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ON - Mississauga, Brampton, Bramalea, Port Credit - OTA

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
OTA Results for the Mississauga, Brampton, Bramalea, Port Credit, and surrounding area. This is an open discussion forum, but keep your posts on topic.
 
#2 ·
Brampton: McLaughlin north of Steeles

I have had good reception in Brampton with the 4228 I got from John, coupled with a 9510A rotator. I haven't been able to get WYNO on 34, but the rest of the Buffalo digital (PBS, CBS, NBC, UPN, FOX) stations come in generally without dropouts. The analog reception is also excellent on 17 and 23, but a bit snowy on 47. The reception fron the CN Tower (CITY 53 and Toronto1 66) is also excellent when the antenna is turned to the east.
 
#3 ·
I am located at McLaughlin north of Steeles and the antenna is about 20 feet in the air using a chimney mount on a 2 storey house. I meant channel 49, not 47, in the post above. 47 comes in fine.
 
#4 ·
East Mississauga near Dixie and Rathburn

This is my setup:
Receiver: Samsung SIR T151
Antenna: Channel Master 4228
Channels:

4-1, 4-2, 4-3 WIVB: CBS (Not too stable)
7-1, 7-2 WKBW: ABC (Stable once it locks on)
23-1, 23-2, 23-3, WIVB: CBS (Stable)
29-1, 29-2, 29-3 WUTV: FOX (Stable)
33-1 WGRZ: NBC (Stable)
43-1, 43-2, 43-3 WNED: PBS (Stable)

Area: Eastern Mississauga, Dixie/Rathburn

No Toronto Stations or WB, no biggie, Im happy that I caught ABC and stabilized all my other channels with the CM.
 
#5 ·
Georgetown, ON

In reply to Noise1's questions regarding reception, I am in Georgetown (near Milton) using the channel master 4228 antenna and I can pick up all the channels you want to get except WB without a rotor. I will be getting one shortly though as I have found that with slight adjustments to the direction of the antenna the reception improves but because they are not all in the same location I must point the antenna in an in between position. I have picked up the Rochester channels as well but can't get all the Buffalo channels at the same time. I am pretty sure that with your antenna you will need a rotor unless you are high up on the escarpment? The WB seems to be too far away for me unless they make a deal to put the signal on channel 29-3 where they were testing it a couple weeks ago. Let us know what you can get when you install it. I know from experience that it might be a lot better to install a rotor when you first put it up rather than having to do it all over again.
 
#6 ·
Georgetown, ON: Update on 4228 Channel Master Antenna

Hello again,
I just wanted to mention that I installed a rotor on my channel master 4228 bow tie antenna. It has made a tremendous difference. I can even get WB 34 from Georgetown and the Rochester channels as well but they are not that stable. Every thing else is perfect. It is very strange that I get PBS at at different location than most of the other channels. It is a little more west than CBS and Fox although they wil come in fine where the PBS station comes in but not as strong but still watchable.
If your looking for a good deal on a TV booster and a chimney mount kit go to Princess Auto. The booster I picked up was an RCA type but it was on sale under $10 and the chimeny mount was around $5. The booster had a similar gain to a Channel master which was around 100$. They also have sattelite installation kits for around $10 which include about 100 ft of RG6 cable and grounding wires.
 
#7 ·
Port Credit, just west of Toronto

SRP is $199 US, the shop is selling it for $239 CAD. I'll start a new thread with more info about it.

Using this page as my HDTV channel guide, I found the following on my first night of viewing:

Location: Port Credit, just west of Toronto, a few blocks from the lake.

5-1 CBLT (CBC) bars-and-tone if you're lucky, I guess they're waiting for hockey

14-1 supposed to be FOX ? getting 86 percent signal but blank screen. Fox works fine on 29 anyway.

23-1 WIVB (CBS) HD 1080i, 89 percent infomercials and bad dramas ??
23-2 WIVB doppler radar woohoo
23-3 WNLO (UPN) 480i, 89 percent but it's a notoriously skippy station

24-1 CBLFT (CBC french) also up-and-down test signals only

29-1 WUTV (FOX) HD 720p baby 86 percent
29-2 SD (480i)
29-3 EN (blank screen)

32-1 CBS HD 89 percent, infomercials all day and crappy dramas at night ???

