Eta Aquariids Meteor Shower – Canadian Analog TV

By Mike Schaffer, KA3JAW, Guest Columnist

The eta Aquariids started on Sunday, April 19 and will be active until Thursday, May 28 with the peak occurring Monday and Tuesday, May 4-5.

I been busy today, Thursday, April 30 detecting Canadian analog TV via meteor scatter with the SDRuno coupled with a six meter dipole antenna strung between the house wall and the clothesline pole in the backyard.

Yes, Canada still has full-powered analog transmitters operational from rural places that run up to 180kW effective radiated power. There are only several active stations on each low-band VHF channel (2-6) in the provinces of Nova Scotia and Ontario.

It is easy to identify the station in question without the need of video and/or audio of a TV set, as each station broadcast on either one of three video carrier offset frequencies.

Example:

Analog TV-2

   Offset (-) 55.240 MHz

   Offset (z) 55.250 MHz 

   Offset (+) -55.260 MHz

Figure 1 is a map to give you an idea what can be done with a software defined radio that a standard analog cathode-ray picture tube television set with a blue screen feature (video squelch circuit) cannot do when the incoming signal is faint.

On the top center is a GACTVDX logo, the orange triangles are the stations received, the blue triangle is my QTH. The map shows eight Canadian NTSC analog stations that were detected via meteor scatter (Ms).

Channel Callsign Location                  ERP    Distance

                                                  (miles/km)

1. 6- CJOH-TV-6  CTV Deseronto, Ontario    100 kW 256/411

2. 2+ CIII-TV-2  Global Bancroft, Ontario  100 kW 331/532

3. 5+ CHRO CTV2  Pembroke, Ontario         100 kW 369/593

4. 5Z CICI CTV   Sudbury, Ontario          100 kW 496/798

5. 6+ CJCH-TV-6  Caledonia, Nova Scotia    100 kW 573/922

6. 2- CHBX CTV   Sault Ste Marie, Ontario  100 kW 610/981

7. 3+ CITO CTV   Timmons, Ontario          100 kW 613/986

8. 4Z CJCB CTV   Sydney, Nova Scotia       180 kW 843/1356

ERP= Effective radiated Power

Figure 2. SDRuno – Spectrum + Waterfall Displays

Date: April 30, 2020

Onset Time (local): 8:10:52 PM

Duration: 8 seconds

Channel: TV-3

Frequency: 61.260 MHz

Offset: +

Effective Radiated Power: 72.4 kW Average, 100 kW Peak

Callsign: CITO

Network: CTV

Location: Timmons, Ontario, Canada

Distance: 613 miles

Azimuth: 333 degrees (north-northwest)

Figure 3. CTV Network Logo

Figure 4. CTV2 Network Logo

Figure 5. Global Network Logo