Good info here - glad I found it! I have a conduit running from my attic down to my equipment room in the basement (~50'). I have an HTPC running Vista MCE and I want to use my ATI 650 Theatre card to tune in the HD channels.

I live in Joshua Creek just south of Dundas and just west of Ford Dr./9th line. From our 2nd floor I can easily see the top of the tower on the Ford plant and from our roof I'm guessing I could see both Buffalo and the CN tower on a clear day. I would like to mount an antenna in the attic if possible. 3 questions: 1) which antenna would you recommend? 2) do I need a pre-amp? and 3) do you think I could receive all the stations?

Note: I tried using the junky little antenna that comes with the ATI all-in-wonder some time ago, and received most of the HD channels indoors on the 1st floor if that helps.

Craig

strange_brew, a nice 4 bay antenna like the Channel Master 4221 should fit through your trap door and give decent results.

Attic setup are 50/50 meaning they work some times and some times they dont give good results.

You dont need a preamp unless your cable run is longer than 50'. Some times using a indoor amp 10db with longer cable runs than 35' will gain some signal if the atsc tuner is not sensitive.

jtime905, now you know why I don't like to do attic installs time consuming and summer time, Hot Hot Hot :D

Thanks Yaamon, would the 4221 also be a good choice if I discover that I need to put it outdoors?

strange_brew, I just inastalled the CM 4221 in the attic and in improved the reception/reliablity over the indoor antenna I was using. Like you the indoor antenna picked up some of the station and would drop the signal on occasion. With the CM 4221 I have not had much problem with dropped signals, although last night the sound on a couple of digital stations was dropped, picture was good.

Have fun

jtime905

I live in Joshua Creek just south of Dundas and just west of Ford Dr./9th line. ... I would like to mount an antenna in the attic ...

Strange_brew:

Don't cheap out! We have an 80 degree angle between the Toronto and Buffalo stations. Mount a Channel Master 4221 or 4228 outdoors and tune it so you get good year-round reception of all the stations. Mine still needs some tweaking--it is very frustrating when a recording breaks up near the end of the show. (I think there is a 'sunset effect' some nights.)

Craig

Mount a Channel Master 4221 or 4228 outdoors and tune it so you get good year-round reception of all the stations.Are you in Joshua Creek?

Are you in Joshua Creek?

I'm in Clearview--south of the QEW, between Ford and Winston Churchill.

Hello, guys.

I am a newbie to HDTV OTA reception and planning to install a new set of antenna. Can you guys please give me some advice.

I live in Oavkille (Uppder Middle Rd & 3rd Line) and it is two story single house with the back yard facing to the South. I do not dare to climb up my roof thus I want to install the antenna wall mounted. My house is already wired RG6/U coax cable with 3 satellite splitters (5MHz ~ 2GHz freq. range two 2-way and one 4-way) and the cable run from the antenna feed to the first 2-way splitter will be 50 feet approximately. There are some trees accross my back yard but it is quite well open area (no outstanding obstacles but can not see CN tower from my window at the second floor).

After reading an article from the forum, I have decided to order the follwoing items for my HDTV OTA setup.

1. CM4221 - 4 bay HDTV antenna - (My location is 19.2 miles from CN tower and 47.5 miles from Grand Island, and CM4221 has wider reception beam width than CM4228)
2. CM7777 - VHF/UHF pre-amp. - (long cable run and spllitters)
3. CM9036 - 18" heavy duty wall mount bracket
4. 1 1/2" OD 4' galvanized pipe to clear eaves
5. DBS self installatio kit

Will this be reasonable setup in my situation?

And if I order CM4221, CM7777 and CM9036 from USA, are those subject to be imposed on any Canadian taxes (Duty, GST and PST)?

Thank you
Jae.

Hi Jae, those are good choices. The 7777 is a VHF/UHF preamp. Since your antenna choice 4221 that is a UHF antenna so you can also use a 7775 that slightly cheaper.

If you ship across the border normally you have to pay both taxes. Hopfully they dont ship UPS as they will add a additional brokerage fee.

Good luck.

I heard there was an Attic install guide somewhere. Can someone send me the link?

I found this document is quite useful to start with.

Channel Master Antenna Installations Guide (PDF) (http://www.xtek.ca/Files/AntInstallGuide.pdf)

I've been receiving the follwing channels quite stable for a month now.

CM4221, CM7777, 70' cable run, 18" wall-mount bracket and 10' galvanized mast, Samsung DTB-H260F HDTV OTA receiver.

Antenna is approx. 25' height from the ground (mid-point between eaves and roof-top) and pointing at CN tower (South-East-East).

2-1 WGRZ-DT
2-2 WGRZ-SD
4-1 WIVB-HD
5-1 CBLT-DT
7-1 WKBW-HD
7-2 WNGS
9-1 CFTO HD
23-1 WNLO-HD
25-1 CBLFT-D
29-1 WUTV-HD
29-2 WUTV-SD
43-1 WNED-HD
43-2 WNED-SD
43-3 WNED-Th
49-1 WNYO-HD
49-2 WNYO-SD
57-1 CITYHD
66-3

Jae.

Hi Guys ,

I'm Living Burlington Ontario in Basement Apt. Near lake Shore & Guelph Line. I have a Hitachi 50C10 HDTV.

I like to get off the Cable and Use a Indoor Antenna for Local HD. Being in Basement may be Problem. Any Advice would be welcome..

Tom

Hi Tom, I think if you use an indoor antenna you won't get Buffalo digital stations but you'll probably get some of the Toronto digitals.

stampeder,
Thanks for the info .. I'd like to Try get Buffalo
Right now I have one cable Coming into the house.
It runs a 1 Meter K Band ..Sat Dish

How can I get a Small Outdoor Antenna to work and still keep the K Band Dish

or do just use a Indoor one?

1knight,

You can combine and then separate a TV ant and a sat dish signal onto one cable. The source or home depot has combiners and splitters, make sure you get the ones made for sat and cable/ant.
As far as antenna goes, outdoor, as high as you can get and you want a 4221 or 4228 if you have room. The 4221 fits nicely on top of a sat dish post mounted to the side of a building or brick chimney, if its high enough.

Good Luck!!

Yes, Tom.F.1 is correct and you can find instructions and diagrams in this thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=42428

Hello good folks;

Sorry if this was discussed before, but..

I am on third floor apartment facing lake Ontario, across from Joseph Brant hospital in downtown Burlington.

Just bought an indoor vhf/uhf antenna from the Source & tried out on my Non-HD Trinitron Sony TV and this is what I get:

1. Grainy CHCH-TV
2. Clear WNED pbs station
3. Fox channel from Buffalo
4. WIVB from buffalo

Still waiting to find out from the landlord if outdoor vhf/uhf antenna is allowed in my building .

What else can I try so I can get Global, CBC, CTV etc ??

TIA

looking to pickup toronto & buffalo with a fairly good but not too expensive indoor antenna.


thanks by

Oakvillecub, read the +++>>> READ THIS BEFORE Posting In The OTA Forum !!! <<<+++ sticky thread at the top of this forum .

Then check out the reception results in the OTA reception forum and finally see the OTA Equipment & Vendors which has tons of information.

Any questions about specific products then please post in existing threads.

If you want better TV, Get a digital tuner and an outdoor antenna, and read this thread that covers your area, read what channels others are getting and what you can expect.

Good Luck.