Have you downloaded the Antenna Chart? Also the CM4221HD has historically been the most successful OTA antenna (ganged or single) in this thread.

stampeder i have downloaded the antenna chart.I see that the modified cm4221hd is a very good choice.When i went on line and read up on the cm4221 hd and the db4,s the db4,s specs seem to be better than the the cm 4221hd.I,m still trying to absorb all the different info thats avaliable here.For now i have 1 db4 to mount when the weather permits.Thanks

Everything you need to know about antennas is here at this site. We've been logging the OTA Reception Reports of people all across Canada for years so we've already done most of the work for you. :)

Now that I see you already have a DB4 then go ahead and stick with that model and it will be fine for your needs. Follow the ganging advice that you've been receiving in the Stacking, Ganging, Combining TV Antennas (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=95148) thread and then when you've got it up and running let us know here how your reception works out.

Today i mounted my db4 to a 9ft pole sitting on my deck.Total height off the ground is about 12 to 15 ft.I have the antenna pointed betweem my home and the neigbours home.My long term plan is to mount everything onto the chimmeny when the weather permits.These are the channels and signal strength that i,m getting with this setup using the db4,25ft of rg6 cable plugged into a sony kdl-46s2000.

2.1- 62%
2.2 -62%
2.3 -62%
4.1 -78%
5.1 -84%
7.1 -81%
11.1 -89%
17.1 -98%
17.2 -98%
17.3 -98%
23.1 -95%
36.1 -89%


Stampeder i know that the db4 is not a popular choice.I did download the antenna chart and read through the forum and still bought the db4.Worst case i go out and buy a cm4421hd.When I did my reasearch across the web the db4 was well reviewed.I,m not sure why its not well liked but i find it all part of the ota fun to get the most channels with whatever antenna i go with.

Hi All.

I live in Burlington on Torrance St.(east of Brant) north of Lakeshore Rd. My 6th floor balcony faces east but I can look south to Buffalo.

Heres my tvfool report....
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d57479b448cbb7e

Speaking strictly digital, current and or pending.

I have a DIY 4 bay - bowtie - reflected antenna facing the CN tower from my 6th floor balcony in Burlington (approx 45-50ft AGL).

No amps at all. The downlead is 25 feet max to my HTPC. I'm tuning with a Hauppauge HVR-1600 tv tuner card (windows 7 media center, Region 1 spoof for atsc digital).

So I'm getting 13 digital stations total. I believe all of Toronto and WNED.1 .2 and .3 Rock Solid with the exception of Toronto 66(ckxt) which is pretty sketchy. Im not getting WUTV either. fyi currently with my 4 bay aimed at the cn tower, if I leave my tuner on WUTV 29.1 it actually flickers in sometimes but only for a second or two at a time. If I aim my DIY 4 bay at buffalo I can get WNED (snr 29) , WNLO (wnlo snr27), WUTV (snr18).

I'm gonna try a modded CM4221HD for this. Hopefully a proper Antenna will bring up the gains on UHF 14 and 15

What my goal is ...

WNYO, WGRZ, WIVB, WKBW


These towers are almost at a right angle from my 4 bay aimed at the cn tower. I have partial obstruction in the form of another apartment building on the south side of lakeshore. approx 10 stories higher than my balcony but I believe i could be far enough back that I wont be in a shadow.

My plan is to buy a 2nd tuner card and run a second RG6 out to the balcony for these buffalo towers. I pretty sure Windows 7 media center will blend the channel lineups from both cards anyways.

I'm thinking a yagi style would be best here and my first instinct is to go for that 91xg bad boy. Unfortunately I cant put 7 feet of antenna on my balcony. The supers would probably freak.

So my questions are (based on the opinion of my brother whom I have the utmost respect for but I need experienced opinion on this)....

1. Can I expect those signals, from say WGRZ @ 75 miles, to travel better over water than land and therefore buy my antenna accordingly. So what I'm getting at is because the last 20 miles for wgrz are over open water and only 50-55 odd miles are over land, can I buy a yagi with land coverage in mind only (wishful thinking?). Would I need a pre-amp to pull any of them in?

