lynchp,

TVO 38 is relatively powerful and nearby your location. The blocking house you mention may be the problem - or something else metallic blocking the signal from that direction (metal in walls, mirror, aluminum siding on window frame, aluminum window frame, metal in blocking house)

Try moving the antenna in the room. Try moving the antenna upstairs - side of house facing north. Try moving the antenna into the attic.

Ya, can try side of your property clear of blocking house ... fence itself may interfere ... and you may not have the height you need.

What about on a pole, attached to a fence pole, to give some height -AND- to clear the blocking house?

TV Fool, interactive maps option, lines to transmitter option, satelite or hybrid view option - and zoom in to an appropriate scale - will give you landmarks to see where the line of sight to the transmitter is - to show you where exactly to aim the antenna and to see if anything is in the signal path - i.e. the blocking house ?

Generally - more height and clearing/avoiding the blocking objects or metal is gonna help. You should be able to pick up TVO 38 given the power and proximity of the transmitter.

(also, I think I know your general location, west of the University, and there is a gentle rise/"hill" to your north, up Sir John A. Macdonald blvd, before you get to Brock St - that "rise" in terrain may affect your reception to the North of you. A little more "height" may be needed in your case to pick up stuff from North of you - ex TVO 38. You seem to get stuff south of you - ya - straight over the lake, and no hill in that direction, and maybe also, no blocking house)

If it’s any help to you my NM is -21.1, I am 79 miles away using High VHF antenna/CM 7777 amp @60ft high and it’s the most reliable of all from that town. So your NM is a little better but u r a little further away I would say it can be done. also it is 'tropo' here.

Thanks Wilspin - for your info on reception of WHEC 10 NBC Rochester.

So maybe there is some chance from Kingston.

I did a Google Map on your location - Rice Lake - So I have a better idea now approx. where you are. Near/south east of Peterborough?

I'll have to think about how I am going to attempt to receive this one. If there's more research I can do first ... or if there are some simple tests I can do first... to see if I can give myself some indication, or some confidence that it can be done - practically - and that it is worth trying.

ie. enough signal at my location? would it be stable enough/reliable enough to make the effort? anything in the path? anything interfering with the WHEC 10 Signal at my location?

I read earlier discussion that NBC out of Syracuse may have terrain issues between me and it. Possibly a hill. (? Tug Hill ).

Will have to investigate/research furthur and think some more about it.

I think Rochester antennas are low compared to Syracuse and harder to get from Kingston. But they are both around 90 miles from Kingston.

El383 what is your channel lineup and equipment? Yuo input would be more local than mine. You are correct they are lower but MR.VW is 2 edge and I am tropo so they are lower for me than him, NBC is best of the bunch for reliability. I am at west end of the lake.

I am In Kingston West near Front Rd. and Bayrige Dr.
Antenna CM4228
pre-amp CM7775
hight 28 feet
ground level 276 feet above sea level
coax cable 80 feet RG6
pointed at Syracuse

I will look and get an updated list of channels and strength tomorrow.
:cool:

This is what I get today.
2 analog 34% weak
3. 71%
5. 66%
6. analog 44% weak
7. 93%
8. 26%
9. 88%
11. analog 99%
16. 98%
24. 68%
28 70%
32 analog 99%
38 analog 96%
43 72%
50 100%
53 analog 22% weak
56 50%
68 62%

Elle383,

If your channels and readings are are:

3. 71% (NBC Syracuse?)
5. 66% (CBS Syracuse?)
9. 88% (ABC Syracuse?)

If these are stable/regular readings... that's very good.

Perhaps your particular location in Kingston is very good to receive Syracuse.

Maybe my particular location, not so good for Syracuse... or I've got to try a different sort of antenna - or I have other problem.

Thanks for the comparison info.

Will have to think/research/perhaps experiment some more ... try some different things - this Spring/Summer.

Do you always get Syracuse this well? Stable?

sometimes I will have dropouts but most of the time stable. When super cold
I will get a little more dropouts. One thing to remember is Cogeco Cable dropped Syracuse networks because of dropouts and to save money not installing more UHF antennas. with Syracuse the transmitter towers are not together so one thing to try is using Google Earth and find your house and use the ruler and draw a line to the middle of transmitter sites zoom in to your house and use other houses roads and what ever to point your antenna also make note of any trees or houses with in 300 feet in front of your antenna. If there is anything in line of site of 300 feet you will need to move or put up a higher antenna. past 300 feet should not matter unless there's a super tall cliff or hill or building. also another thing to look out for is dead spots. One time I installed an antenna good line of site and could not get a thing checked everything wiring nothing moved antenna 6 feet got everything he wanted

FWIW - My father in law has a el-cheapo 4221 clone on his tower at just south of Sydenham with a CM7778 pre-amp, channel 3 (real 24) is his most reliable Syracuse channel, he gets almost all the time and we haven't peaked for Syracuse.

