I get ION fairly regular now. On my Sharp tuner it normally comes in solid 40-45%. Sometimes it is weaker with breakups but is almost always there. With mild tropo comes in much stronger. What I find odd is the antenna direction for reception. I set up the antenna with the rotator at 180 degrees and used a compass to align the reflector E-W. Buffalo's peak at 155, 49-1 150, 26-1 170, 11-1 230, Toronto's some 100, CBC's 120. ION is from Batavia, so you would think 130-140 degrees would be good, but signal peaks at 165 degrees, west of Buffalo. They broadcast east and west like a figure 8, so I'm thinking I'm aimed into the center of the west broadcast lobe. Whatever the reason, it is always there at that direction.

Hmm, I should try that. ION wants to come in but can't. (This is aimed slightly west of Batavia) I'm really surprised too, TVFool shows a whopping -16.8 dB, which makes it only ever-so-slightly better than Erie's WICU (-17.2 dB) We're taking deep deep deep fringe here.

How's your TVFool for ION lookin' Rusty? I might have asked this before, but what general area of 'sauga are you in? Do you live within the pink areas? As in fairly regular, that means winter months too? If so I sure would like to have some of what you're having :P

According to the map I don't stand a chance (no colour at all) but I still have around 15-20% constant signal. Tweaking my setup might help.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3817/tvfoolion.jpg

@little-infinity

So in your map 403 does the bend down to QEW. First road north of QEW Dundas, next Burnhamthorpe, so I'm inbetween that North South. Going East from 403 is Winston Churchill Blvd, then Erin Mills Pkwy. I'm between those East West. So on the edge of the purple blob. Current setup is stacked 4221HD's all hacks, CM splitter to combine, 7778 preamp to broadband distribution amp with 4 splits. Stacked 4221HD's don't seem to improve forward gain but they seem to greatly improve side gain. Also even though the signal strength hasn't changed, picture has less breakups with low signal. 35-40% signal on the Sharp Aquos still gives a good picture. Blocking is between 32-35%, and below 32% lock is lost. So I think the signal to noise ratio is a little better with the stack. Aimed at ION 165 degrees, everything comes in on all TV's. So all Buffalo's, Toronto's, Hamilton, Jamestown and Batavia. This setup works great with TVIX R3310 PVR as I don't have to rotate for anything. Unit doesn't allow adding channels, only total rescan. I'd like to get a few more %'s on ION, but I'm going to leave for now. Winter reception overall is better. ION very stable 38-42% all winter. Mild tropo seems to really affect FOX where I am. Signal will go from 75-80% down to 40-45% while ION will go up over 80%. Stronger tropo gets me Watertown and Syracuse NY before any Rochester channels come in. For ION, I think I'm just in a good location. House is on a high spot and I have good clear line of sight to all towers. So we'll say results not typical. Good luck with your setup.

Hi, I'm interested in using an indoor antenna for my HD TV. I'm not sure which one to use though.

I know that location is important. I live near Square One in an apartment. Is this a good area to pick up channels? I only want CBC, CTV and several French channels.

I've tried using a Terk Amplified 1080i Antenna from The Source, but it wasn't very good (only picked up two digital channels from Buffalo).

I'm thinking about getting the Antennas Direct DB2 Antenna from Amazon, but I'm not sure if it'll work. Should I go with a cheaper antenna (like RCA from Best Buy or Philips from Walmart)?

Please help :)

Which direction do you face? The Toronto stations broadcast from the CN Tower so ideally you want a window with line-of-sight in that direction. It also depends if you have any obstructions in the path. i.e. Are there any other large buildings near you blocking your line?

I'm facing southwest I think :)

The best indoor antenna I ever used was the phillips Mant940, it
gets me channels from Rochester sometimes and most buffalo
channels with Toronto included, just point the curvy part at Buffalo
and slightly angled towards toronto and you will get more channels
than any other indoor antenna, just google this antenna, I returned
many indoor antennas until I was wowed with this one. Although
the Channelmaster4221HD is a outdoor antenna you can try
putting it on a tripod pointing it out a window.

I'm facing southwest I think

So, if you look out the window, are you looking towards Hamilton way? Can you see the CN Tower? I guess that also depends on what floor your on.

lonelygirl, if it's not on the Antenna Chart I would not buy it. See these links ------------>

So, if you look out the window, are you looking towards Hamilton way? Can you see the CN Tower? I guess that also depends on what floor your on.
If she's SW that's more than 90 degrees away from the Toronto transmitters. Not good.

Lots of condo towers going up south of Square One so maybe she'll get lucky and be able to pick up Toronto via multipath off a neighbouring building.

If she's SW that's more than 90 degrees away from the Toronto transmitters. Not good
Yeah, I'm with ya on that. Just her post made it sound like she's a little confused on what direction she is facing. Figured maybe she can help us by giving us some things that she sees when looking out her window.

lonelygirl please follow the steps in this post so that we can get more info on your situation:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1082124&postcount=72

cheers

Hi, I'm interested in using an indoor antenna for my CRT TV. I'm not sure which one to use.

I live in a semidetached. will I get OTA channels with an indoor antenna or do I need an outdoor one?

Please advise

Hi, actually we have several people in this thread who live right nearby you. Use the Search This Thread tool to the upper right beside Thread Tools and put in "Torbram" and "Boivard" as search terms and you'll see that an outdoor antenna is definitely needed for Buffalo stations. Most people have had the best luck with a CM4221HD.

With a good indoor antenna you'll probably get most or all of the Toronto stations and then with a re-aim the Hamilton ones too.

indoor antenna for my CRT TV
Realize that CRT technology is pretty obsoleted now, and that your TV may not have an ATSC tuner built into it...meaning you will only pickup the analog channels and not the digitals.

param2377 you'll need a DTV converter box for your CRT TV since it does not have a digital OTA tuner in it, and they're reasonably cheap. Here's the thread about them:

ATSC Converter Boxes (Non-HD, Non-Recording) (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=42186)

I found out I'm actually northwest.

Is there any hope? :(

That's a tough one.

If there are any highrise buildings north and/or west of you you could try aiming an antenna at them to receive signals reflected off of them. It's no guarantee but you might get lucky.

Depending on your height above ground you're in a good position to receive signals from Kitchener (CTV, CBC, TVO) but they're not digital and won't be for quite a while.

I noticed the local pizza shop has a 4221 aimed completely opposite to the direction of Buffalo. I mean by a longshot, he had this thing aimed due north. Whenever I drop in I manage to see he either has WIVB or WGRZ on, and the reception is good for the most part (save for a few drop outs on WGRZ). This was also only about 15 feet off the ground. Obviously not certain if strength was good, or just boderline (probably borderline).

I am baffled. So yes, you might get lucky with reflections. It is very much a possibility.

On another note, I'm going to do a real-world Eaglestar vs 4221HD (my dad is going for the 4221HD instead of the GH at this time, finally!) comparison soon. Here is a current table of my results (sorry if this breaks rules or whatnot, but i don't think you can make tables out of bbcode). Perhaps this will help a few people make a good choice.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/73/realworld1.jpg

Tables are fine as long as they are in a static image format like png or jpg. :) The important thing is that everyone uploads their images using this procedure (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=92167) so that they become part of the permanent record here and don't suddenly disappear because some web storage provider deleted it or went out of business, etc. etc.

BTW, the CM4221HD has a good back door lobe as you can see, but that pizza shop owner got it completely backwards!