I know I don't live in this area, but thew difference between a distribution amp and a preamp is that a preamp is meant to be used right at the antenna, and the boosted signal is cleaner (noise-free).

A distrubution amp would work in your situation, as it is meant to amplify the signal where it splits, and output two boosted signals. The risk with this approach is that you're more likely to amplify noise as well as signal.

IMO, go with the preamp first, and if that doesn't work try for the distribution amp.

according to the Channel Master site, what you recommended is a distribution amplifier, and not a pre-amp.Those terms are covered in Post #14 in the OTA FAQ. Please read through the entire FAQ and you'll get lots of answers to your questions. :)

@John Z

I'm 1 blk south from you and with a 4221 in my second floor bedroom pointing south I can get everything except ION.

cooper43,

Hi there
I live just north of you and I have a CM4228 on the roof Installed it past summer as high as i could I'm getting:

2.1.2.3 once in a while there is some pixelation
4.1 very rare pixelation
5.1 good
7.1 very rare pixelation
9.1 good
17.1.2.3good
23.1 good
25.1 good
29.1.2 good
41.1 good
44.1 good
57.1 good
64.1 good
66.1 good

I had problems getting 2.1 channel but now it seems its ok i tried even a CM777 preamplifier 3 feet from the antenna but it didn't do any good so then I lifted the antenna another couple of feet higher and now it seems that 2.1 its good

dIgitalhOme,

Thanks for the post,,, your success motivated me to just go for it. I didn't want to get on the roof in the middle of winter so I installed a couple CM brackets on the side of the house and got 3 5ft poles to raise the antenna close to the top of the roof. Bought a DB8 and CM7777 pre amp. Pointed it in roughly the right direction and I'm getting all the same channels as you except 2.1 (NBC)... maybe if I fiddle a bit I can get NBC too! E! from Hamilton would also be excellent but I'm just stoked that I actually got most the buffalo channels and the hard to get Canadian channels like OMNI 1, CITY and SUN.

Thanks for your post - reception is awsome and no cable bill is even better.:)

Steve.

I'm new to all of this, but have a question.

I recently purchased at indoor Antenna (Phillips Mant 310) mainly because it was really cheap and I wanted to experiment. I am able to pick up 7 or 8 HD channels.

I was wondering if I could use a smaller outdoor antenna, a cm 4221 or something, indoors to pick up more channels ... mainly some buffalo stations like abc, fox, nbc etc...

This may be a completly stupid idea, but thought I'd ask.

Also, my tv has one coax input on it for cable/antenna, but when I cycle through the inputs on the tv, there is one for cable and one for antenna. Does this mean it will save my stations when i change unplug my cable and plug in the antenna and vice versa. It's a pain to have to scan everytime i make the switch.

Thanks in advance!

I was wondering if I could use a smaller outdoor antenna, a cm 4221 or something, indoors to pick up more channels ... mainly some buffalo stations like abc, fox, nbc etc...

Thanks in advance!
From Maple, indoor not very likely to give you buffalo channels.
But we know for sure, an 4228 above the rooftops works.

So would trying to use an outdoor antenna indoors actually improve my signal strength at all, or is it a complete waste of time since It's not any higher off the ground?

Some people successfully use a small outdoor antenna like a CM4020 or DB-2 indoors, but be prepared for still having some reception problems. Is an outdoor antenna (which will give excellent results in your area as you can see in this thread) not possible?

Not during the winter .. lol

but preferably I would prefer not to put up an outdoor antenna unless absolutly neccessary.

Actually winter time is the very best time to put up an outdoor antenna because reception is as uncomplicated by weird weather phenomena as can be. Having said that, if you read the latest posts in the DXing thread there is a very abnormal bout of tropo happening right now.

I'm happy to report that with just a simple coat hanger youtube antenna in my attic in Newmarket that I've seen all of the Buffalo stations in the last 1.5 days with the exception of ION out of Batavia. I even pulled in WNYB out of Jamestown.

