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September 7, 2020 9:34 pm  #1


Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Hi All,

I know some of you on this forum are viewers of Star Ray TV. This Wednesday marks twenty years on the air. We've been ATSC digital since December 2013. If you care  to read our press release it's here: http://srtv.ca/press15.html

Thanks,

Jan Pachul

 

 

September 8, 2020 7:26 am  #2


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Has Star Ray always been on 15.1? When my parents were around in Oakville, they never received it with their 40 ft tower and rotor. Perhaps the signal is too weak to reach Ford [the car] country. Same with CITY in their ch 79 days. Nothing but snow, even with one of those new, at the time flytrap inverted V UHF antennas. ch 17, 19 and 29 all crystal clear. Never did get to see one of those Friday night Baby Blue movies.

 

September 8, 2020 8:15 am  #3


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

The ATSC signal has always been on RF 22, virtual channel 15.1.

Low power is what it is although Bill Hepburn in Grimsby says he gets it all the time: http://dxinfocentre.com/pix/22-Toronto.JPG There are people regularly receiving Star Ray fair distances but I think they are all using antenna amplifiers.

Since the latest repack the station has less interference. In the east end of Toronto analog 22 went off the air in Oshawa and in the west end TVO in Kitchener did not move to RF 22.

Rabbitears.info has a good map of potential Star Ray TV reception: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=0000ca1ada0099999990099999999000&site=1&dma=N&map=Y&contour=N&lppc=N&int=N&pop=N&incpop=&excpop=&z1=N&nrqz=N&lprw=N&head=Y&asrn=&extras=&cir=&circen=

Citytv on channel 79 would have been difficult to pick up anyway due to the high frequency.

Last edited by Starraytv (September 8, 2020 8:36 am)

     Thread Starter
 

September 8, 2020 8:47 pm  #4


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

I live on the edge of North York and tried to pull this in today. I actually got a signal strength on channel 22 of about 43, but no signal quality. As a result, all I saw was a black screen. Tuesday was an overcast, damp kind of day, so not the best time to try and gather in an already fairly weak signal. I may try again when the weather is better. 

 

September 8, 2020 9:49 pm  #5


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

just curious.  what wast their most recent CRTC renewal?

 

September 8, 2020 10:29 pm  #6


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Starraytv wrote:

The ATSC signal has always been on RF 22, virtual channel 15.1.

Low power is what it is although Bill Hepburn in Grimsby says he gets it all the time: http://dxinfocentre.com/pix/22-Toronto.JPG There are people regularly receiving Star Ray fair distances but I think they are all using antenna amplifiers.

Since the latest repack the station has less interference. In the east end of Toronto analog 22 went off the air in Oshawa and in the west end TVO in Kitchener did not move to RF 22.

Rabbitears.info has a good map of potential Star Ray TV reception: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=0000ca1ada0099999990099999999000&site=1&dma=N&map=Y&contour=N&lppc=N&int=N&pop=N&incpop=&excpop=&z1=N&nrqz=N&lprw=N&head=Y&asrn=&extras=&cir=&circen=

Citytv on channel 79 would have been difficult to pick up anyway due to the high frequency.

 
If I pick up anything on RF 22, it's WXXI and subs from Rochester. Never a peep from anything else.

Last edited by Hamiltonboy (September 8, 2020 10:30 pm)

 

September 9, 2020 12:41 am  #7


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Star Ray TV is difficult to pick-up north of Eglington. You need superior height receive the station. In the Hamilton mountain area there appears to be a null. The Grade A contour extends about 6 KM east and west from our broadcast site. The best reception is close to the lake.

What CRTC renewal? We applied again for a broadcasting license (third time) in 2004 but due to some CRTC funny business this application was never acted upon. We never got a hearing. See "Star Ray TV and the CRTC:" http://tochat.tv/viewforum.php?f=4 for details. I wasted two months writing an application for what? We just gave up on jumping through the hoops for nothing.

We were awarded not one but two Broadcasting Certificates from Industry Canada to operate the station.

