Been a tough summer for the DX'ers, here in Eastern, Ontario. Last year, there seemed to be better results, but this year, the patterns have not been conducive to long distance DX. Been watching Mr. Hepburns reports and there seems to be a tropo hole, toward the south and east of this area. While other parts of Ontario, to the west, are getting better Tropo, we seem to be getting very little. At least one good thing, is the stability of the local channels in this area. Maybe fall will be better to us, here in the Eastern area.

This is my first summer with an antenna on the roof and the furthest away I got was Buffalo and southern New York State, Elmira I believe.
While it is very neat to get these channels it just drives me batty that I can't get them all the time. RTV out of Buffalo came in clear as crystal a few weeks ago and now that it's gone, well I want it back!

So I woke up this morning to find my antenna laying on my driveway, with the end of the pole hanging from the coax but the antenna elements were firmly planted on the driveway. Looks like the chimney strap I was using came loose or broke (something I still need to look at)
So just for fun while at work I decided I would do a scan to see what channels I'm getting, I figured I'd lose them all so I didn't note what I currently was getting, hit scan and I lost 3 channels but gained a 1 I didn't have before.
So not only do I have a crappy youtube antenna still, but the elements are bent, it's on the driveway behind a big wooded fence and shooting through big trees and big houses behind me and I lost 3 channels. I believe the channels I lost were 7-1, 7-2 and another one I can't ID.

So why do I have my antenna on the roof? :confused:

You will want 7-1 and 7-2 come winter when only Watertown is reachable and Syracuse is hard to pick up.

So Syracuse is hard to pull in, in the winter? I'm surprised by that. I don't know much about how atmospheric temps affect radio signals, but I would have thought winter would have been better for reception.

For me, about november to march is a Syracuse dead zone. I will continue to get Fox but I can pick that up from Watertown.

There are a few guys who have good setups, closer to the water that seem to have better luck getting more Syracuse year round.

On a side note, I am helping put up a HD-8200U this weekend out in Picadilly. It is a really nice setup. Too bad he had to go big but they are analog right now so they need it for 2 and 6. New setups are fun. :D

I concur about the loss of Syracuse, once winter comes around. Here in Belleville, the best Syracuse pull is the NBC affiliate, on RF24. It is hit or miss and the signal drops out alot. Watertown, however, stays true, even in the bad weather and cold season. I also have luck with the two VHF's out of Rochester. They usually stay solid in the cold months, but the UHF's are a different story. I wish that Syracuse had at least one VHF, to test the same theory.

Nice getting the VHF's from Rochester. I didn't realize that 13.2 is now a 720p channel as well. It is coming in here tonight and neat, the baseball game is in HD.

Hello all my first post on the forum. Just bought a new panasonic 54 plasma with the atsc tuner. I'm looking at setting up the antenna in my house somewhere, Looking forward to seeing what I can pick up. I'm planning on going to radio shack this weekend in water town to see what they have in stock for the antenna. This will be my first attempt at using the atsc tuner I hope its straight forward (like scanning) and such. have a great weekend all.

@leaffanatic: Welcome to the forum.
I hope you took a few moments to read this (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=125161) before driving to the U.S. to purchase an antenna. That post contains lots of info to help you in your research. Following what the post says also helps other forum members to provide you assistance, too. Happy reading and good luck!

I put up a new 4 bay UHF antenna last night, mounting it to the antenna tower about 7 feet above the roof and added an inline booster with it turned on just a little past off (harldy any amp). I am using it strictly for my computer for recording shows out of Watertown digitally. I am able to get all 4 stations (8 total).

I did it so I can monkey around with the large antenna on the rotor and not affect the computer's recordings.

What type of antenna did you install. can you get any other channels. Also, are the watertown channels in HD.

It is a channel master 4221 clone. I get 4 HD, ABC, PBS, CBS and Fox and in SD I get two PBS, Fox (same as HD) and CW. I can get analog CKWS, SRC and TVO.

The point of this antenna is not to get as many channels as I can. There is no rotor and very little amplification. This is not the antenna for that job, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who would use this as a lone antenna. Its one and only job is to record Watertown and Kingston channels.

Perfect, that's exactly what I'm looking for. If i can get the major US networks in HD then i can use a capture card to PVR in my computer. I want to make a HPTC. Are the channels from Watertown UHF. Did you have to place the antenna on your roof. I'm behind the Frontenac mall and I'm not sure if the hill on Portsmouth and bath will effect the signal.

You should have little trouble getting the Watertown locals, from your location. WWNY is VHF, but your close proximity may allow your UHF antenna to pick it up, in Kingston.

If I put a CM-4228HD in the attic , would that work, or does it have to be outside.

Outside is preferred but the attic should work though.

Well after trying various locations, It seems like a failed attempt to get what I want. Only two HD channels. Can't get fox 35 in HD. My tvfool results are lame due to the depression that I'm in. It's right by the little Cataraqui creek. Even if I make my TVfool antenna at 30 feet it doesn't change my results:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3da362f764c43a19

Actually, correct that. I can get three HD channels. PBS, ABC and CBS. They are nice though. I really wanted to get FOX HD due the NFL games and the evening programing. Not sure if a pre amp would work or not.

A preamp is what made the difference for me. Also, don't be afraid to try the Syracuse market. Fox Channel 68 which is on RF 19 has always been the strongest channel for me. It might do what you need. Unfortunately, 35 is low power and has to be pretty precise to hit it.

Also, what did you go with for an antenna and did you use RG6, etc? If you give some more details, we may be able to help.

Thanks Tlamothe,
I did use rg6 cable. I didn't try to aim further south to get channel 19. I'll give that a try. I went with the CM4228HD. I didn't mount the antenna yet. I placed on a chair on my deck to try to hit the signals. I don't have a rotor at this point either.