33-1 supposed to be where NBC lives, zero signal

38-1 WKBW (ABC) zero to 30 percent signal, might be able to get it with antenna movement in a pinch

40-1 CTV coming soon apparently. Nothing right now

43-1 PBS umm well, the #1 HD channel for content and signal in the area is jumping from 30 - 60 percent signal with current antenna placement lol :D can get it with ease with a slight adjustment when necessary.
43-2
43-3 more PBS, different res
43-4 Think B... kid's station ? same deal as above w/regards to reception

44-1 OMNI 2 in the future, nothing now

53-1 CITY HD in 1080i. signal 87 percent

64-1 OMNI 1 future, nothing now

65-1 Global TV ... in... wait for it.... APRIL 2006 ?!?!


Note that these numbers go slightly higher at night when the sun goes down.

Looks like a lot but in reality I'm basically getting CBS, FOX, CITY and PBS... but there's more promised in the future, and if I had to choose 4 stations to get in HD, they'd probably be City, Fox, PBS and CBC, so I'm happy. Very happy :D
 
#8 ·
Brampton area (Dixie and Clarke)

I've been reading this excellent forum over the last couple of months and have been keen to try out OTA. Based on the all the info I've gained from this site, I have been slowly acquiring hardware via ebay.

Last week I did a generic Google search using "Toronto Antenna" as the search criteria. I called a couple of the local numbers from the listing and I just picked up the Channel Master 4228 from a local dealer that had them in stock....Hosick Television. Initially they stated the price was $149 but I mentioned to them that "neutron electronics" out of Guelph has them priced at $110. $135 +taxes was the price I got. Rushed over and scooped one up.

As a quick update, I'm in the Brampton area (Dixie and Clarke) and I quickly set the attenna up on a partial tower that the previous owners had left up as a quick access to the ground floor roof. Using an chain link fence post as a temporary mast, I was able to just clear the roof line of my side split and aimed SW. Without any tweeking, given that I installed the antenna late last Thursday night, I was able to get the following on my Expressvu 6000.

4-01 WIVB - HD
4-02 Doppler - D
4-03 WNLO - SD
5-01 CBLT - D
7-01 WKBW - HD
7-02 WKBW - SD
23-01 WIVB - HD
23-02 Doppler
23-03 WNLO - SD
43-01 WNED - HD
43-02 WNED - SD
43-03 Think

Most of the channels were viewable and average, that is until I viewed the PBS HD feed. This blew me away and renewed my efforts to get an additional section of tower added and a rotor. I was able to get my neighbors old tower yesterday and I plan to head back up onto the roof once the rotor comes in and the weather is nicer.

As an FYI I also tried out a Samsung SIR-T150 that I picked up over ebay as well. The unit worked well but I quickly switched back over to the 6000 as the T150 came with no remote.
 
#10 ·
Caledon near hwy.9

I'm a lot further north than Oakville (Caledon near hwy.9). Using a Bell Expressvu 6100 to pick up OTA HD signals via an old UHF antenna on 25ft tower. CBS at 23-1 is a very strong signal for me. Strongest of all the Buffalo signals. I also pick up Toronto 1 on 66-1. I was told it was intermittent but it has had programming everytime I checked since I installed the 6100 last week. FOx is a little too weak for me (pixilates a lot). ABC (38-1) was good for a while last Sunday buit I haven't gotten a good signal since then. Anyone know if an amp or pre-amp would help? What should I get and where?

Thanks
 
#9 ·
Caledon near hwy.9

I'm a lot further north than Oakville (Caledon near hwy.9). Using a Bell Expressvu 6100 to pick up OTA HD signals via an old UHF antenna on 25ft tower. CBS at 23-1 is a very strong signal for me. Strongest of all the Buffalo signals. I also pick up Toronto 1 on 66-1. I was told it was intermittent but it has had programming everytime I checked since I installed the 6100 last week. FOx is a little too weak for me (pixilates a lot). ABC (38-1) was good for a while last Sunday buit I haven't gotten a good signal since then. Anyone know if an amp or pre-amp would help? What should I get and where?

Thanks
 
#11 ·
Rochester, Erie, & even Syracuse on OTA from Mississauga!

HDTV101 said:
I’ve got a Winegard 9032 Antenna up on the roof of my home in Mississauga with a Channel Master 7776 amp and I can rotate it with a Channel master motor. Having the motor is a great thing because I can point it towards other locations then just Buffalo and Toronto. Here is my list of other Digital Stations I’ve picked up. Most surprising was to see Syracuse the other morning… it lasted for about 2 hours and faded out at about 8am. Best time to catch stations from far away is from 5am to 8 am I’ve found.

