Marvel the all the Buffalo digitals are on UHF.All the current Toronto digitals on UHF.The approved Hamilton stations UHF.CKVR supposed to go to vhf 10.There is the possiblity for the Toronto station could decide for to return to VHF but I doubt it.WNGS-dt has applied for 7 but is currently a sub channel on WKBW-dt 38.

Hi all,
I've been lurking around this forum for about a year now trying to soak up as much OTA info as I could. Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge.

I finally took the plunge and bought a CM 4228 from xtek.ca a few weeks ago. $115 tax in. I installed it on an old LookTV mast I had on the roof, aimed it towards Buffalo and bingo I had signals ranging from 70% to 90%. Only WIVB was being a little stubborn. Signals from the CN tower are all over 95% most of the time. I live in NW Mississauga and have a Sony KDL46XBR2.

I decided to get a CM7777 pre-amp. I found one at exceldistributinginc.com for $52.90 USD. It's the only place I found that shipped to Canada. Shipping was $31.75 for a total of $84.65 USD. Xtek wants $109.65 CDN so you can save some coin. I just got it today, it took about a week to arrive. We'll see how it works.

Cheers!

Latest update:

I now have 21 OTA channels woo hoo! But I know it will go back to 19 soon because the 2 Omni's are only temp. lol

Just in case I didn't mention it before... about 100' of cable, no preamp/amp, and I'm using a 4221 with my Sammy 260 tuner. The lowest signal I have is 2/10 (from Buffalo) and it's still locks on steady without glitches. I can only imagine what the signal level will be when I finally get the antenna mounted on the roof.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3881/21otazx5.jpg

Hi All,

after reading this forum i finally got the OTA bug :)

I am starting with a CM4221 and a hauppauge 1600 tv tuner. Installed it last night on my pc. the Antenna is just mounted on the camera tripod in on of the bedroom. I did an initial scan and got 1571 CTYHD and 1051 CBLT-DT this is what i see on the wintv tunner that came with the tuner card. I am located in Brampton , Torbram and Sandalwood. I dont have a compass and this week really is a fogy and rainy week so im just doing a best guess.

The area where the antenna is pointing is facing a local park. I was wondering if i can just install the antenna around 18 feet above the ground (my ladder wont go higher) should this be enough? Also im planning to purchase a compas and was wondering what are the coordinates or degrees so i can catch the cn tower. I also would be interested on the buffalo channels once i get setup.

I am in the process of purchasing the Samsung HD rx would that be better than the hauppauge interms of getting channels?

thanks !
Ryan

Why go to all the trouble of buying a compass ? Use Google Earth then pinpoint the CN tower and your residence and take a reading on the bearing of the CN Tower from your house as depicted on the computer screen. It will also indicate to you where North is in relation to your house and you can figure roughly where that bearing should be from your bedroom window. Just mark it somehow on your window when you finally fine tune it and then you can use that to give you some idea of the direction later should you choose to install the CM4221 outside. Hope this is of some help.

You are a bit farther north than I am (Clark and Torbram) but you should be able to get more channels moving it outside. I have a 4228 mounted on my garage, pointed pretty much straight at Grand Island, and I get CBC, CITY, FOX, CBS, PBS and NBC. ABC and CFTO are no go's at the moment for me.

Tom

thanks JGVP and RPR.. i did that trick with google earth and found out that i need to point the antenna more south. however by doing so i will be pointing to my neighbors wall :) if im not correct.. this will definitely lessen the gain on the antenna right?

RPR you mentioned you mounted your antenna on your garage.. is this at the roof or inside the garage? I may try this however the garage is then again layered with bricks (outside) is that ok?

thanks

RPR you mentioned you mounted your antenna on your garage.. is this at the roof or inside the garage?It's actually mounted on a pole that is mounted on a basketball net that is mounted on my garage. :) But yes, it's outside. You will definitely get better results with an outdoor setup, unless you are in one the sweet spots that has a window pointing in exactly the right direction and unobstructed.

Tom

It's actually mounted on a pole that is mounted on a basketball net that is mounted on my garage. :)I can just see it: "Hey you kids, stop shooting baskets - the movie's on!!!" :D

Hi all,

I recently installed a 4221 and am having great results (thanks again to Yaamon for the invaluable technical discussions).

I recently bought a Sharp LCD LC32D43U and with it hooked to the CM I'm getting excellent digital reception from Buffalo and Toronto.

One thing I have noticed and it appears to be limited to CityTV: every now and then the picture "glitches". It seems random but happens somewhat regularly. None of the other digital channels do it. According to the tv, the signal strength for 57.1 is about 73%, which is comparable to most of the other digital channels.

Anyone know why this happens and/or why it's limited to CityTV HD?

Mr Weather you are welcome, I presume since your name Mr weather you prefered to install it during bad weather like the small snow storm we just had. ;)

Could be multipath interference affecting City?

What I would do is just slightly turn the antenna to get City a little more stronger but not enough to affect the Buffalo stations.

