Ditto on an NBC signal closer to Kingston area (yes that would be a positive thing).

Even back in the old days ( 70's 80's ) - I can still remember ... NBC was always the most difficult major US network channel to recieve OTA in the Kingston area.

And today, NBC Still seems to be the most difficult to receive OTA in Kingston.
( from either Syracuse or Rochester ... still ... now ... I believe )

Something NBC out of Watertown would probably be much easier to receive.

Definitely ... NBC has some good programming.

I like the NBC sports coverage (ex. the 2009 Olympics + more). Nice coverage and professional commentary/hosts.

Also on NBC:
SNL - Saturday Night Live / House - Dr House - tv series.

NBC's Morning show - I like the best ... very good... my opinion.

(too bad the local cable co's (Cogeco) give us now NBC out of Buffalo ... or Detroit. I'd prefer the more local NBC affiliate for Kingston- i.e. NBC Syracuse - and no Sim Subs. Give us the real thing Cogeco! Hence the requests for closer, easier to receive NBC - O ver T he A ir ! )

Will it actually happen ?

I dont mean to doubt one of the posters here...but there has been NO mention of WWNY considering carrying an NBC. The notion that WWNY would carry NBC is pure fiction.

First...WKTV is owned by a company unrelated to WWNY...what financial benefit would that have for WWNY? Secondly...if you would be so kind and post the quote from Jim Corbin stating that they would "consider carrying" WKTV i would appreciate it. Good luck btw....

I was one that was in contact with Mr. Corbin. I also contacted his counterpart in the Utica DMA. I received no response from the NBC affiliate in Utica, but Mr. Corbin did show some interest but did not follow up on the idea. During my correspondence, I laid out what was happening on satellite. Dishnet was carrying the Watertown DMA with the Utica NBC affiliate. Directv has not started to carry Watertown or Utica, but planned on also using Utica as the NBC affiliate, in Jefferson and Lewis County, when they launch early next year. They plan on using Plattsburg for St. Lawrence County. The proposal was to get the two channels together and similcast the other on a subchannel in each market, for OTA broadcasts. They could also simsub local commercials in their respective market. It was an opportunity for the two channels, in each market, to have some say on commercial content, that the satellite providers would not allow to happen. Maybe it's time to try another letter campaign to see if they want to pursue his avenue.

Hi guys, ive been reading the forums here alot over the last few weeks, just registered today.

I recently moved to kingston, and dont feel like paying any money for cable, espiecally when i usually only have it on for background noise, or to watch maybe an hour of actual tv a night, it didnt seem like a good decision financially.

We live in an apartment (on the top floor) and are not permitted to use an outdoor antenna (or dish for that matter). I bought a Terk antenna from The Source a week or so ago, its the one with a pole on both sides and the ring, and it was amplified.

With that we could pull in ckws (11) pretty reliably, but 32 and 38 wouldnt come in (of which i believe one is french, and one is childrens programming, so i wasnt too worried about that anyway.

As of about 4 nights ago, i picked up a Terk ZSS-clone antenna and returned our original one.

Now, with this, i can position the antenna to give me 7.1 (i think its CBS in HD), 7.2 (fox?), 11 (is this ckws? sometimes it has cbc programming), and if i point it to the rear of our apartment i can pull in a very faint channel 6 but never get it in clear. If i put it in the corner, I can get 11, as well as 3 PBS channels, one of them in HD.

I am wondering if this is pretty good? I think its awesome that we get any channels for free, from inside our apartment using a pretty basic setup, Im just wondering what other people in our area get.

Here is our TVFool:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dda3211a87344d1

I am also wondering if i can somehow hook up two antennas, one to get the CBS and FOX stations (the antenna is strapped to a camera tripod with a shoelace and sits almost directly in the middle of our room, lol) and one to get the PBS stations in the corner?

I think i got a faint channel 14 once from the kitchen but it wasnt logical to have an antenna sitting on the counter top with wires running all over, well to me it was, but not to my girlfriend.

To get cbs and fox i have to point the antenna west and toward the ground, in a very, very, very specific direction, if i move it an inch in any direction (left, right, up, down, higher, lower) it goes out, and it has to be in this very specific location (re: in the middle of our living room). To get the 3 PBS channels with 11, i have to point it north.

Sorry for the long post, and for me being a complete noob, i grew up in apartments as a kid with cable, so all of this is very new to me.

Which part of Kingston are you in, Minus83?

The ummm.... "Southern" part, im on yonge street, i dont know the area very well and im horrible with geography. But yeah, near the top of yonge street, if the top was the part closest to johnson.

You should definitely be able to get these channels reliably:

Digital:
7-1 WWNY-HD (CBS HD)
7-2 WNYF-SD (FOX SD)
16-1 WPBS-1 (PBS SD)
16-2 WPBS-2 (Create SD)
16-3 WPBS-HD (PBS HD)
28-1 WNYF-CD (FOX HD)
50-1 WWTI-DT (ABC HD)
50-2 WWTI-2 (CW SD)

Analog:
11 CKWS-TV (CBC)
38 CICO-TV (TVO
32 CBLFT-14 (SRC)

I bought a Mini-State HDMS9100 antenna from The Source so I'd recommend you give that one a try. It's a little bit expensive and a little bit big, but it gives great channel selection (moreso in good weather of course), and it has a rotor so you can rotate and save channels at different locations which might be appealing to you. I currently have it in my attic and am very happy with its performance.