2. I've bought and returned a couple of store bought antennas. Most of these come with what the manufacturer calls a power injector. Is this just a cheap oem preamp? If my new antenna for buffalo purposes comes with a one of these 'power injectors' do I use it in combination with a preamp?

i know that the db4 is not a popular choiceIt's not that it is unpopular, it just doesn't perform as well in tests and in real world experiences as some of the other UHF 4-bays on the market. It is not a junk clone antenna, though. If it works well for you I'm delighted. :)

One other thing about the DB-4, doubledot101, is that you can improve it's performance with some simple tweaks:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=131682

I finally mounted my db4 to the chimmeny this weekend.I grounded both the pole and cable.I,d say the antenna is about 25ft up.I think i,m pointed straight south to Buffalo.These are the channels and there strengths that i,m receiving with this postion.

2.1- 81%
2.2 - 81%
2.3- 81%
4.1- 92%
7.1- 95%
11.1-98%
17.1-98%
17.2-98%
17.3-98%
23.1-95%
26.1-73%
26.2-73%
26.3-73%
29.1-62%
29.2-62%
36.1-98%

So far i,m happy with the results.i,m looking forward to bad weather and wind to see how things are affected.

I rotated my db4 towards Toronto and in addition to what i already recieved I also got 5.1,15.1,25.1, and 44.1.I lost 26.1 and its sub channels.9.1 comes and goes.

OK, I hired an off-duty Bell installer to attic mount my DB8 and run the RG6. He felt it would be easier to do a roof install, so that's what we ended up doing.

He installed the antenna on a tripod off peak on the roof sloping down towards the back of the house(to try and hide the ant from view). He ran 75 feet of RG6 into the basement to connect to the existing run of coax in the house... split to feed 2 TV's. We also installed the Antennas Direct PA-18 pre amp.

The results? Not so good.

The only rock solid DTV channels I am getting are: 5.1 CBC, 11.1 CHCH, 23.1 the CW, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3 PBS, and 64.1 Omni1.

2.1 NBC and 4.1 CBS come in sporadically and often freeze and pixalate. Same goes for CityTV, and CTS.

I can't get 9.1 CTV, 7.1 ABC or 14.1 Fox at all.

I think part of the problem may be that the antenna is set too far to the back of the roof (near the edge) and is getting partially blocked by the roof peak. also, I noticed the antenna is kind of tilted upwards towards the sky.

The install guys were here for about 3 hours and gave it their best try, but they are inexperienced with OTA. They felt bad about the result and promised to come back on the weekend to try and tweak it for better results at no additional charge (except a few beers:D)

If the guys follow through on their word and are able to improve the results, I will be happy to recommend them to anyone via pm.

Part of the problem is that I don't have any way to get on to the roof, so doing any adjustments on my own is out -- It is too high.

I am going to ask the guys if they can perhaps move the tripod closer to the peak- I'm hoping that may solve some of the problem. They suggested I try and find a longer mast for the tripod (hard to find).

I have spent approx $350 on this OTA experiment so far and don't really want to invest anymore, as we are renting this place and could very well be moving 11 months from now.

Suggestions for improvements are always appreciated.

The best OTA TV reception is line of sight (LOS). If the antenna is not high enough to clear your roof- you will not get the best possible results- especially on the distant signals (i.e., Buffalo). There also might be an aiming issue- try re-aiming the antenna in small increments and see if this works. You also might want to try without the pre-amp, as well as without splitting the signal to two TVs- splitting the signal causes signal loss. Definitely ask your installers to mount off the highest peak- secured tripod bolted into the roof joists and solid mast. There is probably someone in your area that has done the roof mount successfully- check your area thread.

The whisker side of the DB8 needs line of sight to signal source. If it's aimed towards your roof peek, the roof will block signal, if aimed away may be ok. It's best to get your antenna above the roof peek. Try going to your TV directly with the RG6 and no preamp. Aim and see what you get. Then add the preamp and see if you get anything better. Then connect to your existing coax in the house. If you loose channels, you may need to upgrade your internal coax to RG6.

Today i played around with the postion of my DB4 and rotated it towards Toronto a little bit more.I was surprised that i got a few more channels and only lost 1 Buffalo channel that i care about ( Fox 29.1).My channel list is as follows:
2.1
2.2
2.3
4.1
5.1
7.1
9.1
11.1
17.1
17.2
17.3
23.1
25.1
36.1
41.1
44.1
57.1
64.1
66.1

Come NFL time i will rotate back towards Buffalo to get Fox.

