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QC - Island of Montreal (Central areas) & Nuns' Island - OTA

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#1 ·
hi I live in st-leonard montreal & I'm not able to catch ch 44-1 & trouble catching ch 33-1. I have a channel master 8 bay antenna & a vhf ant. I tried an cm7777 preamp booster & the signal got worst. Does any one have any advice.
Thanks
Nuch
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
St-Michel/Jarry

Hello,

I'm new to this forum & to OTA. I've read *almost* all the posts in this thread which is helping me a lot in deciding how to setup my OTA. First I would like to thank the many contributor to this Montreal thread. :D

I have noticed some postings that don't give much information when asking their questions, so I will try to give maybe more info without (hopefully) going overboard. lol

I have just finished setting up my own HTPC using MythTV and a Hauppauge HVR-1600 A/D card. I'm into PCs and electronics and I'd say I'm quite handy with tools/building stuff. I also installed my Bell dish setup on the roof myself & I'm into FTA (but thats for another forum ;)).
So far, I've managed to receive only CIVM-HD with my "Bunny-ears" antenna. I know, it's a VHF antenna & used indoors so I should be happy I was even able to get anything at all. ;) Analog seems to work fine.
This will be my main/only tuner.

I have a few questions regarding my locale/situation:

I've had a look at TVFOOL.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=b6716762912fbd I put 28' as height as the roof of my triplex is 23', so I added a few for say a 6' mast.
Seems I'm lucky enough to be east of the Mt-Royal's shadow to get the US feeds. But I don't quite understand the local results. According to them, all I can get is V (aka TQS) 42.1 but I know for a fact I can get CIVM-HD (TeleQuebec). And where are SRC & CBC? Is it just me or is their info wrong/outdated?
And what the !?!! is HDTV (ch15) about?

Is there an 'official' list somewhere of Montreal HD channels with both real & virtual channels?

For an antenna, I was planning on building a DBGH. Not sure which one yet.
Am I right to assume it would work well for me to get the US stations? What about the local stations? Will I need to combine a second antenna?
Would the new DBGH with Narods help me get WVNY-HD? From what I read here it doesn't seems easy to receive being on the VHF-HI band.

I would like to use my existing RG-6 cable used for Bell for OTA. I'm hoping to setup the antenna mast right behind my dish. I'm not the only sat user on this roof, so room is limited.
I'm only using about 25' or so of RG-6. Is there much loss using Sat/OTA joiners/splitter?

My HDTV tuner card has separate inputs for HDTV & Analog. Does that mean I'm stuck using a splitter no matter what I do? I guess thats something I can ask in another thread on Digital Home concerning HTPC setups.

I guess that should be enough for this post.

Marc
 
#5 ·
Which GH antenna is best for Montreal?

For an antenna, I was planning on building a DBGH. Not sure which one yet.
Am I right to assume it would work well for me to get the US stations? What about the local stations? Will I need to combine a second antenna?
Would the new DBGH with Narods help me get WVNY-HD? From what I read here it doesn't seems easy to receive being on the VHF-HI band.
Okey. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. :eek: There is no way I can mount a DBGH here. It's fricken huge!!! :eek:
I will have to settle for a SBGH for the time being. But will that be enough?
Does anyone have good results using an SBGH in Montreal for reception of the US stations?
Which GH model are you using, with which reflector? :confused:

Thank you.

Marc
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
st henri, around the home depot

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for all the great info!

I've been lurking on this thread for a while and finally took the HDTV plunge! Now that I've got an ATSC tuner I've tried a funny looking antenna and thought I'd post my discoveries, most of my friends cant believe that the picture is from an antenna! Its like a huge secret that 1080i is free??! Digital tv is @$#ing awesome - I can surf 13 channels (so far) without paying a monthly fee again!

I bought the little ge quantum antenna that looks like a foldable triangle with a vhf dipole at the back from canadian tire for $40. Its kicking ass for such a little thing. At first though, I was considering launching it out the window because nothing was comming in no matter what.

I attached a 15ft RG6 with a dbl female coupler to the quantum and put the little antennna on the other side of the room. I could find channels on the scan but not lock them long enough to watch them, even with the signal meter on the tv it was pretty pathetic. After a bit of testing, for what ever reason it seems to work better around 2 feet from the ground on a book case, the signal was super weak higher up which was contrary to what I've been reading and what I tried at first.