I can't get it well since I live too close to the TVO and SRC transmitter. I have work to this summer to fix up my setup.

sometimes I will have dropouts but most of the time stable. When super cold
I will get a little more dropouts. One thing to remember is Cogeco Cable dropped Syracuse networks because of dropouts and to save money not installing more UHF antennas. with Syracuse the transmitter towers are not together so one thing to try is using Google Earth and find your house and use the ruler and draw a line to the middle of transmitter sites zoom in to your house and use other houses roads and what ever to point your antenna also make note of any trees or houses with in 300 feet in front of your antenna. If there is anything in line of site of 300 feet you will need to move or put up a higher antenna. past 300 feet should not matter unless there's a super tall cliff or hill or building. also another thing to look out for is dead spots. One time I installed an antenna good line of site and could not get a thing checked everything wiring nothing moved antenna 6 feet got everything he wanted
Save yourself some work, and use the online maps feature in TVFool at tvfool.com, with the "draw lines to transmitters" option.

TvFool is a great tool but for problem solving I find Google Earth much better for zooming in with a birds eye view so you can see up close if trees are in the way or something like a hill or the elevation changes which TV Fool has to some degree but with google earth you can see the distance to the tree or hill that might be in the way. I have used this for trouble shooting for an example I had an antenna that had a weak signal for everything southwest turned out he was in a bit of a hole 10 miles away the elevation went slowly up 85 feet so I tried angled the antenna up about 10 degrees and it worked. Don't get me wrong I love TV Fool and FM Fool use them all the time.

In Kingston,

CKWS TV - OTA Analog 11 (local CBC affiliate)

Evening Sunday Mar 13, 2011, and morning Monday Mar 14, 2011.

Sound/Audio seems to be ahead/in advance of Picture/Video by a signifigant amount - enough to make it look a little funny/comical.

Esp. noticeable when you watch a person talk with a closeup of the face and you can see the movement of the mouth and lips.

Watching CBC National News w/Wendy Mesly last night, 10PM - 11PM - ya the audio and picture were definitely off - audio way advanced on CKWS 11 local.

Watching Kingston Local news just after - 11 PM - 11:30PM - same thing.

So I seem fairly sure it is a local broadcaster issue - CKWS TV issue right here in Kingston.

Then this morning, checked again - same.

So I called it in to CKWS, after 9AM this morning, Monday, when the office opens, got a few people live, ended up leaving a voice message ... with the "news" dept - I think.

At first I was watching on Cable - COGECO 10 Analog - and thought it was a Cable co issue ... but no ...

Then went to antenna, Over the Air setup - and same - audio advanced there too - on Analog 11 - Over the air.

I went back to Cable to try ch 4 to compare - which COGECO says is CBC - CBOT out of Ottawa ... but no point in trying that - because Cable 4 was switched to CKWS Kingston - so it was the same thing/feed as Cable 10.

Funny - I wonder "ooo ooo what's up with that ??? "
(SNL skit/SNL game show)

CKWS TV runs everything but the news from CHEX-TV in Peterborough, Ontario
The programing on both stations for the most part is controlled by computers and sometimes go out of sinc. CKWS studios are connected by fiber to CHEX studios then fiber back to the transmitter. If you have Bell T.V. or Shaw satellite watch CKWS off air and CHEX by dish and you can see its the same thing but advertisements and news are different for each market.

I was out for a long walk last night and I noticed there were a few antenna's in the neighbourhood. Is anyone here live on or around the Lincon, Sussex area of Bayridge?
Let me know I'd like to talk antenna with people

I'm closer to the airport maybe 5km away as the bird fly's

Please note that for reporting tropo and other similarly odd or weird reception the areas in Eastern Ontario and Quebec (from Trenton/Belleville through Cornwall and across Southern Quebec) have their own thread now :

OTA: Eastern Ontario & Quebec DXing, Tropo, Odd Reception: 2011 (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=139033)

Note that our present existing thread will remain focused on reporting and discussing local OTA reception as typically experienced, expected, or desired in the areas named in the thread's title.

Thanks Stampeder for the link .:p

Has anybody from this area done any testing at Charleston Lake?

TV fool results look poor, with almost all stations as 2edge/tropo, but wondered if anyone had some real world feedback.

My brother is looking at doing an install at his cottage.

I have heard from people in Landsdowne who are getting CBCs from Ottawa.

Unless he is in a hole, he should be able to get all the digital channels from Watertown.

Post his TVfool report which will help us.