intravino,


yes.

thanks for the tip...I wasnt aware about this...I was thinking it was the rolling foot hills of the adirondacks interfering with any possible LOS

...but now I will google earth the chateuguay NY location...

Yes I saw them when I went to purchase my Tivo at Sears in Massena, last Febraury.

I stopped by Malone at the local K-mart and I took route 11 from Champlain.

The wind turbines are impressive. First time I saw that I my life.

Also, some are close to the road.

Intravino

I checked google earth, and there is a plateau at 370 m elev. in Clinton NY, between my cottage and Mount-Mansfield, at this plateau the signals would become LOS to Mansfield...is this enough to cause deffraction and weak US signals at my cottage...

I find this odd because this is still 60 km from my cottage and at 80 km away from Mt-Mansfield, where the tower is at more than 1200 m elevation....

I'm trying to get CTV-HD (I'm guessing there's an HD version in Mtl) but it just doesn't seem to come in, is anyone else in the area around Rosemere having a problem or have any tips getting it? I've got a 4221HD in the attic and I get NBC, CBS, Fox, all the PBS channels, CBCHD, TQSHD, TeleQC HD but for some reason I can't get CTV.

Thanks

but for some reason I can't get CTV.

Well, that's an easy question to answer. Neither CJOH in Ottawa not CFCF in Montreal broadcast in digital. Don't expect to see them before the summer of 2011. And both will be on their existing analog channels (13 and 12 respectively). If you can get a snow-free analog picture now on ch. 12, you should be able to get them in digital two years from now.

I put together a crude 9.5x9 mclapp today and I was pleasantly impressed with the results. I am in St-Laurent close to Cote Vertu and received the following channels pointing the indoor bowtie mostly south: WCAX, WPTZ, CIVM, WETK, and WCFE. Reception is stable in the 60's for the US channels and 90's for CIVM. I use an Insignia decoder box.

I say "crude" because I used some kinked rolls of copper 16 and 18 gauge wire. So the whiskers are bent. I use a 3" wide piece of plexiglass (leftover) which helps minimize the visual impact inside.

Reception of analogs has greatly improved too, even on VHF-Lo.

Hope to try installing the RC pre-amp this week as weather forecast looks good.

I checked back on CBOT and it was tropo reception; so my reception of it is not steady.

STL

STL,

Good for you, finally tried the mclapp!

Have you tried for WFFF(43), and WVNY(13), you should be able to get those also. If you didnt put a LARGE reflector, do so, at 5".

Thanks for the tips, Balm.

The antenna is hanging off the wall on the second floor (light because of plexiglass), so the elevation is there. It currently does not have a screen though; I'll look into adding one. I get very low signal, maybe 10%, for CBFT and CBMT. But nothing for WFFF and WVNY, or even CFJP.

But I am very content with the reception since this is the only TV not hooked up to my outside antennas where all channels come in strong including WFFF and WVNY.

STL

I tried that same bowtie antenna I made at my sister's place in St-Laurent, North of Cote-Vertu. She's on the top floor of a duplex and she could only receive CIVM and WCFE. This only confirms how much reception is location dependant; and those two stations are also the ones with highest signal levels West of Mont Royal.

STL

Hello, I am new to this forum and I'm thinking of buying an indoor antenna from Wal-Mart, but need advice, I was wondering if I can get any cheap antenna, or should I buy an expensive one to get channel Fox 44,Abc 22, and such. I currently am using a 5 year old indoor antenna and I'm able to get 57-1,2,3 in good condition.

Cheers!

Dante,

I'm a rookie too, but why spend money on an indoor antenna, that you could put towards a proper antenna.

Also I wouldn't recommend Walmart, I've bought them also before and they DON'T work, same for Canadian Tire, you will end up doing a LOT of returns!

Depending on the channels you want, a good bow-tie style antenna will suit you, like a CM4221 or equivalent, and not VERY expensive.

I recommend you check out the other threads, especially the Montreal, and Montreal East threads, as pont Viau is EAST.

STL: you might consider building a DBGH for HI-VHF in order to get ABC and FOX. I did and it works good, getting now both channels.

Dante: getting ABC is difficult and that depends on your location. You have two choices either a YAGI for ch13 either DBGH for HI-VHF. For FOX a SBGH might work also but DBGH is better as the gain is higher.

I'm new here. I just get as a gift a Antra HDTV Antenna 4 Bay AT-MB04. I'm leaving in Laval, i poined my antena to Esat (CBC building) and get following chanels
2 src
6 cbs
7 tva
8 ctv
10 tva
12 ctv
17 ???
29 savuar
35 tqs
46 global
62 cjnt
Olny 17 seams HD, but still not sure
Tried to point south, same list of chanells.
Please advice if I need an amplifier (whot kind?) and what elso I have to do to receive HD chanels?
I seen on this site ch 13 DTV Physical - ch 22.1 at 23 - 26%, no lock, I am working on a solution for this site something like these
ch 14 DTV Physical - ch 5.1 at 55 - 75%,
ch 19 DTV Physical - ch 2.1 at 40 - 57%,
Please explain what is ch 5.1 at 55???? and how I can see the quility percentsge? I have an HD TV with build in tuner.

