3 - Sunday, December 3; 1989 - North Shore News

HOSPITAL PAGING SYSTEM SIGNALS LEAKING INTO CABLE NETWORK

LGH transmitter affects TV reception

A POWERFUL new paging system transmitter installed in
early November atop Lions Gate Hospital is disrupting area

cable television reception.

Shaw Cable operations super-
visor Gary Barrows said the cable
company has received numerous
complaints from subscribers about
the reception interference, which
affects channels 19 through 21.

The transmitter, which is part of
a Lower Mainland area-wide pag-
ing system for doctors and hospital
workers, broadcasts on the same
mid-band frequency as Shaw's
channel 20.

According to Barrows, reception
in a three-block radius of the hos-

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW
News Reporter

pital is being affected by the
transmitter, but residents up to six
biocks away have called the News
with complaints about poor cable

reception.
Federal department of com-
munications spokesman lan

Rutherford said the interference is
caused by the paging system’s
signals leaking into Shaw’s cables.

Those signals can also leak di-
rectly into VCRs or televisions that
are outfitted with converters
capable of picking up mid-range
frequencies.

Rutherford said the problem
often occurs when a new trans-
mitter is installed in an area.

But he added that it is more a
matter of the transmitter identify-
ing a weakness in the existing cable
system than the transmitter
creating new problems.

Such frequency overlaps increase
as cable companies expand the
channels they offer into mid-range
frequencies traditionally used for
police, fire, taxi, ambulance and
pager communications.

The varying qualities of televi-
sion sets and cable systems also
contribute to how readily mid-
band frequencies disrupt cable TV
reception.

The transmitter power atop
LGH is licensed for 70 watts. But
its total radiated power, or the
power that comes out of its anten-
na, is licensed for 125 watts.

While Barrows said Shaw had
some concerns about the trans-
mitter's power, Rutherford said
most wide-area paging transmitters
are licensed for the same output.

In an attempt to plug the fre-
quency leaks that are disrupting
cable television reception around
the hospital, Barrows said Shaw is

installing better quality cable in the
area.

But he said Shaw will only be
able to stop interference that is
getting into the cable system
through its cables.

The company. he said, can do
nothing about interference being
picked up directly by television
tuners and receivers.

Barrows said that problem could
be solved through the use of chan-
nel converters.

The new Lower Mainiand
area-wide paging system is being
installed to increase the range in
which doctors from various hospi-
tals can be reached by their pagers.

ARCHIE STEACY AWARDED FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AWARENESS WORK

NVD fire chief retires after 33 years with department

NORTH VANCOUVER District Fire Department Chief
Archie Steacy, 60, retired Thursday after 33 years of local

i

NORTH VANCOUVER District Fire Department Chief Archie Steacy (left), Canadian
plant manager Brian Thornton and new North Vancouver District fire chief Rick Grant toured the local chemi-

-- feel an wns

NEWS photo Mike Wakelieid

cal plant Thursday. Steacy retired Thursday after 33 years of local firefighting service.

Government action needed on

MORE DAY-CARE spaces must be found on the North
Shore and all levels of government must start to Jend a
sympathetic ear to the problems the day-care industry in
Canada is facing right now, a forum on the subject was told

Thursday night.

The North Vancouver District-
sponsored forum heard from two
day-care professionals about a
variety of problems associated with
day care in Canada, ranging from
a lack of day-care spaces to the
low wages day-care workers are
paid.

Penny Coates, director of day
care at Simon Fraser University
(SFU), and vice-president of the
Canadian Day-care Advocacy
Association, said 62 per cent of
B.C. mothers with children under
the age of 12 are now in the pro-
vince’s work force.

There are 70,000 ‘‘latchkey
children” in B.C., she said, who
ate forced to stay at home alone
after school because both parents
are at work,

She added that while it has
become increasingly difficult to
find day-care spaces, the high cost
of those spaces has proved to be an
added problem.

“It’s (day-care cost) a critical
issue,’’Coates said. **Not only will
you have trouble finding space,
you'll have trouble affording that
space.”’

She added that there are only
177 ticensed infant day-care spaces
in B.C., ranging in cost from $500
to $700 a month, 832 licensed tod-
dier day-care spaces, costing be-
tween $415 and $595 a month,
8,451 licensed preschool spaces,
ranging in cost from $300 to $425
a@ month, and 4,842 school-aged
day-care spaces available, costing
between $130 and $200 a month.

Coates said even the provincial
government’s Day-care Subsidiary
Program is of little help to parents,
particularly the ones at the bottom
end of the income scale.

