Is there something I'm doing wrong, I hear people are picking up 20+ channels, while the most I can pickup and any given time is 10. Should I try a pre-amp? Is there anyone located in this area that is having better luck?
Hi Anthony.
Yesterday, I installed a 4221HD & 7777 preamp with a J-pole at the peak of the roof. Eglinton & central parkway.
150 degrees on the compass.
Got all Toronto and All Buffalo, first Try.

I just bought 2 hd antennas for 20 each ..both have 4 bay antenna

i have one facing towards cn tower , the other towards buffalo,,im using a $1 splitter...there are times i get the chaneels and other times it says no signal....i have the both antennas approx 3 feet apart...for maximum signal power,,what splitter would you recomend,,also is an pre amp a good idea,,,and what kind
a
i have my hd anteena in the backyard

thanks

Hello, dcjcdc. I've moved your post into this thread for your area so look through it to see how neighbours and nearby members have done already with OTA. Please read these links too:

dcjcdc: A few points...

Ditch the "$1 splitter" and get a decent one.

In order to combine two antennas each piece of coax cable between the antennas and the splitter must be IDENTICAL in length. If they are not you will get all kinds of problems as the antennas will start "fighting" each other.

How high up are the antennas? Ideally they should be at roof level. You should have a fairly unobstructed shot to Buffalo from your location. There are condo towers on Eglington between Glen Erin and Winston Churchill that might cause problems with the CN Tower but shouldn't be an issue.

Do these things first before investing in a pre-amp. You may not need one in the end and you'll save yourself about $100.

Thanks, all.

I tried moving the antenna higher above the roof line with a long pole to see how the signals are and it seems to be better in receiving more channels. I was thinking of getting a pre-amp. Will this improve getting the weaker channels? Also, I was thinking of placing the antenna in the attic, what are your opinions on this?

anthony9887, did your channel list change much from Post #1079?

Before you buy any further OTA gear you should use the Search This Thread tool to the upper right beside Thread Tools and put in your street names as search terms so that you can compare with others nearby and see what gear they used successfully. :)

Also, I was thinking of placing the antenna in the attic, what are your opinions on this?
Avoid the attic if at all possible. Not only are you lower in elevation than on the roof, the roofing material itself will attenuate the incoming signals and any household wiring running around the ceiling joists may introduce unwanted noise.

I bought some new RG-6 coax (100 feet) and connected it to the antenna and the receiver and I was able to get a lot more channels than I had previously. I'm using the full 100 feet of cable without any channel loss. However, once I shortened and connected the RG-6 coax to main line going into the house, some of those channels are no longer are coming in. Is this because of the signal (db) loss from spliters and connecters inside the house? I estimate around 80 feet of cable inside and outside are used. Do I need to get CM 7777 pre-amp?

Most likely you need to redo that connector. :) Do that first before trying anything else.

There should be very little loss from connectors but a 2:1 splitter will reduce output signal strength by 1/2. A 3:1 or 4:1 will be even worse.

I agree with Stampeder. Redo the suspect connector and test again.

Hello,

Finally got my antenna installed. Ended up paying an installer to do the final ladder climb as the ladder was not exactly steady and was a 2 man job. I handled all the ground level work like the RG6 run and ground cable, etc.

Hardware is a CM4221HD with mods 1 & 2, RG6 cable run to tv, CM9036 18" wall mount placing the antenna half way over the eavestrough, giving it a height of about 20 Feet. Panasonic Plasma with built in tuner.

A word about cable length, when i removed the excess length (3-4 meters) i received stations 17-1, 17-2, 17-3.

These are the channels and signal strengths being received:

4 = WIVBDT - Comes and goes, seems to work only for a few hours in the morning. At the time was unable to get so no signal strength reading
5 = Signal 0%
5-1 CBC HD - Signal 100%
6 = Just a snow picture, not sure what the tv is finding
7 = WKBWDT - Comes and goes, seems to work only for a few hours in the morning. At the time was unable to get so no signal strength reading
9 = Low quality picture
9-1 = CFTO - Signal 86%
11 = CHCH - Low quality picture
11 = CHCH HD - Signal 83%
17-1 = WNEDHD - Signal 36%, can get a bit unstable sometimes
17-2 = WNEDSD - Signal 36%, can get a bit unstable sometimes
17-3 = WNEDTH - Signal 38%, can get a bit unstable sometimes
19 = Low quality picture
23-1 = WNLOHD - Signal 58%
25 = CBC French
25-1 = CBCFTHD - Signal 100%
36 = Low quality picture
36-1 = CTSHD - Signal 40%
41 = Global
41-1 = CIIIDT - Signal 86%
44-1 = OMNI2 - Signal 100%
47 = Low quality picture
52 = Sun - Low quality picture
57 = CityTV
57-1 = CityHD - Signal 79%
64-1 = OMNI1 - Signal 100%
66-1 = CKXTDT - Signal 92%
69 = Low quality picture

My main problem is i would like stations 4 (CBS HD) and 7 (ABC HD) to come all the time. According to my TVFool they should be easy stations to get from my location.

Can anyone give me pointers please?

Would a CM7778 Pre-Amp help me in any way???? I read they can sometimes just increase disturbance.

Thanks,

Mike

What direction is your antenna pointing? The signal strength figures you provided suggests that the antenna direction is favouring the CN Tower. To get the most benefit from Buffalo you may have to aim it that way. The Toronto stations will still come in. I personally have a rotator and usually point my 4221 (original) at 128 degrees and receive Toronto just fine.