I was going to try and use a sheet of alum foil behinid the antenna to try and see if reflection might improove reception enough to get fox which is supposed to be in the same spot as 3.1 or 5.1 which i get just fine. The phone rang and I put the sheet of foil down, over the antenna to answer it... signal almost doubled! Now all the channels are evenly locked instead of certain groups being higher strenght so I dont have to #$% around with the antenna every time I change channels like I did at first. #$%ing aluminum foil man, awesome!

all my channels are between 35%-50% and watchable just fine. I dont get many canandian channels though, not even 12:( Here's the line up:

2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 33.1, 33.2, 33.3,33.4, 57.1, 57.2, 57.3

I'd really like to get fox 44.1 and ctv 12.1, I'd piss myself with happyness:D

I think that the 20 is is the way of mt. Royal and maybe thats why I cant seem to get 12. TVFOOL says I shouldn't be getting 6.1 or 2.1 but I am... it also says I can get 44.1, but I cant.

Any ideas for things I could try that dont involve getting an outdoor antenna which isnt an option, or going to raybel since I dont drive? I have a budget of about $100 and can get an implified terk HDTVa which is supposed to be the bad boy of indoor antennas, should I just get that instead or is 13 channels all im gonna get?

Cheers!
 
#8 ·
Seems I'm lucky enough to be east of the Mt-Royal's shadow to get the US feeds. But I don't quite understand the local results. According to them, all I can get is V (aka TQS) 42.1 but I know for a fact I can get CIVM-HD (TeleQuebec). And where are SRC & CBC? Is it just me or is their info wrong/outdated?
TVFool just recently updated their data source for Canadian stations to use the Industry Canada broadcasting database instead of the American FCC database. Overall, the data is UCH better than it was before (except for Montreal).

The CBC and SRC stations were not listed because they are operating under special temporary licensing authority ('TO'), and TVFool was not picking up these entries. CIVM is likewise not listed because for some reason the latest copy of the database does not say it is operating, although we know it is.

And what the !?!! is HDTV (ch15) about?

Short answer: ignore it.

Long Answer:
The FCC database included entries from Industry Canada for stations under consideration at one time by the CRTC. As these stations were never licensed, they never received Industry Canada call letters, and were listed under their company names (YESTV, HDTV, etc.) These stations were never approved by the CRTC. However, while the entries wee deleted from the Industry Canada databse, they were never deleted from the FCC database. And for some probably technical reasons, TVFool's algorithm for excluding FCC data to be covered by the new Industry Canada data did not take this into account, ansd so these stale entries stayed around.

I just checked TVfool this morning, and the errors have been corrected.
 
#9 ·
st-michel/jarry

I just checked TVfool this morning, and the errors have been corrected.
I was going to argue, but I just realised the link I posted is still using the database from the date it was created (10/24). I just re-did my TVfool query and they're all there. :) And they got CIVM at the olympic stadium, which is correct. Previously it was listed as being on Mt-Royal, and only in the "pending app." results. Still no sign of Global though... not even in the pending.

Daemons
TVfool results
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
ville emard/sud-ouest

Since i live in a condo, i have to limit myself to an indoor antenna. I had bought a cheap antenna from monoprice and had some luck with getting a few hd french channels and 5.1-5.2-6.1 and 3.1 only if i played around with it for way too long to be worth it. I had only received 22.1 once but the channel id on the bottom right had the cbs logo.

I bought myself a TERK AMPLIFIED HDTV INDOOR ANTENNA yesterday (the ugly looking ones similar to the zenith silver). I easily got the channels above, plus 3.1 + 3.2 were easy as heck to receive.

Now here's my quesion:
I managed to get 22.1, but yet again, it was the cbs channel and not abc! Since it's the second antenna to produce this, should i just assume something's wrong with my sony bravia kdl-W4100? What else could be the problem?

Thanks for any input and give me a heads up if i'm on the wrong thread.
 
#12 ·
VHF antenna

Is it worth to get a VHF antenna for Montreal. I know that for now I could get 10 and 12 (maybe 13 ABC) but in future is there any station that will be on Hi-VHF?

If its worth wich antenna would be suitable? for now the only one that I found that would fit is the C5 from Antenna Direct. When I say fit I mean not a boom antenna as my installation is wall mounted.