Hope your friend gets his 4228 installed soon. :)

Mr Weather,

It's funny, I have the same problem but with 2.1 WGRZ (NBC). My City also comes in at 70%, but is rock solid. Aiming a fraction more towards the CN Tower may help, but then you may get glitches on NBC like me. Depending on your location that may be the trade off.

That is what I found - City and SunTV would drop off if I go too far south. Nbc would drop off if I pointed to far east. I decided CITY was more important to me. I did find a preamp helped a bit in my case too. I have a Winegard AP4700 matched with a Channel Master 4221 (attic install).

Okay, so I'm not the only one to experience these things!

Yaamon: I ended up NOT putting the antenna on my tower. It would have been too difficult to mount (I would need to replace the mast with something longer). The antenna is currently mounted to my chimney on an 8' piece of 1.5" OD aluminum pipe. It's almost 30' above ground level and pointed roughly SE. In terms of coax length I'd say the run is about 60' from the antenna to the tv. My plan is to eventually move the 4221 to the tower once I take care of some other antenna maintenance, most likely in the springtime.

Reception is excellent for everything. I use 2 Antennas Direct antennas, a small DB2 pointing at the CN Tower and a LacrosseA pointing at the Buffalo towers. They are coupled and go through a distribution amplifier to send the signal to 3 TV's. A Sanyo with built in ATSC tuner, a Samsung DTB-H260F on an older LCD TV, and a Hisense DB2010 on a tube TV. I realise that the Lacrosse antenna isn't on the recommended list, but it is small and works extremely well. The small DB2 antenna pointing at CN tower gives me full signal on Toronto channels. Antennas are on a small 3 foot mast that comes with the Lacrosse, so no tower used.

Currently I receive from Buffalo:

29-1 FOX
29-2 SD Fox
23-1 the CW
49-1 My TV
49-2 SD My TV
2-1 NBC
2-2 NBC Weather
4-1 CBS
7-1 ABC
7-2 SD RTN
43-1 PBS
43-2 SD PBS
43-3 Think Bright

and Toronto:

5-1 CBC
9-1 CTV
57-1 CITY TV
66-1 Sun TV
25-1 CBC French

The only channel that is marginal is 49-1 MyTV. I receive good on Sanyo ATSC tuner, most times on Samsung tuner and not really on Hisense tuner. Hisense tuner also has trouble with PSIP information on 9-1 but other than that works perfectly converting 16:9 pictures on old tube TV. Samsung tuner is no good for this. I have satelite as well and now find myself watching TV off the antenna 80% of the time. Picture is incredible. If I could get TSN and Sportsnet the dish would be gone.

Nice results, RustyHDI realise that the Lacrosse antenna isn't on the recommended listI think you might have misread the Antenna Chart because I have definitely rated it #2 in its category (Stealth antennas) behind the Winegard Square Shooter. The Lacrosse is very pricey for little or no improvement over the WSS, so that's why it cannot be #1. Performance-wise its nice to see the results you are getting from Buffalo with it. Incidently the Lacrosse is actually just a 4-Bay Bowtie antenna inside. :)

My plan is to eventually move the 4221 to the tower once I take care of some other antenna maintenance, most likely in the springtime.
mr weather, you don't have to mount the 4221 to the mast above the tower ... you can mount this type of antenna to the tower side as well because it's a vertical antenna design... same goes for the 4228.

While the legs of my tower are narrow enough for the 4221 to mount, they aren't tubular which means there is only one direction in which I can point the antenna on any given tower leg.

Unfortunately, none of the positions is at Buffalo or Toronto!

Hi,

RPR - i moved the antenna from the living room to the bedroom upstairs. It did improve the signal quality from 75% to almost 90% but i still only get the following 5-1 CBC, 57-1 CITY TV, 25-1 CBC French is there a way to get more? or should i get those amplifiers. Unfortunately the weather is not cooperating for me to mount the antenna outside the house so i can raise it just above my neighbors roof line.

I also experimented. rotating around 15 degrees all the time and do a scan i went all the way to almost 180 and did not get any US signals. At this point is it necessary to have it installed outdoors? after the google trick i found that i need to point the antenna parallel to Torbram this is where i get a better signal and moved it slowly to try to get some US channels.

btw im just using a hauppauge 1600 tuner card on my pc. Still waiting for the samsung to arrive.

Any advice anyone?

thanks,
Ryan

Honestly, I never even tried an indoor antenna, I went straight to the outdoor. We are really on the fringe of the Buffalo stations (about 86 miles, from what I figured) and the CM4228 specs say it is good up to about 90 miles. At this distance you really need height and as few obstructions as possible. I have the 4228 and a CM pre-amp, and my signals are rock solid for the channels I can see.

Tom

Hi Tom,

thanks for the reply... i guess i should have invested on a 4228... i just could not find one locally that i can just go pickup... I only found the 4221 clone at dixie and matheson area. No wonder i can only get TO stations....

hmm would you recommend putting 2 4221's together?

thanks