Also Stampeder i .m sorry for not sending you thanks sooner for the link to the DB4 tweaks.No excuses for that.I also came across a link to a 4 bow design and build-the M4.My goal is to build an antenna this summer and see what the results are.

Hey guys,

So my friend is moving into his new apartment in Oakville soon and is looking into getting OTA, as he almost never watches TV and so doesn't want to have a monthly bill, so figured this would be the best way to do so.

TV fool report http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d001b374e680a9b

We've been looking on the forum FAQ's and whatnot getting an idea of what we'd need, but are looking for some guidance on a couple things.

The TV he'll be using is this, which we're not sure whether or not has an ATSC tuner or NTSC; though we're guessing probably NTSC as it's quite old.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f91/DefconZero/6AoC.jpg

So, in that case, we'd need a tuner box, and an antenna. He'll be on the 7th floor, if that helps.

Suggestions appreciated :D

Thanks.

I was having trouble with CBC Toronto (Ch 20) in July. I had trouble last July as well. I assume that it's a combination of the warm weather and it being overpowered by a very strong TVO analogue on channel 19. I'm waiting until September before even thinking about doing any tweaking.

Like many here, I have invested in a UHF setup for my over-the-air needs here in the GTA. With the upcoming changes in channel assignment, I'm considering some tweaks to my setup and I'd like your input.

Current setup:
- Stacked CM4221 antennas mounted in attic
- Winegard AP-4700 UHF pre-amp
- No rotor (antennas feed into an HTPC)

I expect that this setup is going to cause me some issue with CTV, and I will of course wait and see exactly what life looks like on September 1. Assuming that I am not going to move the antenna outdoors, nor am I going to throw my CM4221s in the bin, here is what I'm thinking.

Step 1: Replace the pre-amp
Even if the 4221 is bringing in CFTO on channel 9 acceptably, the pre-amp is likely to kill the signal or at best not help it any down the coax and through multiple splitters. I'm looking at a VHF/UHF with separate inputs to give me room to grow.

Step 2: Add a VHF-HI antenna
If the pre-amp doesn't cut it, then grab an AntennasDirect C5 and plug it into the VHF side of the pre-amp.

Any feedback on the plan above?

Also, the Winegard AP-2870 pre-amp would appear to be the best replacement, but nothing in the online documentation states that it will amplify both VHF and UHF from the UHF input. The CM7777 seems to be the next best bet, with clear documentation that it will boost the VHF-HI from my current antenna when plugged into the UHF input. Can anyone with experience with the AP-2870 comment?

Cheers,
Pete

Are you still in Milton, pnear?

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=780533&postcount=378

I am, thanks for the move (although I was thinking this was a topic of general interest for the entire GTA).

Pete

pnear: Can you comment on how many splits you have in your home and length of cable runs? If only one line goes to the HTPC, and cable runs aren't excessive, I've got another idea for you (if you cannot receive 9 on the 4221):

1. Keep your current amplifier.
2. Buy a C5. The antenna comes with a VHF/UHF combiner and weather enclosure.
3. Install the combiner after the pre-amp. The combiner passes DC on the UHF leg, so the pre-amp will still function.

You won't have VHF amplification, but VHF signals will bypass your UHF-only preamp. And given your proximity to the CN Tower, VHF amplification likely won't be necessary anyways. The ~1dB of insertion loss will be overcome by the amplifier on UHF.

Do NOT buy a CM7777--this is overkill for Milton. And with at least 3 UHF CN Tower stations pushing out 100kW ERP or more after transition, you'll probably get overload. (CBLFT, CBLT, CIII).

The C5 also has a wide beamwidth. This should enable reception of channel 11 Hamilton (which will be cutting to digital in the next few days), without re-aiming the antenna.

DefconZero: I'm going to guess that the set lacks an ATSC tuner. Though to confirm, it would be necessary to know the model # of the set. Either way, I recommend a visit to Save&Replay in Mississauga for everything you'll need (tuner or DVR/Tuner, cabling, antenna, etc).