A pre-amp might help but only if you get some kind of signal. It won't magically pull signals from the air that you wouldn't normally receive.

You didn't mention WGRZ either. Are you having trouble with that one too?

Hello Mr Weather,

Antenna is pointing South towards Buffalo, however, having said that, since i had to hand over to someone else to do the final pointing i can't say for sure.

This is why i dislike paying someone, they just want to get in and out.

No sign of WGRZ at all, even on a clear day.

Thanks,

Hi Mr Weather and Stampeder,

I redid the connector. But it seems to be the same. I know there is a 4 way splitter being used, but I don't have access to it. (Hidden behind Drywall). Should I pick up the pre-amp?

Thanks

anthony9887, it is always best to try the simple stuff first, but since there wasn't an improvement here's the arithmetic of what happened in your situation:
you went from about 6dB loss on your direct run of RG6 at 100' from the antenna to the tuner to about 5dB coax loss at 80' you lost about 7dB signal due to the 4-way splitter that totals about 12dB loss!You have 2 options:
run a dedicated 80' length of RG6 to the tuner and you won't need a preamp
if you stay with the 4-way splitter cabling then install a preamp

Mike20001:

You're quite a bit north of me. The TVFool output from the corner of Creditview and Wanless says to aim between 137 and 140 degrees (true), which is around 150 degrees magnetic. Still, for Buffalo you're almost at the limit of reception based on the NM figures, and WGRZ is in the "gray" category with an NM value of -17.6 dB. Your distance to the transmitting towers ranges from 65 to 93 miles. That's a good haul.

I believe you're higher in elevation in that part of Brampton than I am in Streetsville. Having said that it would probably be very beneficial to get your antenna higher in the air (my 4221 is about 30' off the ground) and even consider upgrading to a 4228HD simply for the increase in gain.

First thing's first: make sure your antenna is pointed properly. The 4221HD has a wide enough beamwidth that Toronto will come in no problem when you're aimed at Buffalo.

My main problem is i would like stations 4 (CBS HD) and 7 (ABC HD) to come all the time. According to my TVFool they should be easy stations to get from my location.

Can anyone give me pointers please?

Would a CM7778 Pre-Amp help me in any way?I have a 4221 clone (EagleStar 4 bay) in Clarkson Village, lakeshore and southdown area, picking up all HD channels except WNYB, ION, CIII, and CKXT. Antenna is pointed halfway between Buffalo and Batavia (so south, south-east?). Antenna is mounted about 30 feet above ground with around 125-130 feet of RG-6 no preamp. WIVB and WKBW are oddly the strongest stations I pull at around 80-85% (stronger than even my Canadian locals!)

CJMT, WNED and WNLO chiming in at around 80%.

CBLT, CFTO, CHCH, and CBLFT I pull in at around 65-75%.

CFMT around 60%.

CITY, WUTV, and WGRZ are the weakest of the pack and can range from 33% (just slightly above dropout) to 45%, but this is cold-weather reception.

Oddly I'm not recieving CIII or CKXT (25%) probably due to the length of the coax and direction.

ION and WNYB are summer/tropo, usually staying at 25%. I can also pick up a few Rochester signals on tropo days.

You should seriously check the antenna aim again using Google Maps. From Mississauga, you should have no issue with getting any of these stations.

Also check for any nearby obstructions such as tall buildings that can either cause multipath interference, or worse just block the signal entirely.

Do these things first and see if you can pull more stations. A pre-amp for you will probably overload the Toronto stations.

Hello Mr Weather,

Antenna is pointing South towards Buffalo, however, having said that, since i had to hand over to someone else to do the final pointing i can't say for sure.

This is why i dislike paying someone, they just want to get in and out.

No sign of WGRZ at all, even on a clear day.

Thanks,
Mike & Anthony,
Although i don't get to Brampton much, I install in Mississauga quite regularly. The advertised range for 4221hd is 45 miles and you're looking for stations up to 90 miles. It's advantage is the wide pick-up angle.
Those who install a 7777 pre-amp work quite well. You won't get overload because you need to point directly at the south Buffalo stations. Then you adjust just a bit till you get toronto stations on the side. You especially need the pre-amp if you plan on splitting. Height helps, and a clear veiw is essential. The only time I've seen poor results, were people who were pointing into buildings or trees.

And, I gotta say, not all installers just want to get in and out. I like to do it right and make sure you've got the best possible setup for what you paid for.

Thanks guys.

Height might be my biggest problem in that case. My antenna is obstructed by my surrounding neighbors roofs. Its at a height of around 19 feet.

Don't want to do a roof mount as its a new house and worried the builder an out for any roof warranty claims.

Would ganging help with the low height issue???

Tom.F.1 = Didn't mean to offend in any way about the "installers want to get in and out" comment.

Thanks,

I don't think ganging will help. Your problem is your antenna isn't high enough in the air. It can't "see" those signals. And you're pushing the limits of that antenna's capability as per Tom.F.1's comment.

I understand your concerns vis a vis roof mounting on a new home. In addition, because it's a new housing development there might be convenants in your purchase agreement with the builder and/or the City of Brampton that restricts the installation of outdoor antennas for a set number of years. You need to be aware of that.

I normally don't recommend this but perhaps you could experiment with an attic installation? If you mount the antenna at the peak of your roof you'll gain several more feet which will be beneficial.