Hi All.

MY TVFool.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dec127ae3a2e209

Looking at this chart http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html is the Winegard PR-8800 8-Bay a good choice or overkill?

Many recommend the Channel Master 4248 Yagi/Corner-Reflector but will it be too directional in my case, I dont want to invest in a rotor right now.

My RG6 run will be about 35ft will I need a preamp?

For now it will be installed in my garage attic, high pitched roof so it will sit at about 25ft off the ground, next summer I'll install it on the roof on a tripod mount.

No signal this morning for CBC 6.1. SRC. 2.1. And CKMI 15.1 in ste Marguerite (Laurentides). Work in the antenna ?

Hi Guys,
Love this site...fun lurking, I'm not an antenna guy though. I am looking for suggestions to help me find an antenna that could get CBS, NBS and Fox from my tv profile http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d40332d0adba4d3

Is this possible while at the same time trying to keep the budget down -haha?

I have flat aluminum (2 x 6feet of I think 1/8th x 3/4" pieces) but will change if necessary.
I don't have a preamp (is that a deal breaker?).
I am waiting for channel master baluns coming by mail.
There are surrounding pine trees about 100 feet away (actually mostly a wall of them but there is a hole big enough pointing in the right direction - i.e. in line with the transmitters in Montreal and Mount Mansfield.)
Not sure how high I can get the antenna since we don't have a tower. On the roof is maybe 20 feet.

I used a SH (OTACanuck) because it was very easy to make and did get 10 channels by holding the antenna up on a stick for laughs - but my mom was happy/surprised and yelled out the channels as they got scanned so I could hear (on ladder on balcony outside). Was thinking of using the SSH (wide beanwidth I heard is good for trees) but 14 (NBC) has a co channel close by so I would need to somehow avoid that unwanted channel 14 that is very close to 14 NBC which is wanted. Everything else seems lined up pretty good though for a narrow beamwidth since Montreal and Mount Mansfield line up nicely from here - but there are the trees....

Thanks for the great reading material....

@fireflimoon:
If you're getting all those channels you mention with that one, a stacked GH with a very good pre-amp should allow you getting the other channels (I mean a pre-amp with high gain and very low noise).

Hi Soulreaver,

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking of trying a gh4 for uhf only as a test and if that looked promising then maybe having separate antenna's for vhf and uhf. I have an additional problem in that my mom's place is not big so anywhere near the roof is too close to the power lines, so I am thinking of using a home made tower (well not really a tower) with about 100 to 150 feet of rg6 to the tv (with groundblock and ground) so there is defintely going to be a preamp purchase when the time comes. But for now just seeing if getting fox and nbc is feasible using a gh4 - not sure about stacking since I am still figuring out the details of a single sbgh build since I'm a noob who is reading the OTA forum when I get the chance. If I succeed in getting NBC I'll consider that a positive indication to spend more money on a quality preamp like you mentioned to get fox. Some of the frames for the gh's made out of pvc look like you need patience and time to figure out properly - especially finding the materials in the hardware stores - but I'm getting hooked though...

btw I thought this was simple but interesting http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=112675 for vhf

Thank you....

Soulreaver,

Just read something about connecting two m4's horizontally. Thanks for suggeting stacking/ganging! I need to read up more to see if this will help reception from my tvfool profile given earlier.

Would be curious to find out what you did and your experiences with that sort of thing.

Thanks

Hi there,

I reside on the 3rd floor in a condo in Laval and I was wondering if I were to buy the "CHANNEL MASTER CM 4228HD HDTV OUTDOOR ANTENNA" and set it on my balcony, could stand a chance in getting the 4 major US channels in Vermont (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC)?

According to TVfool.com, these stations are 88 miles away and this antenna says to be able to get up to 60 miles away. Basic math tells me no but I don't know enough about OTA to know if 28 miles of range makes a difference or not.

http://i41.tinypic.com/254y0zo.png

Since the antenna you mention is probably one of the low-cost knock-offs, I wouldn't recommend it.


Please redo your TVFool using the online maps feature so you can precisely place our location on the satellite (aeria-view) map, and specify your height (probably 25 feet for the third floor) above ground. This will give us a better idea about your American reception.

Luckily the American stations at Mt Mansfield are 30 degrees off axis from Mount Royal at your location, so an 8-bay antenna would have a sharp null towards Mount Royal, which would help you reduce adjacent chanel interference to WCAX on 22.
WVNY on 13 will probably be tricky.

tvlurker: Thank you for the reply.

Sorry, I guess this site doesn't like Tiny URL links. The model I was looking at was the CHANNEL MASTER CM 4228HD HDTV OUTDOOR ANTENNA which seems to be a rather popular model since I've seen it everywhere. Someone from Ontario posted a review saying that he was able to get a dozen US channels, but then again, it was on The Source's website, so who knows how credible that review is.

Anyway, I uploaded the new results with a 25 feet height but the results are barely different:

http://i44.tinypic.com/2sajfyr.png

The.importer,

If your balcony is facing south, your chances are good to get those american channels with a good 4 bay antenna like the CM4221HD and a CM7777 preamp. You could put some camouflage over it like artificial plants. ABC RF13 is hard to catch but most of their good shows are transmitted by some canadian networks like CTV, Global, etc.