“The day-care subsidiary rates
rarely cover the actual cost of care.
The parents deemed the most in
need are still paying horrendous
rates,’’ said Coates.

She added that another problem
facing Canada’s day-care industry
is the shortage of people willing to
enter a profession where the
average yearly wage is $16,000.

Coates said that must change.

‘*We need to be able to afford to
keep good people in day care,’’ she
said. ‘‘How can you ask thein to
look forward to a career where ine
average wage is $16,000 a year?
Before we can deal with the spaces,
we have to deal with the shortage
of workers. We can’t find
them...it’s a real problem."”

Coates admitted that govern-
ments and employers are now
beginning to take an interest in
preblems facing day cares, and
said that was one of the reasons
why Premier Bill Vander Zalm ap-
pointed Caro! Gran to the newly-
created portfolio of Minister of
Women’s Issues in his most recent
cabinet shuffle.

Lois Rennie, director of
Capilano College’s early childhood
education program, told the forum
there has been a lack of child-care
planning to go along with the in-
creased housing development tak-
ing place in North Vancouver.

She added that ticensed quality
day care must be available to all
those in need of the service.

“The early childhood years are
the most important in a_ child’s
life,’ Rennie said. ‘if you’re three
years old today, it doesn’t help to
have quality care in 10
years...that’s 10 years too late."

She added that she receives calls
all the time from parents who want

Oxy North Vancouver

firefighting service.

When he started Dec. 17, 1956,
a firefighter’s mandate was simply
to fight fires and save lives and
property.

And while firefighting remains
the core function of any fire ser-
vice, Steacy has seen the scope and
compiexity of the job increase over
the years.

Steacy himself has become
well-known across the country for
his active involvement in hazard-
ous materials emergency response
planning and training exercises.

At the Nov. 27 district council
meeting, Steacy received from Ca-
nadianOxy Chemicals Ltd. trans-
portation manager Terry Litchfield
a special Canadian Chemical Pro-
ducers’ Association award for his
‘outstanding support to the chem-
ical industry in developing Com-
munity Awareness and Emergency
Response {CAER) and
TRANSCAER programs for the
District of North Vancouver.’’

Said Steacy, ‘I was just floored
when they gave me an award. I
want to keep involved and will stay
on the TRANSCAER committee. I
also told Ross Peterson (North and

day care

her students to babysit for as little
as $5 an hour.

A spokesman for Nerth Shore
Day-care Search, a day-care refer-
ral service, said more and more
parents are leaving their children
with unlicen:d day-care workers
because of the shortage of licensed
day-care spac .

Coates admitted that she is forc-
ed to turn away parents from the
SFU day-care centre every day due
to a lack of space.

“Every da | turn someone
away and a lot of the times I turn
them away in tears,"’ she said.

While many day-care operators
have been using schools to house
their programs, many of those op-
erators will be forced to find other
accommodations, according to a
recent report prepared for the
North Vancouver District 44
Schoo! Board (NVSB).

Tom Carlile, NVSB assistant
superintendent of schools, said a
classroom space crunch is coming
to North Vancouver and that has
resulted in the evictions of several
day-care programs.

Carlile said the bottom line is
that the spaces the school board
had been allowing day-care opera-
tors to use is now needed by the
school district.

He warned that the problem wili
only increase in the coming years.

By MICHAEL BECK
News Reporter

West Vancouver Emergency Pro-
gtam coordinator) that I’d like to
continue working with him. It’s
fun, interesting and there’s a need
for it in the community.”’

Steacy’s family has deep roots
on the North Shore.

Steacy was born and raised in
North Vancouver. His father,
Newton P. Steacy, arrived in
North Vancouver in 1898 at age
four with Steacy’s grandfather,
Albert Richard Steacy.

The Steacy family built a house
at 6th Street and Lonsdale Avenue.
The house is still standing.

Albert worked as a grocer and a
school teacher in North Van-
couver. He was the first chairman
of the North Vancouver school
board. Steacy’s father worked as
manager for Borden’s Milk for
Western Canada and was the pro-
vincial Minister of Agricuiture for
two terms under W.A.C. Bennett.

Steacy and wife Lynda have
raised six children on the North
Shore.

Gary Bannerman........ 9
Business .........-... 36
Classified Ads..........55
Cocktails & Caviay......17
Comies...............-46
Editorial Page.......... &
Fashion..........++--- 13
Horoscopes ............ 46
Bob Hunter............ 4

lifestyles...... wee ee AB
Mailbox ...........---- 7
Sports ...........6.- ..22
Travel ............ .... 40

What's Geing On........29

WEATHER

Sunday through Tuesday,
periods of rain. Highs near
10°C.

| Second Class Registration Number 3885