I have OTA TV for about 9 months now. I live in Richmond Hill, ON, and installed CM 4221 antenna in the attic. Lately my reception was getting worse and yesterday I went back to attic to check. I installed antenna on the PVC 1'' pipe and noticed that pipe bended and antenna was pointing down (angle 70-80 degrees down). I fixed pole ant point antena probably 95-100 degrees. To my surprise my reception of Bufallo stations NBC and CBS went from 75% (during initial tests) to 95%. I was very happy yesterday even I got 2 new channels 8-1 and 21-1) . I watch HDTV all evening, no problems. Today came back from work and I can bearly receive NBC and CBS (2-1 and 4-1) - In most cases I cannot even get signal locked. I checked attic, but since yesterday nothing change. I fixed antenna yesterday really well, there will be no more bending. What can affect signal so much? My cable is preaty long (75 feet), but one day signal is 95% and another 65%. How can it be? Anything I should look at to get clue? By the way, channel CBC 5-1 strength is now 100% and yesterday was 100%.

Thanks

Vim at 75' for a 4221 you need a preamp.

This summer has been good for dx with this week a hot one(great week for dxing). Meaning it's easy to get distant stations.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=26789

I just got CM 4228 antenna from US an would like to install it in the attic.
Does anybody know if it needs to be grounded in the attic and if the answer yes what's the correct way to do it?
Any good ideas how to run cable into the basement?

Thanks,

Whoo your trap door must be huge. :)

Because you will be mounting your antenna in the attic your antenna is not really exposed to the outside elements. There is no direct wind blowing over your antenna to create any static build up.

But as a precaution you can ground the mast to a electrical bix in the ceiling from the bedroom overhead light.

That box is grounded to your fuse panel by a solid 16" copper wire and from there to your water pipe in the besement.

IF you can't fit it through the trap door to the attic, there was another poster who drilled out the rivets and used screws to re-assemble once he got it in.

Good Luck!!

Tom
I read an account once about at a guy in the US that got a big antenna into his attic when he reshingled his roof. Took a section of plywood right off to get it in. Now that is dedication!

I just got CM 4228 antenna from US an would like to install it in the attic.
Does anybody know if it needs to be grounded in the attic and if the answer yes what's the correct way to do it?
Any good ideas how to run cable into the basement?

Thanks,
I have CM4228 antenna in the attic, it's not grounded at the moment but I will ground it eventually by grounding to the nearest ceiling light of the 2nd floor.

To get wires from the attic to the basement use cold air return if you don't have a pipe from the attic to the basement for wires.

don't know whether this have been covered before:

Living in 404 MajorMack area, what should I have to get OTA HD? I already have an HDTV with ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuner. Can I have the HD OTA antenna indoors? or should I start installing things outdoors? How many channels do I get and so on and so forth.

PS: I don't care at all about watching sports.

David Susilo, I am not sure where the town of MajorMack is, but you first might want to check the thread for your area (see OTA Reception Results (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=129)). Unless you are near a city I wouldn't expect much for a long time though.

Thanks for the link. MajorMack and 404 is Buttonville Airport (used to be Richmond Hill, now it's part of Markham)

David all you need is a 4221 mounted outdoor on your roof pointed towards south 165-175' for the best results.

A attic mount is 50/50 that they work or dont work too well. Meaning if you are lucky you get most if not all the channels or the other half only get stations from the Cn tower and maybe two Buffalo like CW23 and PBS.

that's the problem, no roof stuff allowed without the approval of the town home owners (well, not really a regulation, but we've been using this method for the past 6 years, this way no house within one strip of townhomes suddenly have a neon pink door, or neon green roof, for example)

Hi guys......newbie here to this forum. This site was a wealth of information to help me set up my HDTV OTA antenna. A big thanks to Yaamon for advice and providing the CM4221 antenna. I live in Richmond Hill, north of M. Mackenzie just east of Bathurst. Using the CM4221 and a CM antenna amplifier I picked up these HD channels; ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, WNLO, CBC, CTV, CITYTV. SUN TV signal is low.

fabfour, great job where did you end up mounting your antenna.

Sun I would not worry about, if your Nbc signal is a lot stronger than Fox you can slightly turn the antenna to the west(maybe 1/4" on the pole) to get a more even signal with Fox.

This will also improve Sun reception.

Yaamon, my antenna is wall mounted just below my eavestrough facing SSE (about 20 degrees east of straight south). I used Google Earth to zoom in on my house to get a ballpark bearing based on the satellite photos (excellent tool to use, I may add!) I do get occasional pixelation with channel 7 (ABC), but all others I mentioned are coming in very well, except for Sun TV. My RG6cable run is 50 ft and using an antenna pre-amp definately increases signal strength (I would recommend this if somewhat of a signal is being pick up).

im pretty happy with my RCA CANT117 on my Samsung LNT-3242. It picks up 37 channels and 19 are solid DTV. Here are my DTV Channels

2-1 WGRZ DT (1080i)
2-2 WGRZ SD (480i)
4-1 WIVB HD (1080i)
5-1 CBLT DT (1080i)
7-1 WKBW HD (720p)
7-2 WNGS SD (480i)
9-1 CFTO HD (1080i)
23-1 WNLO HD (1080i)
25-1 CBLFT HD (1080i)
26-1 WNYB DT (this channel goes up and down, rest are solid)
29-1 WUTV HD (720p)
29-2 WUTV SD (480i)
43-1 WNED HD (720p)
43-2 WNED SD (480i)
43-3 WNED -TH (480i)
49-1 WNYO-HD (720p)
49-1 WNYO SD (480i)
57-1 CITY HD (1080i)
66-3 UNKNOWN (1080i)

There is a house on Morisot Ave in Thornhill Woods with what looks like a CM4221 mounted on the peak of the roof.
I'm hoping to run into the owner (some evening taking a walk)
to find out how it is performing.
From that location, if there is enough elevation there should be
a clear line of sight to the CN Tower AND Grand Island almost
in a line!

sunjwd,

Some other DHC members have mentioned Thornhill Woods as their location. I suggest you use the search function (above) and send them a Private message. Perhaps you will meet some new neighbours! :)

There is great elevation there, but you want to make sure you are not too close to that big forest just north of the 407 @ Bathurst. Just speculating, but if you are very close to that forest, your antenna might need some help (elevation wise).

Luckily I'm just west and south of the "woods" in Thornhill Woods.
I got the street wrong. It was Hendel and not Morisot that had the
4221 on the roof.

so I got this new baby from the UPS store, tried to test signal strength by attaching it to a mop, and leaned it against the 2nd floor window facing south...to my supprise it picks up most buffalo and toronto signal, and even a few rochester stations like 8, 10, 13 and WXXI. But I have no luck on Sun TV. I'm prety sure it's the direction that cause the problem. Anyway I am happy with the result. I will leave it there until my wife gets mad :D Save my $ for the mast and labor to install roof mount.

PS: location is McCowan just north of 407. This morning I checked the TV again some Rochester stations faded out but Buffalo's are still solid.