Here's another question I have for people on here. Excuse me if this is obvious or not, but I'm not an expert on this topic.

Right now, the selection of Canadian channels I get is pretty slim. We're all aware that the digital transition is supposed to happen here in Canada by the end of the summer (late Aug.). Is it possible that when these channels go digital, us here in Kingston might be able to pick up channels like CTV, Global, CBC, which are otherwise very difficult to get?

You should be able to pick up CTV 6 on analog easily in Kingston. It broadcasts out of Deseronto/Picton. Not sure if it will be going digital or not. CTV was not going to renew the license for the transmitter during its last renewal application. Kingston is not in a mandated digital transition area, however I understand Kingston CBC 11 is planning to flash cut on the transition date.
The coverage area will most likely not increase with digital compared to analog.

(If CTV does not go digital, will it still have to vacate channel 6?)

Finally, anbody having problems getting WWTI 50 tonight? Getting absolutely nothing since I turned on the TV at 9:00. Cheers

I think i got a faint channel 14 once from the kitchen but it wasnt logical to have an antenna sitting on the counter top with wires running all over, well to me it was, but not to my girlfriend.

That channel 14 may have been WPTZ, the NBC affiliate out of Plattsburg, NY.

That channel 14 may have been WPTZ, the NBC affiliate out of Plattsburg, NY.
Faint implies analog, not digital, so that would probably be OMNI2 from Ottawa or WSTQ-LP (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=10320) from Syracuse NY, not WPTZ-DT NBC from Mt Mansfield Vermont.

Im thinking of picking up a new antenna, any recommendations?

Or if anyone has any doubts as to whether id receive more channels with something better, im open to any suggestions.

I am limited to an indoor setup though, however i do live in the top floor of my building, and i wouldnt mind having a huge piece of metal as a centerpiece to my living room.

Im looking at an Antennas Direct DB8, but im not sure about it, its actually the same price as i paid for my Terk from thesource that we are currently using.

The DB8 would take up less 3D space than the terk right now with how i have to have to poles stretched out and where the antenna is.

OTA Antenna Chart (Version 7.1 March 26, 2010) (https://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=97121)

Thanks for the chart man, if I'm reading it properly, I should get a DB2 or the CM4220, since ill be using it indoors.

Ive been reading up on the DB8, and things arent looking good for it from what i can tell.

One thing im not entirely clear on is the reasoning behind choosing an indoor antenna, if i pick an indoor antenna, does that mean that it will outperform an outdoor antenna used inside?

Im not really sure which category i fit in, i think in most cases im around 40kms from some of the towers, which fits in the 10-50km suburban category, but also in the near fringe category, which i think i fit better as im in an apartment building and there are quite a few other buildings around me? I dont know, im new to all of this, im sorry if the answers are painfully obvious, what ive been doing now has been to just buy an antenna, move it around in here, and see what i get.

Aaaaaand I just realized tvfool gives me the tower distances in miles and not kms so now i have to do some conversions, lol, which puts me more like 69kms away in alot of cases, meaking me more Near Fringe.

I guess ill pick p the DB2? unless someone can convince me otherwise for the cm4220, or an outdoor antenna from the chart that would be good indoors.

That’s a mighty big antenna for indoors the DB8, do you need all that gain? if you have kids you don't want an eye poker hanging around. Go with DB4 or CM4221. Nothing wrong with using outdoor antenna indoors or on balcony and other buildings can be your friend as they can reflect the signal to you. Not so good if you want analogue however. I used a 4 bay bow tie 4221 on the north side of an apartment in TO on kitchen chair on balcony and got all the Buffalo signals (reasonable strength too) by pointing at an adjacent building to the north.

Yeah, I WISH we had a balcony, itd make decisions like this alot easier, lol, I dont have any kids though, just me and the girlfriend here.

As for how much gain I actually require, I dont know really, Im a noob, I was hoping itd help me catch a signal from some of the towers that are like 40+ miles away.

Is it even possible for me to get one from 90 miles out with an indoor antenna?

Can you hang antenna in a window and which direction(s) are an option?

I could hang the antenna in the window, all i have really is my compass, so i have to use my iphone, but i can get from 250 degrees west to 0 north i think, i dont know ive always been horrible with a compass.

I dont even have the antenna near the window right now, its kind of in the middle of the room with one pole shortened and the other pole pointing 158 degrees south, its the only spot i can get channels 7.1 and 7.2 with 11, everywhere else seems to be 11.

I wouldnt mind getting a longer cable, to try the window in the bedroom, but thats pretty far from the TV, however, that window has the clearest view without any buildings in the way.

I don't have any recommendations on antennas as I am still new at this myself but have you thought of hanging the antenna from your ceiling? I know you are in an apartment but maybe you can rig the antenna so it hangs from the ceiling.

That way you won't have to step around it, when people ask what it is you can say "art" if you are not interested in explaining OTA to them and if you're tall like me it'll sharpen your senses with all that ducking and dodging :)

I would not permanently attach the antenna. Most lilky you will need the option to move it. Sounds like west may be your best bet. I would test your antenna in all room locations and each direction in each room. Write it all down and once your done you will know where to get what. So you may need some long coax and your spouse to call out whats good on TV while you move antenna around.