Thanks for your input.
 
#13 ·
Is it worth to get a VHF antenna for Montreal. I know that for now I could get 10 and 12 (maybe 13 ABC) but in future is there any station that will be on Hi-VHF?
Not locally. SRC will be on 9 from Mont Orford, and presumably TVA will be on 7 from there as well. Global is assigned 11 from Mont Orford, but the chances of it being implemented are low. There will also be SRC on 13 and TVA on 8 from Trois Rivieres.
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
update to earlier post

Hi Again!

I managed to pick up a terk HDTVa, and it makes a huge difference!

I can get fox @ 50ish% now, more than watchable and the other US stations are about 70-80% which is about double what I was getting off the GE Quantum antenna. Very pleased with my purchase.

Only complaint is I can't get 6.1 anymore and I was when I wsa first setting up the HDTVa so it looks like I've got to play with the position a bit.

Total channels now: 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 5.2, 33.1, 33.2, 33.3, 33.4, 44.1, 44.2, 57.1, 57.2, 57.3 (6.1 possible but not lockable ATM)

Can any one suggest other channels to try for?

PS- to get my tv to "see" fox I had to tune to channel 43.1 and my TV remapped it to 44.1 ;)

Thanks!
 
#15 ·
WVNY

Is there anyone in the Montreal area getting WVNY without extreme measures? I'm able to get all of the other DTV channels from Mt. Mansfield using a SBGH with a wire mesh reflector. I'm considering the version with the NARODs, but I'm curious if others are able to receive this without a dedicated channel 13 antenna.

Brian
 
#19 ·
Thanks for all the responses. After searching the forum quite a bit about Montreal and my area in particular, I've come to the conclusion that I'll have to try the NARODs to be sure. A lot of different results out there.

schoenbe,
I looked at your TVFool results, and unfortunately my numbers are a lot worse than yours. My NM is around -20 on WVNY - you were well above 0dB. I am however consistently picking up all the other stations from that transmitter even though some have much worse results on TVFool (-26 for WFFF). Unfortunately my LOS is being impeded slightly by the western most part of Mt. Royal.

Looks like I have another project to look forward to. I'll be sure to post my results back.

Thanks again.
 
#20 ·
Good luck with the narods!

Let me know how that works out for you, I'm on the same quest!

I was thinking about installing an outdoor antenna but cannot access the roof.
Do you guys think that if I mount a DB2 or DB4 from antennas direct outside a second floor window that roughly faces sw that I'd have a better chance getting wvny? Will it help with fox? I can get fox indoors but the antenna placement has to be exact and also a bit higher than the other channels so it ends up bring choppy even though the signal is about 40%.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!
 
#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ville Emard

I just picked up a Philips PHDTV3 and it has made a great improvement in what I can pick up. I can finally pick up WCAX and WPTZ along with both PBS stations plus the local CBC French and English very cleanly when compared to my old rabbit ears with the standard UHF loop. No luck with ABC/WVNY or FOX/CW yet but I'm really enjoying what I'm able to pick up and really haven't played around with the position of the antenna yet.

I'm really new to this and it's really a blast to see what is available for free OTA. The thing I find really strange is that I can pick up US stations with much better results than I get with Canadian channels like CBC which is pretty weird. For example I can't pick up V on 42.1 at all and it's a local station while all four channel 57 feeds, three channel 33 feeds and both CBS and NBC are crystal clear.

And it's really sad that CTV hasn't set up a HD broadcast here in Montreal, especially with all the advertisements about how bad the local networks are doing.

But overall, high def is amazing and I'm really glad that I took the step up!

PS: By the way...I live in a first floor apartment facing SSW so I'm limited to an indoor antenna and unable to install a dish and unwilling to give Videotron my money. So OTA is really a lifesaver for me. If I can manage to pull in Fox and ABC, I'll be in heaven! LOL
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey guys I bougth a cm4228 mounted 10 feet above my house and Im using windows 7 media center with an ati 650 tuner

I get very good atsc
2.1
3.1
3.2
5.1
5.2
6.1
17.1
35.1,

i get a good signal at
33.1
33.2
33.3
33.4

yet the image seams to cut in and out and is pixelated. I was catching it well,than i adjusted the antenna a bit more west to catch analog 46, it was working fine the whole day and the next day, the image went to crap, signal is still very good though.

