Hi there: I'm located in West Island (Montreal) and am getting my HD channels from ExpressVu (6100). Are there any more HD channels available to me OTA, and if so do I have to mount an external antenna ? I'm new to the "OTA world" and would appreciate any help. Thanks !

I am in Pointe-Claire, and I cannot get WFFF at all.
I get WCAX(53) at 77% and WETK(32) at 77% also.
I can receive WCFE(38) at 69% if I turn my antenna.

Is WFFF broadcasting that low? It seems that everyone that receives WCAX receives WFFF.

I do not have a pre-amp but have a 20db distribution amp before my tuner which increasing the percentage a little but I do not receive WFFF.

Any ideas?

How far West are people successful in getting the Vermont stations? Please post results!

-gmd

Hi everyone.Im located near Cornwall Ont.Ive tried scanning for wcax and wptz and fox.But the signal I get here is very erratic.Most times it's up to 70% the right back down to 0% . It won't hold steady,just won't lock.Is there anyone else in my area experiencing the same thing?I can receive ch 57 hd,57 dig,ch18 dig ,ch4 ottawa cbc hd and cbc french hd .Could I try another amp configuration in addition to what I alredy have ? would this help...thanks

Hi everyone.Im located near Cornwall Ont....
...Could I try another amp configuration in addition to what I alredy have ? would this help...thanks

What configuration do you currently have? With your current configuration, can you receive 3, 22 or 33 from Mount Mansfield in analog?
Also, how is 22 analog reception affected by CBOFT-DT (SRC) 9.1 from Ottawa, which broadcasts on channel 22?

Does CJMT-TV-2 ch 14 analog come in from Herbert's Corners? It may also interfere with your reception of WPTZ-DT.

TVl

I purchased a CM4221 from sensuz.com out of Toronto and installed it this morning. I ordered it on a Friday and received it on the Monday. All of a sudden I am receiving all burlington stations including wvny. I am not using a vhf antenna. Just the CM4221. So far wvny is stable but it could be weather related. It is overcast today. With my old antenna, I could only receive wcax, wptz and wetk. I do also have a RadioShack pre-amp.

Ettisl in Pointe-Claire, QC

wvny - 20-30%
wcax - 100%
wptz - 93%
wetk - 93%
wfff - 77%

These are meter readings on my Samsung TS-160. My antenna is about 15 feet off the ground tilted skyward slightly.

I do not understand how my tuner is able to read the signal at 20% without dropouts but it is. Is it because it is vhf? On the uhf channels if the signal drops below 36%, I lose the signal. On vhf 13 at 20%, the signal is steady.
Yesterday my signal was 30% but today it is 20% but steady.

I do not understand how my tuner is able to read the signal at 20% without dropouts but it is. Is it because it is vhf? On the uhf channels if the signal drops below 36%, I lose the signal. On vhf 13 at 20%, the signal is steady.
Yesterday my signal was 30% but today it is 20% but steady.


Actually, it's quite simple. It's called SNR or signal to noise ratio. Signal strength is a poor indicator of how well your receiver can demodulate the signal. If noise is excessive, your receiver can have a hard time processing a strong signal. This is why a preamp can make your reception worse sometimes. Some receivers have more noise in the UHF range, compounding the problem.

ATSC doesn't use "signal-to-noise" but rather "ratio of clean packets to unresolvable ones" to display signal. This is an important difference because some tuners can lock on with a lower ratio than others can, and a preamp can improve that ratio greatly unless the antenna is already suffering from powerful multipath interference.

Some ATSC tuners display only bars with no numbers, others display very specific percentages or numbers. They are all displaying the same ratio, but unfortunately there is no industry standard regarding how to display that information to the consumer.

Sorry, but signal to noise ratio (SNR) is a key parameter for any communications link, whether it is analog or digital (such as ATSC). For analog reception, poor SNR leads to a snowy picture. For digital reception, SNR greatly determines whether the transmitted packet is in fact a "clean" one or an "unresolvable" one.

Taken by itself, the clean/unclean packet ratio's effect on reception is only a function of the receiver's error correction loop. This is typically similar receiver to receiver since the error correction is part of the communcations protocol. Actual receiver performance is keyed to symbol recovery, which is influenced by SNR and multipath.

A preamp is useful for low level signals provided it has a low noise figure, so not just any amp will do. In the worst case, a poorly chosen amp will degrade the SNR, and give poorer reception no matter how much gain it has.

So long story short, you can get good reception results with relatively low signal strength, as long as your SNR remains decent.

No need to be sorry - that's correct reception info and theory, and I've been saying the same thing here for a couple of years, but what Ettisl is seeing from his ATSC receiver is the ratio I mentioned in my reply. Please re-read my reply knowing that I agree with you. :)

I dont't know about anyone else living in Cornwall area.But I can't get a lockable signal from 13 wvny,14 wptz,32 wetk,and 43 wfff.The only one I can get is wcax 53,and it's weather station.Both of theese are subjected to pixaling,signal drop.The 2 stations are 95% veiwable.Does anyone know if I add a higher power amp,would it help? I couldn't get wcax at all before ,but I added another amp and now I at least get something...

Can anyone tell me what channels can I expect to receive in the Montreal west island area? About a year ago, I tried a TV with an ATSC tuner & all I could get was the 2 PBS stations from Plattsburg. I was told that CBC was broadcasting in HD, but I saw no sign of them even by rotating the antenna on a 40 foot tower.

I am in Pointe-Claire and can receive WCAX(53), WPTZ(14), WFFF(43), WVNY(13) and WETK(32). I cannot receive CBC/SRC because Mount-Royal is blocking the signal. CBC told me that they will work on transmitting from Mount-Royal this summer.

Ettisl, what antenna do you have? Do you use a rotor to get these channels?

Frelo see post #115-117 in this thread for your answer. :)

I have a dishnet receiver and I am able to get Off Air locals. I searched the forum an found a DIY antenna that I built today. I hooked it up and was able to get Vermont and Plattsburgh channels. I was not able to get any Montreal channels.

Is there a place to find out what channels are available in my area and were the antenna needs to be pointed to? Also, I was looking into the CM 4228($102.00CDN) but also noticed talk about rotors. Is a rotor needed to get the most channels?

I should also add that I was able to get some analog channels but only 2 channels where clear. The rest of the channels showed snow.

Also, what is the difference between UHF and VHF antenna's? Does one get more channels then the other?

Here is the antenna that I built today...

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=502262&postcount=76

Thanks,

Dante1

Hi Dante1, I've moved your post into the West Island thread. If you read through this thread and all the other Montreal-area threads you will get excellent information about all the things you need to know for OTA.

Before we go further please click on the link in this post that takes you to the OTA Forum Knowledge Base & FAQ, which will provide you with lots of info.

Hi does anybody in the west island Beaconsfield area get WVNY channel 13? if so how strong is the signal? I would like to know before getting another antenna. Right now I have a cm4221 in the attic with no preamp Thanks.