Welcome to the forums!

Where in Laval are you exactly (give a big near by intersection)? If you install Google Earth (I just like it better, people seem to like TV Fool), and type in WCAX MT MANSFIELD you'll see exactly where to point it.

To be even more precise, you can use the ruler tool (looks like a yellow ruler) and draw a LINE (ensure you are in LINE MODE) between your home and the WCAX MT. MANSFIELD marker on Google Earth.

Note CIVM 17-1 HD is located on the Olympic Stadium, the only other HD stations we have in Montreal are TQS (hard to catch) and CBC/SRC which as you said are on the CBC Montreal building near the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Note that 99% of TV's I've seen will always put a DASH in between, if it says 17, it isn't HD. If it says 17-1 or 17.1 , it's HD for sure. Note that not all TV's have the required ATSC tuner, NTSC tuner IS NOT what you need for HD. The manual should say in the specifications what kind of tuner you have, 99% of new flat panel tv's do have a ATSC tuner, but there is the 1% oddball tv that doesn't have an ATSC tuner.

CTV and Global don't care much for HD over the air till they are forced to in 2011, I guess they want us to watch Flashpoint, CSI, Heroes, American Idol, Simpsons...etc...on CBS/NBC/Fox in HD instead.

Please explain what is ch 5.1 at 55???? and how I can see the quility percentsge? I have an HD TV with build in tuner.
Without overloading your brain, it's just that for some odd reason HD channels like to "change the number that is displayed". For example, NBC from the States will show on TV's at 5-1, but in reality it's channel 14 (er I think, I'm all confused too). There is no need to figure this out yourself, your TV will do this for you.

Also, you will NOT see a signal meter until it LOCKS onto the HD channel. Some "lower quality hdtv's" do not have a signal meter for HD channels, Some RCA hdtv's do NOT have a signal meter, check your manual for this function. On a Samsung HDTV, it's under Channel and Signal Strength on most models for example. But again, if you don't lock onto the channel, you DO NOT get a signal meter for that channel.

If you haven't already done so, be sure to read the OTA FAQ: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=41102

thanks Yupriles for perfect explanation.
I'm in St-Dorothee Laval and I did my home work with Google earth, so I have direct view to big "O", and WCAX MT, but that I never did in considiration it's my tumer
I'm in a lucky 1% with my Sumsung TV that has a NTSC tuner.
I gues my game is over. I don't know if it's woth for me to get ATSC tuner and how much it may cost?
again thanks a lot for yoru help

Really the manual only says NTSC?

Only much older Samsung LCD tv's don't have ATSC tuners, are you 100% sure that yours doesn't have ATSC?

Even 2007 model Samsungs "mostly had ATSC".

All Samsung models released in the recent two years have ATSC and QAM tuners built-in.

Which model is it? Tell me which model and I will tell you if you do have an ATSC tuner.

By the way, I live in Saint-Lazare and I bought a silver sensor to test. I was surprised to get 4 HD channels. Three PBS stations and TeleQuebec HD.

I am very surprised to get a very strong signal with PBS and nothing else from Mansfield. I did a scan today and caught NBC HD (5.1).

Any ideas why PBS is so strong and nothing else?

Any ideas why PBS is so strong and nothing else?

In St Lazare, you're probably getting WCFE (57.1/57.2/57.3 on RF ch. 38) from Lyon Mountain near Saranac, NY, not WETK 33.1/33.2/33.3/33.4 on RF ch. 32 from Mount Mansfield.

WPTZ has the highest power and the lowest UHF frequency on Mt Mansfield, so it propagates the furthest, except in the direction of its null towards Sherbrooke.

I have been checking these messages for a while.
Below is what I get with my antenna in the attic . This is an old (a so called "electronic antenna") that I had installed well before DTV was available.
My reception had improved this summer (not sure why) compared to shortly after transition .
These are the DTV channel I get (I am in Ste-Rose) with the reception level on my Samsung TV tonight(I never get more than reception level 6)
2-1 level 6
3-1 and 3-2 level 4
5-1 and 5-2 level 4
6-1 level 6
17-1 level 6
33-1 to 33-4 level 2
35-1 level 4
57-1 to 57-3 level 2
A

I was only able to get 57 recently and strong (never lock previously)

So based on my area that is probably all I can get ?
I understand that getting ABC (We like LOST !) is very difficult and require an other type of antenna.

Bigel, what is your approximate location in Laval? Do you have access to a roof for the installation of an outdoors antenna?