Erie PA.

22 WFXP-DT FOX66
50 WQLN-DT PBS54
52 WICU-DT NBC12
58 WJET-DT ABC24


Rochester NY.

16 WXXI-DT PBS21
28 WUHF-DT FOX31
45 WROC-DT CBS8
58 WHEC-DT NBC10
59 WHAM-DT ABC13


Syracuse NY.

54 WSTM-DT NBC3
Copied and pasted from another post.
 
#12 ·
South Brampton

Got my samsung SIR-T351 tuner and had to check out the OTA results in South Brampton.

I hooked the unit up to rabbit ears :), because that's all my neighbour had right now :eek:. The ears are sitting on a chair by my patio doors. The patio doors are about 5 ft off the ground, facing south, and about 45 feet away from a big a#& house blocking my view.

Still, a quick channel-add, and here are my results:

2-1 WGRZ -D, HD
4-1 WIVB - HD
4-3 HNLO - SD
5-1 CBLT - DT, HD
7-1 WKBW - DT, HD
23-1 WIVB - HD
23-3 WLNO - SD
25-1 CBLFT - D, HD
43-1 WNED - HD
43-2 WNED - SD
43-3 Think B - SD

It works!

What channels am I missing?

Is going with a large CM 4228 antenna really worth it?

BTW, the Samsung SIR-T351 seems to be working great. I have it on Dolby digital. Both Dolby Digital and PCM work. Many people complain about dropouts on dolby digital. One channel had a few drop outs on DD, but it seems to work great so far. It looks like this unit is a keeper.....

Thx so much to all for the help so far. Now I have to get a more permanent and better antenna figured out.

kw.................
 
#14 ·
HDTV101 said:
Why is it that CITY TV uses directional antennas on the CN tower as not to send any signal to the US. Is if because thay have nude stuff on at 7:00pm?
I know from the FCC really freaks out over naked stuff.
I think it may have more to do with a channel conflict. My reasoning is because nudity can be seen on CBC and CBLT at various times. Americans love their violence, Canadians love their sex. Makes me proud to live in Canada :)
 
#15 ·
Getting Buffalo WNLO (UPN) & WNYO (WB) in GTA

I heard a response from wnlo engineer that they would be receiving an hd satellite receiver in fall and then they would be able to transmit upn programs in hd.Wnyo has made a application to move transmitter to wutv site and increase power.Hopefully it will get approved but crtc may object as they want channel 34 in Peterboro for chex-dt.I can sometimes receive wnyo-hd in Mississauga .Otherwise wnyo will use their 49 frequency for digital when the analogs are turned off and be able to go high power at that time.

EDIT by Stampeder: lprice99 informs that Rogers added WNYO to its CATV channel lineup awhile ago and has applied to the CRTC to carry WNLO.
 
#16 ·
rob50312 said:
Wnyo has made a application to move transmitter to wutv site and increase power.Hopefully it will get approved but crtc may object as they want channel 34 in Peterboro for chex-dt.
I noticed this application a few months ago but there is a catch. The application uses a directional antenna mounted on Grand Island pointing towards Buffalo. From the looks of the radiating pattern, we should get a stronger signal over here, but some areas will get nothing at all. If it gets approved at a decent power range, we may have better luck than the current 650w in the GTA.

I've included a link to the proposed service contour:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1047259.html

My personal hope is that that bump on the end of the radiating pattern will have enough signal to reach me in Mississauga. :)
 
#17 ·
I’m using a Winegard 9032 and I can esaly pinpoint the CN tower since this antenna is very directional. Digital 53 CITY, 20 CBC, 24 CBLFT are on the tower for sure… 66 for some reason is stronger when I turn my antenna about 5 degrees to the left of where the CN tower is. This makes me think that T1’s 66 is on another building like First Canadian Place.
 
