1) Do you have any obstructions to HC or is it in plain line of site?
2) Could there be electronic interference from any gadgets in the household or from neighbours?
3) Is your antenna tilted vertically (pointing to the sky or to the ground)? I found that with a slight tilt upward (20-30 degrees) you may get worst of better reception.
4) Have you tried plugging the antenna to another TV in the household? I found that my second TV has a better tuner giving me much better reception results.
5) Are you using the good quality RG6 coaxial cables? Sometimes a kink in the wire can reduce gain
1) no visible obstructions but its not LOS its edge2
2) yes it is possible, i live by the highway and ther are verry large light posts and electrical wires
3) its fairly level but slightly up.
4) yes i have order from best to worst is (dynex tv, rca tv, hvr 2250, hdhr3)
5) yes, rg6 solid coper core 90% coper braid

do you have an original CM4228 or is it the newer, different CM4228HD?i have the cm4228HD

If you tilt a bit upward you may suffer a bit on the side for CF but it's hard to tell.my mast is slightly tilted making the 4228 point slightly up

charettepa, from your list of tuners, I have the 2250 and i am unimpressed by its performance compared to my best one. From all my tuners, I prefer the Hauppauge 950Q. It wins over the 2250 by a mile, in my opinion.

I also think the 950Q is largely better than the HDHR3, go out and check on the web yourself, google "hdhr3 950q" then see for yourself.
I am looking for a PCI or PCI-E version of the 950Q because i can't stand my other tuners now...

i would love a dual tuner pcie 950q
unfortunately that is the hvr2250
they just need to make a better one
dual digital no analog
with modern chipset

For those interested, I'll be continuing my tuner search here http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=42094

Has anyone nearby got any history of picking up any of the PBS towers?

I have a homemade GH made of 14 guage wire (no reflectors) in my bungalow attic, and I get the 13 locals solidly.

Before I make any $ investments in antennas and related gear, I'd like to know if I have a legitimate shot at any of these.

According to my TVFool, RF 23 is 10 degrees off of HC. I can go rooftop, but not much more than 20 feet.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d8387285d678112

Bit of a newbie at this. Reading all I can, but haven't seen much from Alta Vista area.

You should be able to pick up both wnpi and wcfe with a cm4228 on the roof with those results. You will need to point at platsburgh for wcfe though.

Hmmm. I did not know cold affected reception? I guess just about everything affects reception; clouds, air quality, position of the moon?

I'm going to experiment with this tonight. I'll “jerry rig” the antenna tonight and give it a 10-30 degree tilt towards the heavens. We’ll see if reception improves.
I went on the roof yesterday afternoon and tweaked the antenna. The antenna was pointed at a 10-20 degrees towards the sky and I did not notice any improvements. I did however install a 10dB booster at the mid point of my setup and it greatly improved my reception on channel 38 (57.1.2.3) PBS. It came at "Normal" strength from 5PM until 11 PM. It must have been a good Tropo night.

I get WNPI all day but never seem to get wcfe. Hopefully next year, I'll have the antenna outside and with a rotor.

AnalogMig,
I am in Barrhaven with results similar to yours (see my homepage) and I get WNPI, WCFE year round 24/7 with a CM4228HD/CM7777. Make sure that your "booster"(preamp?) does not inject too much noise and is as close to the antenna as possible.

AV-1, add the reflector -- your weakest UHF stations from Camp Fortune still have a greater than 50 dB noise margin, so you should have no trouble picking them up from the backside of the antenna.

Your attic is adding an unknown amount of attenuation, so I woul not expect WNPI on a regular basis in your attic -- move to the roof.

As for the 10% off HC, that could be an issue, as channel 22 could cause you a problem at 50 dB greater signal adjacent to WNPI on 23. You may have greater luck pointing your antenna more towards WCFE on 38, thus putting HC into a bit of a null and thus helping reception of WNPI.

Has anyone nearby got any history of picking up any of the PBS towers?I pick up WNPI (WPBS), WNYF (Fox+CBS) most of the time and WCFE (Mountain Lake PBS) all the time using just rabbit ears here in north east Ottawa (near Montfort Hosp.). WCFE is LOS (line-of-sight) for me, so reception really depends on your situation. I get much better reception of WNYF over WNPI for some reason (possibly due to adjacent channel interference).

malstew;

Couldn't help but notice that your TVFOOL estimates CITY-PT at -22.1 dBm when you are 11 miles from HC, but my TVFOOL estimated CITY-TV at -33 dBm and I am only 3.3 miles away from HC.

I wonder if TVFOOL is reporting CITY-PT when it was an analogue signal? I used the radio button to display only the digital stations.

Just curious...

AnalogMig,
I am in Barrhaven with results similar to yours (see my homepage) and I get WNPI, WCFE year round 24/7 with a CM4228HD/CM7777. Make sure that your "booster"(preamp?) does not inject too much noise and is as close to the antenna as possible.
malstew,

Thanks for the advice. The booster is one of those Nexiant Radio Shack (The Source) indoor boosters. I have a CM7778 on back order from The Source. Are you getting any interference or signal overload with the 7777? Are your Camp Fortune channels coming in clearly? I thought the CM4228HD was very directional and could not get much from the back or side.

Let me know. I might have to cancel that CM7778 order and get the 7777 instead with either a CM 4228HD or CM 4221HD. The CM 7777 has a much higher Db gain.

My present setup: CM 4220 with J mount on roof (25 Feet from ground) with 85 feet of RG6.

Thanks

old sparks:
I would guess that their antenna is pointed in my direction, whereas you might be off to the side and not getting as much signal. Also, TV antenna's are horizontally polarized (or so I've read), so maybe my antenna is at a higher level and better matches their transmit height(??).

AnalogMig:
All of my channels come in clearly (they're digital) and I very rarely get any pixelation. I have an old radioshack antenna that I use for VHF pointed at CF... I am not 100% sure that I even need that as I get Global just fine with bunny ears in the house. The CM4228Hd is very directional, however, I am very close to the HC/CF towers so there is a lot of signal getting pulled in even from the back of the antenna. With just the CM4228HD I was able to get both of the PBS stations. After I bought the cm7777, I was able to reliably pull in 28.1.2 24/7. The CM7777 actually had some issues with signal overload, but I overcame it by adding an inline attenuator 3/6dB (I forget which).

AV-1:
Yes, I get them. WCFE and WNPI at night and once in a while WNYF (depends on weather). The antenna is 'HD-8800 Winegard’ + rotor on the roof.

Is there a good store in Ottawa where we can purchase OTA equipement? Or would someone suggest online stores?

I've been looking for a while for a good local store to purchase a new antenna since mine isn't working that well and it's pretty old and warped , due to the ice storm and the rotor isn't working anymore. It's installed on a free standing 20 meters tower.

I can only get the channels from the Camp Fortune tower and none from Herberts Corner.

I'm in the Hammond Ontario area.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

mbourd25, check the link above "Where Can I Buy". There is a good store in the Carlingwood mall called MottoPhoto which carries lots of good antennas and gear in stock. You'll want to google them and call to make sure they have what you need before making that long trip from Hammond; demand is high these days and many stores are out of stock...

mbourd25, a new rotor should help. From looking at TVFool, many locations near Hammond have a good shot at all the Ottawa stations, plus both PBS, and possibly WNYF.
But you would need a rotor and a good VHF/UHF antenna. (Or a fixed VHF antenna towards CF and a UHF antenna on a rotor to deal with CF, HC, WNPI, and WCFE, as well as TFO analog from Vankleek Hill.