I'm about 4 miles north-east of you and I get all the channels exept ABC. I use a small modified 4 bay antenna on my shed's roof only 3 meters off the ground. http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n574/BOUVAL-OTA/100_0044.jpg?t=1325028375
============================================================ ==========================
Tvlurker,

As for adjacent channels, please read this: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1367610&postcount=530

By the way, an 8 bay antenna would be too big to put on a balcony.
.

@BOUVAL

This is great news considering that your model was designed (according to the web site) to go up to 45 miles, this means that the 60 miles one would give me even better chances in theory.

Alright, now to find a store a with a good return policy :p


Thank you

hi the.importer,
you may want to post the hyperlink to your tvfool report, rather than the .png iteself. That way other readers can interact with it. Like by clicking a station's callsign, the user can get an idea of the terrain profile between the transmitter and you. That's why it's recommended to post the link and not the report itself.
The reason ABC would be tough is that it's in the VHF BAND, while the
HD4221HD your looking at is an antenna designed for the UHF Band.

You may have a couple things going for u relative to Bouval.
a.) assuming ur balcony is close to where ur TV is, the length of coax required is probably much shorter than Bouval's antenna in his yard on the shed.
b.) unless the local terrain changes radically in the 4 miles between u and Bouval, ur antenna is likely gonna be up higher than Bouval's
So a preamp may not be necessary. I'd try without one first, especially if your not planning on splitting the signal to multiple TVs.

Think of the whole "miles" rating thing as a means of "dumbing down" antenna specifications for marketing purposes.

Majortom,

Without a preamp, chances of receiving FOX in Laval is near zero.
.

An indoor antenna has to be put on a shelf between the ceiling and the TV set and one meter or more aside the TV set.
.

@majortom

Hi, thanks for the reply

Here is the link per your request: TV Fool (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d4033a343c86b71)

For the VHF and UHF deal, here are the features for this antenna:

• Reception Range High VHF: Channels 7 thru 13 up to 45 miles
• Reception Range UHF: Channels 14 thru 69 up to 60 miles

Finally, for the booster part, I will probably use one since I have 2 TVs side by side, one LED and one CRT (I collect modern and retro video games, so you need the right TV for the job).


Edit: I just went headed and ordered it from thesource.ca for a local pickup. I should have it this week and be able to post my results over the weekend. Worst case scenario, I only get the local Canadian channels, so I'll simply return it for a full refund.

Hi The.Importer,

I am not as knowledgeable as BOUVAL or Majortom. I'm just startiing this OTA stuff but have taken a liking to it. If you wanted to, you could try and build your own antenna. If I was in your position and wanted to know if ABC was reachable I would build a VHF antenna like this one:

http://clients.teksavvy.com/~nickm/biquads/bq4V.html

because I think it is fairly easy to make (although I haven't made it). The only drwaback is that you would need to find the materials and spend time learning about baluns, cable length,
tv tuners etc and how all that affects whether or not you can receive channel x or y or z.

I built a loop antenna to see if I could get ABC and it works in my location but I have a better chance getting ABC because of my location.

The link above is for an antenna that is good for channel 13 (a VHF signal), so if you can not get ABC at your location in Laval with THAT antenna, I would think twice about what to get if ABC is important to you.

Maybe Bouval and Majortom know of better VHF antennas that you could try - but you might like trying to build your own antenna....be careful though because I read somewhere that you can fry the tuner in your tv if you do not ground your antenna when it is outside. That would be bad since you could not fix that without buying a new tv

Newbie here:

Here are the results for tvfool for St. Marcelline de Kildaire near Rawdon

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...7fb9e7723714b7

Currently my friend is using a DB2 antenna (on the side of the cabin...surrounded by trees) and receiving 2.001, 6.001, 10.001, 12.001, 15.001, 17.001, 24.001 but the signal strength is low...he gets pixellation at times. Sometimes he'll get 3.001 and 5.001...and then lose it after awhile but here he'll get the msg "digital signal low".

Will changing the antenna to a 4 bow tie antenna, adding a rotor and a pre-amp help increase signal strength?

Someone suggested the CM 4221HD and a preamp...will that really help? Don't want to invest in something that will give same results.

I believe the antennas I mentioned are also only UHF antennas....does he need a combo UHF/VHF one instead?

Please help.

Thanks.

Well I got my Antenna. When pointing to a certain window, I get all the local Canadian channels, the 3 PBS channels as well as 2 CBS channels (HD and Xtra), I don't get Fox, ABC or NBC. I tried a cheap amplifier that I got from the source Nexxtech (http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=VideoAmplifiers&product=1501116) but it didn't change a thing. Would the CM7777 amplifier help to get Fox or will putting the antenna on the rooftop the only way to get it?


Thanks

the.importer, the Nexxtech amp is not recommended. It likely generates a lot of noise, which isn't good for OTA systems. And personally, I've never found these products to be of high quality--both in performance and build.

@Jase88

Figured as much, but would something of higher quality like the Channel Master amp allow me to get Fox and ABC without having to mount this thing on the roof.