My usual channels are
RF40-CTV(9.1)
RF20-CBC(5.1)
RF53-CITYTV(57.1)
and surprisingly strong
RF32-CW(23)
sometimes
RF39-WIVB(4.1)

To see all of the other Buffalo stations was a nice treat. I plan on putting up a CM4228HD in the spring with a preamp and a rotor so maybe I can do some real DX-ing

Last night at around 11pm I picked 3 new analogue stations.

RF7-Appears to be a global affiliate?
RF-27 Another Global affiliate?
RF-45 The Canucks game was on possibly a CBC affiliate?

You guys know what these stations could be?

The recent tropo activity is definitely helping your reception, but frankly you need to get a proper antenna for good and stable results in Newmarket because you will not be getting much soon with that junk antenna. ;) Look through this thread for other Newmarket area posts to see what is required, and read through these links:

New2OTA, I live up in Sharon, Ontario (Leslie and Mount Albert) and I have one of those cheap 8 bay bowtie with a CM 7777 pre-amp and an antenna rotor, I was able to pick up the following channels last night (Overcast and fog, snow in Buffalo):

2.1 NBC (35 to 50%)
2.2
2.3
4.1 CBS (35 to 50%)
5.1 CBC (90% +)
7.1 ABC (35 to 50%)
9.1 CTV (85% +)
18.1 CHCH (35%)
23.1 CW (25 to 35%)
25.1 CBC French (85%+)
41.1 Global (75%+)
44.1 OMNI 2 (75% +)
49.1 MyTV HD and 49.2 MyTV SD (35 to 40%)
53.1 CityTV HD (75%+)
64.1 OMNI 1 (50%+)
66.1 SunTV (75%+)

I've been experimenting with the mounting location and finally decided to mount it to the chimney (about 25 feet above ground level) which has pretty good line of sight to the CN Tower and Buffalo. However, I do have to content with my neighbour's 70 foot pine tree, hence not being to pick Fox and PBS. The key, as many of the other writers agreed is the higher the better.

I think if you add a pre-amp and mount it outside, you can get at least 5 more stations. I use the rotor because the old pine tree is in the middle of the Toronto and Buffalo transmission towers. I find that it helps to find tune the antenna for the Buffalo stations.

I ended up getting a cm4221hd on the weekend. I am at Major mac and Dufferin - what direction to I need to aim the antenna .... can I aim it parralel to Dufferin?

Also does the antenna need to be 100% vertical, or does it need to lean on some sort of angle?

Just by leaning it against the wall on the second floor, to experiment, I was able to get all the toronto channels and wnlo from Buffalo.

So I guess I just need to find the exact direction to pointit and fine tune it to get the rest.

Use http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=90 , type in your exact address and zoom and direct the cursor over the location where you want to mount your antenna. Check of the box "Show lines pointing to each transmitter". This should at least give you a landmark to aim.

Also does the antenna need to be 100% vertical, or does it need to lean on some sort of angle?

The antenna should be as close to vertical as you can get in both the side to side direction and the tilting up and down direction. The only exception is if you have a large hill in front of your that the signals are diffracting over (shows in tvfool as 1edge or 2edge), in which case you can experiment with tilting the antenna up a bit. There's a whole thread about that:

Tilting Antenna for Better Reception (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=106196)

Just by leaning it against the wall on the second floor, to experiment, I was able to get all the toronto channels and wnlo from Buffalo.

So I guess I just need to find the exact direction to pointit and fine tune it to get the rest.That's quite encouraging Shtuey. Did you get any HD channles? I was thinking to do same and experiment.

Use http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=90 , type in your exact address and zoom and direct the cursor over the location where you want to mount your antenna. Check of the box "Show lines pointing to each transmitter". This should at least give you a landmark to aim.
For some reason the website did not worked for me: no map displayed... Perhaps the firwall at work is blocking ...

gajego,
Try using one of the tips in the OTA FAQ & Knowledge Base, Post #10:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=41102

This has been said many time before, but it's worth repeating: Pointing your antenna at the broadcast tower is only the start. You may have to "peak" your antenna, depending on your individual reception needs. Peaking an antenna is the fine adjustments in direction, height, or even tilt, to get a maximum (peak :)) on your tuner's signal meter if it has one.

cheers