#18 ·
HDTV101 said:
...66 for some reason is stronger when I turn my antenna about 5 degrees to the left of where the CN tower is. This makes me think that T1’s 66 is on another building like First Canadian Place.
I just checked and Industry Canada has 66 located on the CN Tower:

ON Toronto 66 CKXT-DT INDE 433833 792315 458.0 3000
ON Toronto 20 CBLT-DT CBCE 433833 792315 491.0 38000
ON Toronto 9 CFTO-TV CTV 433833 792315 467.0 280000
 
#19 ·
Brampton - Mavis / Queen

Hi Guys,

thought I'd share my results as I'm a bit excited now... Went out and picked up the CM4228 yesterday (as everyone else suggested) and hooked it up to my fusionhdtv5 card i received a few days ago. Here are my initial results without too much tinkering yet.. The last 2 don't come in too strongly but I'm gonna try a booster to see if it helps at all. The rest all come in beautifully. Here is what I get

14.1 WUTV FOX 81%
20.1 CBLT CBC 89%
24.1 CBLFT CBC-French 83%
32.1 WNLO UPN??? 89%
32.2 WIVB CBS 89%
33.1 WGRZ NBC 88%
38.1 WKBW ABC 85%
40.1 CFTO CTV 71%
43.1 WNED PBS 84%
53.1 CITY CITY 32%
66.1 TOR1 TORONTO1 28%

Antenna sits on a 10' galvanized post from Home Depot ($10.49).

Photos are here

http://photobucket.com/albums/b233/open6l/

Extremely thrilled with the results!!!
 
#21 ·
open6l pretty good results. :)

I don't think the pre amp will bring in City and Toronto 1 in any stronger.

These are the two weakest Toronto HDTV signals and from reading the boards, City signal maybe pointed out towards Toronto North/East.

So anybody south or way west of the Cn Tower maybe out of luck.

As a test if you feel you want to go back on the roof, if you were to rotate the antenna, would City and Toronto 1 would come in any stronger ?

Not being too far from Toronto and having the gain of the 4228, my guess would be that the 4228 does not have a wide enough coverage for you to get those two weaker stations properly.

Buffalo is more east to south direction ? and Toronto more east ?
 
#22 ·
yes - i moved the antenna last night towards the cn tower (what i thought was the tower) and obviously it came in much stronger but the buffalo stations dropped significantly.. (40-50% if i recall - maybe even lower). Since i'm not too concerned with those 2 (CITY/TOR1) I stuck with the Buffalo direction. Buffalo is almost completely south and toronto more south east from here..
 
#24 ·
mjm70 said:
My only concern is with overlap of the two antenna's. Will I get an awful signal by putting up two different antennas and having them compete with each other.
Yes, you run a few risks combining antennas because patterns contain peak areas and nulls. Somtimes they can overlap, sometimes they can almost cancel eachother out, especially if they're both wide pattern antennas.

I am known to personally favour bowtie reflector antennas for single antenna use due to their superior deep and fringe area signal gathering, but in the case of a dual antenna system that capability will work against you as the antennas work against eachother at some angles.

I would suggest 2 yagis (such as a Winegard 9032, Channel Master 4248, or Wade-Delhi SFA-1483S) pointed one at the Toronto sweet spot, one at the Buffalo sweet spot. Or you could go with a combo of 1 yagi with 1 bowtie reflector (such as a CM4228). Yagis are more directional, typically having better rejection of unwanted signals from side and rear than bowtie reflectors. The payoff is that inter-antenna effects will be greatly reduced.

If you check through this forum you'll see posts by Yaamon and others regarding difficulties they faced and how they got past them.
 
#25 ·
stampeder said:
I would suggest 2 yagis (such as a Winegard 9032, Channel Master 4248, or Wade-Delhi SFA-1483S) pointed one at the Toronto sweet spot, one at the Buffalo sweet spot. Or you could go with a combo of 1 yagi with 1 bowtie reflector (such as a CM4228).
Well, I guess it is time to call some suppliers and get some quotes. I'm inclined to try one bowtie-type alone to start and see if it can pick up both Toronto and Buffalo (from near right angle directions). If it is not acceptable, I suppose there'd be a way to put a yagi on top and combine them.

Craig
 
#26 ·
Location

It seems that if you are located west of the Cn tower like west end Mississuaga and Oakville because of where you are there it's very hard for one antenna will get all the Toronto and Buffalo stations properly.

If one was to buy a single antenna then your best bet would be the wider coverage 4221.

For those who live in that area there the only two options to use a dual antenna setup or a 4228 with a 9521 remote rotor kit.

Being north of the city like Markham, Richmond Hill, Thornhill etc depends on your location you most likey can get away with one antenna. With the sweet spot between 404 going west to Dufferin and north of say Sheppard.

Being east or west of the Cn Tower poses a problem as Buffalo is almost due south of the Cn tower.
 
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