@Reed Solomon

Yeah, I guess my semi-rant about KNRR might of been a little too dark for this forum. Receiving KNRR from Winnipeg is a perfectly valid and rewarding hobby and it is one I have engaged in for ... let's say a long time. I guess I was just expressing my current disappointment and frustration. I have been spending some significant time recently trying to figure out how I am going to create a 60 foot high structure on my 30 foot wide lot. It is stating to seem ... well ... obsessive.

Sorry if I discouraged anyone. BTW TVFool has been updated for many (all?) of the new prairie digital stations so we can at least start thinking about antennas for the locals.

Hello all,

This is my first post here & I'm not even sure I'm in the right spot :s. Anyhow. I have a digital tv (http://www.vizio.com/lcd-hdtvs/va26lhdtv10t.html) and rabbit ears , but I'm not getting anything. I know a lot of local people get Global Winnipeg/CKY (channel 2 on farmervision), but I can't. Is it maybe because I'm in an apartment building (the tv is on the east side)? Or maybe the rabbit ears & the tv don't work together? I'm completely lost on all the technical stuff. It's not a huge deal if I don't get it (I haven't had any channels for the past year and a half - I don't want to pay a ridiculous amount for watching 5 channels for a couple of hours a week), but I was just curious as to how I could get channel 2. And what about some of the American stations?

I'm about 20 miles from the US border (latitude 49 degrees 13 min 59s north, longitude 100 degrees 3 min 18s west) if that helps any. Thanks in advance!

22angel unfortunately you are too far from any of the TV stations for rabbit ears to be useful. Please post your TVFool report (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=362703&postcount=10) here so that we can offer some more advice.

Ok, here's the report from TV Fool (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d7d92243b2936e1). I can almost get channel 4 (which was my old channel 2 - I think I was getting them confused :s). It's really fuzzy & skips in & out, but maybe you guys will have an idea on how to get it to come in. Like I said before, it's not a huge deal, but it would be nice to watch the news once in a while :). Oh, also, channel 5 (CKX out of Brandon) is no longer on the air at all. Thanks.

Hey Winnipeger's, I'm looking for indoor Antenna advice. No experience with this stuff but here's my tvfool report (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dccd18ad440b69d). I live in a condo, the Antenna would be located on the second floor near a SW facing window.

I'm really just looking to get CBC (playoffs coming up and all). Should I be looking at one of these Zenith indoor antenna's or would a simple diy setup suffice?

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

-noff

smirnoff04, your TVFool shows that all the Winnipeg stations shown on the list should come in excellently, albeit from opposite directions. A simple indoor antenna that has both a UHF loop and VHF rabbit ears should do fine, and you can find them inexpensively at plenty of stores. Try to buy from a place that gives a full refund in case you need to test several different models to get the best reception.

That's just what I needed to know, thanks for your help stampeder. When I find a suitable antenna and have a chance to test it I'll be sure to come back here and post my results. :)

@22angel

I have had pretty bad luck with rabbit ears in apartment buildings. Things are really bad when you are trying to get a signal through more than one wall. From TVFool your signals are coming from due north. I suspect that part of the problem is interference from digital things owned by the neighbors. The two channels you are trying to receive (2 and 4) could be expected to be affected quite a bit from this sort of interference. Note that your digital TV might be a source of interference for these channels.

Your optimal rabbit ear length for these channels would be 2.48m (98 inches). Most rabbit ears will not extend that far but make sure you at least get some big ones. You might try hunting up some 300 ohm twin lead and making a dipole cut to a length of 2.48m http://www.google.com/search?q=twin+lead+dipole. Leave lots of length on the feed line so you can try moving it around all over the apartment. You might consider extending the feed line on your existing rabbit ears so you can try moving them around more.

You are on the east side of the building? Then you might consider hanging an antenna of some sort so that it projects away from the building to the east (neighbors willing). What floor are you on?

How old is the building? Does it still have a TV antenna on the roof? Does this antenna still work? Can it be made to work?

bwalzer: I'm actually on the end apartment, so there is only one wall to go through. I didn't realize that digital things interfered with attenae signals, even my tv. Ah well, no big deal. Just thought on the off chance that I'd be able to get something.

Those would be really big rabbit ears lol. I think if I want tv, I'll just get cable lol.

The building I think was built in the late 60s or 70s, I'm not really sure. I don't think it does have an antenna on the roof (I've never really paid much attention to it, honestly). I'm above ground - it's a 2 level apartment building, but the bottom level is about 3 feet below ground level (the windows are level with the ground), and upstairs is probably about 6-8 feet off the ground.

Thanks for your help and suggestions, bwalzer. I appreciate it!

I have a rabbit ear, it can pick up CKND HD fine but all the UHF channels (CBC, CTV) are snowry. Did I do something wrong?

One more thing, I have to turn on the integrated amplifier to see any channel (digital or UHF).

BTW, here is the TVFool result:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d8d17bd4fd3f1d2

CBC and CTV are "VHF" and still analogue. With digital you get a clean crisp picture, never any snow, but low signal may cause freezing.

Global Saskatoon just mentioned something about going HD. Never did hear the full thing but it sounded like they said March 28 or sometime in April.

Correction, Global HD Saskatoon to launch in early to mid April.

Noted the KNRR signal is now showing HD 16X9 during prime time, nice picture.

Also notice CKND 9.1 and 40.2 do not have programming info such as what fox sends with the 12.1 stream. I would have thought this info would be part of the downlinked signal and local station could add their own data before broadcast locally. Seems to work ok via bellTV service... Wonder if this is something they will correct in time.
-C.

Cham, in general the implementation of PSIP data in the Canadian DTV transition has been dismal.

I have a rabbit ear, it can pick up CKND HD fine but all the UHF channels (CBC, CTV) are snowry. Did I do something wrong?

One more thing, I have to turn on the integrated amplifier to see any channel (digital or UHF).

Amplified indoor antennas are typically worthless as the amp they use is typically of very poor quality. What people don't realize is all TVs have an amplifier built-in so you are typically better off getting a cheaper passive (un-amplified) VHF/UHF antenna. Amps should be saved for outdoor antennas when you have long cable runs and splitting the signal for multiple tuners.

BTW, switching the integrated amp off often blocks the signal. Even if it doesn't, it weakens the signal and isn't the same as not having an amp.

Noted the KNRR signal is now showing HD 16X9 during prime time, nice picture.

Also notice CKND 9.1 and 40.2 do not have programming info such as what fox sends with the 12.1 stream. I would have thought this info would be part of the downlinked signal and local station could add their own data before broadcast locally. Seems to work ok via bellTV service... Wonder if this is something they will correct in time.
-C.
have you noticed if KNRR boosted their power at all now that they've got an HD signal, or is your reception still the same? I think you mentionned before that you're closer to the border

A couple of Windows Media Center posts are now located in a new thread in the HTPC forum:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=138601

Reed,
The signal is always full scale here but I am not far from their transmitter (KNRR).
I don't think they changed anything at the transmitter, just the source material quality.

On a completely different subject, I am not picking up CBWT (CBC) from Starbuck this evening. CBWF is fine on channel 3 but no channel 6. Checked for DTV on UHF 27, nothing there either. They were having antenna trouble so maybe it suddenly got worse. Might hasten their digital transition... :)
-C.

Anything new from Saskatoon? CFSK-DT (RF42)
This should be one to keep an eye on ;)