The Canadian Communications Foundation has a good summary of our history:
https://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listing_and_histories/television/vx9amk-star-ray

It's really amazing that we've been on the air for twenty years!  

     Thread Starter
 

September 9, 2020 1:52 am  #8


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

With Rogers not having a community channel anymore, shouldn't it be a lot easier today to get a broadcast licence? 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

September 9, 2020 2:39 am  #9


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Starraytv wrote:

Star Ray TV is difficult to pick-up north of Eglington. You need superior height receive the station. In the Hamilton mountain area there appears to be a null. The Grade A contour extends about 6 KM east and west from our broadcast site. The best reception is close to the lake.

What CRTC renewal? We applied again for a broadcasting license (third time) in 2004 but due to some CRTC funny business this application was never acted upon. We never got a hearing. See "Star Ray TV and the CRTC:" http://tochat.tv/viewforum.php?f=4 for details. I wasted two months writing an application for what? We just gave up on jumping through the hoops for nothing.

We were awarded not one but two Broadcasting Certificates from Industry Canada to operate the station.

The Canadian Communications Foundation has a good summary of our history:
https://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listing_and_histories/television/vx9amk-star-ray

It's really amazing that we've been on the air for twenty years!  

yes it is amazing you've been on the air for 20 years without any actual government approval.  bully for you.

 

September 9, 2020 3:14 am  #10


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

 As a personal note I would like to thank everyone that replied to this thread. I appreciate this opportunity for  dialog.

After our last confrontation with the CRTC we saw that they used tactics worthy of a "banana republic." They cannot be trusted to act in an honorable manner. By going "pirate" we decided that we would be better off putting the ball in the CRTC's court. The CRTC has not taken any action since our 2005 confrontation.

Let's face it. It's not a fluke that a hand full of corporations own most of the broadcast properties in Canada. Corporate vertical integration is most odious. The CRTC must be disbanded and replaced with an agency that is an advocate for the Canadian public.

I did a cultural exchange with some broadcasters from China last year. They told me that all cell phone plans have unlimited data and that TV stations can be directly viewed on phones! Fat chance of any of these policies coming to Canada under the present regime.

 

     Thread Starter
 

September 9, 2020 4:37 pm  #11


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Radiowiz wrote:

With Rogers not having a community channel anymore, shouldn't it be a lot easier today to get a broadcast licence? 

Sure, but there's no business case to want one.

 

September 10, 2020 9:26 am  #12


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Star Ray is a 100% reliable signal for me with a rooftop UHF antenna in Cabbagetown. My wife teases me when she catches me watching it for old streetcar videos.

 

September 10, 2020 12:54 pm  #13


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

6079 Smith W wrote:

Star Ray is a 100% reliable signal for me with a rooftop UHF antenna in Cabbagetown. My wife teases me when she catches me watching it for old streetcar videos.

I love old streetcar videos. I believe there is one travelling the Bay St route [RIP 1954] and the Bloor St. route which was severly disrupted when line two opened in Feb 1966 and finally finished off in May 1968. When George's Trains was located on Mt. Pleasant, they sold these videos. Since moving to Markham, I don't know if the videos are still available.

 

September 10, 2020 1:21 pm  #14


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Some of the TTC / mass transit programs  broadcast on Star Ray TV are available at https://gpsvideocanada.com/

These programs were produced by Ray Neilson AKA Count Ray who was a big supporter of the station.
He unfortunately died of brain cancer in 2005. See: http://tochat.tv/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4

Last edited by Starraytv (September 10, 2020 1:45 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

September 11, 2020 4:18 am  #15


Re: Star Ray TV Celebrates 20 Years of Broadcasting

Oh, I forgot to mention that anyone that is outside of our RF coverage area can watch a live stream of Star Ray TV on the Internet. We have a custom application called TVants that you can download from our http://tobroadcast.com website. The download is at the top of the page.

Star Ray is also on Eutelsat W3c @ 16.0°e 11470 V 29950 for people that are in the Eutelsat W3c coverage area.

 

Last edited by Starraytv (September 11, 2020 4:19 am)

     Thread Starter