I dont catch 57.1 57.2 57.3 anybody got any suggestions, would i need a preamp, maybe a second antenna? I live in the about 5km away from the olympic stadium, could it be affectimg my signal?
 
#25 ·
Your not the first person to suggest this, so my problem is not the lack of signal but the refraction of the signal by interference which is causing an unstable picture which is supposed to be improved by getting a 3410, or 3412. Am i getting this right?

At the same time will either of these two you mention help to catch more channels? I can get other channels but their signals are weak so i dont get an image. I know it probably wont but i figured id ask anwyays.
 
#26 ·
The Channel Master 3410 and 3412 offer a db gain, the second one even acts as a splitter. What I have found is that these units seem to handle picture break up very well. I use to have constant problems when I was using the GE amp. Any drop in signal strength would lead to both audio and video break up. Since using the 3412, all of that has stopped. Especially with WFFF-DT.
So, for that reason I suggested that you look at those units.

If you're not sure about them, try and buy them someplace where you can return them if you're not happy.

As for getting more channels with it. I doubt it. WVNY-DT is a problem for most people in Montreal. Then comes WFFF-DT. WCFE-DT is relatively easy to get for people west of the mountain.
 
#28 ·
hey bobrock, thanks for the reply...

I'm totally getting the correct cbs station.. remapping to 3.1

My issue though, is that 22.1 should be ABC, yet, i'm still getting the cbs channel instead. So basically, i'm getting cbs on both 3.1 and 22.1 According to this chart, abc (WVNY) is supposed to remap to 22.1
2.1 19.1 CBFT-DT SRC Montréal, QC
3.1 53.1 WCAX-DT CBS Burlington, VT
3.2 53.2 WCAX-DT WCAXtra Burlington, VT
5.1 14.1 WPTZ-DT NBC Burlington, VT
5.2 14.2 WPTZ-DT Wthr+ Burlington, VT
6.1 20.1 CBMT-DT CBC Montréal, QC
17.1 27.1 CIVM-DT TQ Montréal, QC
18.1 23.1 WNPI-DT PBS-SD Norwood, NY
18.2 23.2 WNPI-DT THINK Norwood, NY
18.3 23.3 WNPI-DT PBS-HD Norwood, NY
22.1 13.1 WVNY-DT ABC Burlington, VT
22.2 13.2 WVNY-DT ABC Burlington, VT
33.1 32.1 WETK-DT PBS-HD Burlington, VT
33.2 32.2 WETK-DT PBS-SD Burlington, VT
33.3 32.3 WETK-DT CREATE Burlington, VT
33.4 32.4 WETK-DT WORLD Burlington, VT
35.1 42.1 CFJP-DT TQS Montréal, QC
44.1 43.1 WFFF-DT FOX Burlington, VT
44.2 43.2 WFFF-DT CW Burlington, VT
57.1 38.1 WCFE-DT PBS-HD Plattsburgh, NY
57.2 38.2 WCFE-DT PBS-SD Plattsburgh, NY
57.3 38.3 WCFE-DT THINK Plattsburgh, NY

If anybody's got any idea what's going on, let me know. I've read that WVNY is difficult to get, but i'm just getting weirded out that i'm getting a prefectly clear channel on 22.1, exept, it's (cbs) wcax and not abc (wvny)
 
#30 · (Edited)
3.1 53.1 WCAX-DT CBS Burlington, VT
3.2 53.2 WCAX-DT WCAXtra Burlington, VT
22.1 13.1 WVNY-DT ABC Burlington, VT
22.2 13.2 WVNY-DT ABC Burlington, VT
If anybody's got any idea what's going on, let me know.
I have a very good idea whats going on. That WCAX real ch53 is wrong.
WCAX-DT(wikipedia) was on real ch53 before the final june 2009 switch over. It's now virtual 3.1, real ch22.
You have 22.1 virtual, real ch13 as ABC and thats correct. But your tuner is probably mixing the two since it can't tune WCAX-DT on ch53 anymore. There is only one 22.1 subchannel, not two.

I suggest you delete everything and rescan. Lol Something is mixed up big time and you'll waste more time trying to fix it than rescanning your channels from scratch.

Marc

Ps: Please add your location in your profile, so we know where you are located.
 
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