program on the TV remotes, that I could pull in around 15 channels, all American. Some were in full 1080i HD, but most were of lesser quality, some bordering on the unwatchable.
When I swung the antennas westward I finally saw some Canadian content – CBC, and CTV, although no Global. Each swing of the antenna required the auto program sequence to be run again.
Checking again late at night I was surprised to find several channels from the Seattle-Tacoma area, KING, KONG, and FOX.
Mr. Erickson currently gets 16 channels: Global TV, NewsMax2, six classic TV channels like MeTV, MeTV+, and Decades, a couple of religious channels, and a shopping channel. He is also on the edge of receiving PBS, NHK World, and a couple of other Washington channels. Since these are spotty at best, he is going to try a small pre-amp or signal booster to try to get those weaker channels.
Digital TV channels come in clusters. In my own case I pull in a group of seven sub-channels numbered 12.1 through 12.7, collectively known as KVOS. There is another cluster at 24, and a third at 28, for a total of 16 American channels during the daytime.
As for that cable TV subscription in Jim’s home, he says it is strictly for his father. “My Dad lives with me on the main floor and has for the last seven years. He is the only reason we have cable in the house. Myself, I stream everything that I watch and haven’t had cable since I moved to Chilliwack about 20 years ago. I remember how happy I was when I was able to watch the entire 2004 Olympics on CBC online with a computer hooked up to my TV. I knew I wouldn’t need cable. But Dad likes Discovery Channel, History Channel, and Golf, so I know we won’t be getting rid of cable any time soon, but still wanted to see what he thought of getting free TV.”
Specialized software is important with Jim’s approach to OTA TV. “Because I stream so much, I’m also very familiar with a piece of software called Plex. I’ve been running my own Plex Server at home for at least 10 years, if not longer. It manages all of my local media; whether that’s DVDs that I own, music, pictures, it does it all for me. Then with the Plex app installed on my phone and tablet and TV, I’m able to stream all of my local media.”
Recently he added a new device, an HDHomeRun using two tuners, which means two devices (TVs, tablets, phones) can watch live TV at the same time through their app. In the case of Plex, it allows someone to watch one channel while they record another channel.
“So now I’ve got my Dad set up with an AppleTV with the Plex app installed and he’s able to watch his Global TV news in the morning and evening and then MeTV during the day.”
Whether experiences with OTA TV such as this, or indeed my own, have much impact on the cable TV business remains to be seen. In Canada, the broadcasters would love to shut down their transmitters. Some indeed applied for this to the regulator, but the CRTC denied them. They will surely try again.
As for me, I will continue to experiment. I’ve come to enjoy the Tokyo channel NHK World and one of the KVOS sub-channels Story Television, but I’m not ready to hang up the cable TV remote. As a fellow amateur radio operator, I’m sure Jim and I will continue to discuss developments in the TV world over the air, via our amateur radios.
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