Anyone have a link to the antenna by-laws in Newmarket?Several posts moved here to a thread all about how local by-laws may affect your outdoor OTA gear:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=85247

Back to OTA reception issues. :)

I live in a low, heavily treed area about 5 km north of Mount Albert, ON. Any thoughts on my chances of receiving Toronto DTV channels OTA?

Here's the link to my TV Fool file (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d7d52445c253eec).

With two edges, and being on the fringe, it looks pretty iffy to me.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Tim

The Torontos you definitely stand a chance with. I'm not familiar with the terrain or reception conditions in your area, but if you're behind the Oak Ridges Moraine, more height will definitely help.

Try adding another 10-15 feet to your antenna. The Torontos should definitely be a little more reliable, with a ChannelMaster 4228 antenna. With careful aiming, Buffalo's strongest signal (WNLO/CW23) might also come through.

Getting the other distant Buffalo stations would require heroic measures on your part, but I wouldn't rule them out fully. Though reliability is definitely going to be iffy, you'll probably have some more luck when warmer weather arrives and propogates those distant signals further to your area.

Definitely replot your TVFool with the height adjustments though.

Best of luck, welcome. :)

I am in a detached house facing south, and I am using rogers basic cable, want to cut back on the cost of the cable, and look into install an antenna, is the reception good in this area, how many channel can receive, is there any HD channels and what type of antenna need to buy, is the direction of the antenna critical, I heard someone install it in the attic, and said the signal lost about 20 to 30% compare to do it outside.
BTW my 52" projection TV about 4 yrs old without the ATSC tuner build in, what should I buy to get the HD signal in my TV.
any suggestion and idea welcome.
thanks.

Did you see this thread, avengine?

+++>>> New here? READ THIS BEFORE Posting In The OTA Forum <<<+++ (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=45357)

Start with that thread and it will show you how to find all your answers here.

Today I noticed that WPXJ is coming in at 100% signal this morning at 7:00am, I checked again at 10:00am and it still was pegged at 100%. I checked again at noon, and no signal at all. No signal tonight either. Very odd. Most of the time WPXJ does not come in at all. I have a 4228 on the second story roof on a ten foot pole. All of the other buffalo stations I get at 80-100% except for this one. I thought it was possibly a DX issue, but if it was, I don't think I would be getting a perfect signal earlier this morning (I would expect a very weak signal). I am wondering about conflicts with existing local toronto stations such as Radio Canada on 25? Possibly overloading the signal??

Strange thing is that I also noticed this morning Rochester stations coming in, but at very weak levels.

I have a CM4228HD mounted on my chimney via a J-pole. Antenna faces directly south. I pointed it south, because after looking at tvfool.com, it's logical to point south as I then get the Canadian channels (S-W) and Buffalo channels (S-E) for me, considering that I've got a 45 degree sweep from the antenna. I've got a CM3414 distribution app going into my 4 TVs. Works great,.. aha - but only most of the time.

I notice that 2.1 NBC and 4.1 CBS and 51.1 ION sometimes is not available, usually during the day only. Nights are ok.

Im my setup, is it better for me to point the antenna more towards Buffalo because those stations are so far away, i.e. point it more towards South-East? The Canadian channels are so strong, so I would even still get them regardless.

I don't really want to climb up again unless this makes sense.

Yes, finding a sweet-spot may allow you to get everything in one position. It's definitly worth a try. The only channel you may continue to have issues with is 51 because it is much further east than the others.

Have you hacked your 4228HD?

I'd look at the signal meter on your tv and see how much extra margin you have on your weakest Canadian station. By margin I'll use my tv as an example.

My tv gets a lock at about 40/100. I'd say anything above 50 is watchable and reliable. Lets say your weakest Canadian station comes in at 60, you could point your antenna more towards Buffalo and bring down that Canadian station to 50 and bring up your American stations. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Also what is your location?

I just replace one of my dish with a CM4228HD (Unmodified). Height is about 14 ft mounted on the wall. These are the HD channels (not mentioning the SD) I am getting.

2-1
5-1
7-1
9-1
17-1
23-1
25-1
44-1
57-1
64-1
66-1

I was tweaking it and 4-1 started to come in with pixelation and when I attempted to better the reception 2-1 started pixelating.

Should I do the cm4228HD hack or get a preamp? Which solution would be better to try first since raising the height at this time is not an option.

Thanks.

Is your antenna inside or outside? Seems odd that you'd have such trouble with wivb. Could you post a link to your tvfool.com results?

See my results in the threads above and I'm considerably further away then you. I think the experts on here will help you do much better than you are right now.

My Antenna is outside about 14ft high. Roof or higher mount is not an option at this time. Here is the tvfools link.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3db7c8f7154d9578

I plan to do the hack and hopefully I can pull in 29-1 and 41-1.

TVfool only looks at the terrain, it doesn't take into account anything on top of the ground such as trees, houses etc... Being only 14 ft up, the TVfool results may be deceiving. What is the antenna actually looking at? Another house? A forest? If there is anything in front of the antenna you will need to get more height.

The hack should help.

A preamp would help if you have a long cable run, or are splitting the signal to a few tv's. If you give a few details of your setup we can suggest what would work best.

Cable is about 35ft (total) from antenna to grounding block to wall outlet. there are rows of town houses across my backyard (south facing) and have about 70ft between us. Some signal will be blocked with the 2 storey homes.

A low noise pre-amp should help out a bit. You will be loosing a couple of dB from the cable, which may make the difference between clear or pixelated. You won't need a lot of amplification, anywhere from 12 to 16 dB will be lots. If you get one, make sure you install it with a few feet of cable from your antenna.

I know you said the roof is out of the question but I know you'd be blown away at whats available if you did get that antenna over its surroundings. Check out my TVFool a few posts up and see what I can get in Newmarket. Your location is much better than mine. Good luck and keep us posted.

wow, your antenna is 50 ft high. I was only interested in the hd channel as I have other means for SD. I will try the hack first (this weekend, hope it doesn't rain) and then consider the preamp if needed. I will post how my results are.

Thanks.

50ft yes but its not hard to do and my math could be off.

3 Story House = 30ft
Peak of the attic = 10ft
Tripod and Mast = 10ft

So thats how I came up with that number.

Seeing as how the warmer weather has arrived for now, I wouldn't mind climbing up to the roof to potentially try out a preamp if others in my area think it will help to bring in a couple of Buffalo stations.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I can usually get 4.1 (WIVB) to come in regularly with some odd dropouts. However 7.1 and 2.1 are hit and miss with low signal strengths. They only time they come in is during tropo and/or clear nights. All my other channels such as the locals all come in fairly strong.

Question is, what kind of preamp have you guys tried using living up here in this area?

Lobo

i have finished the cm4228hd hack and I have lost the buffalo channels. Gone are:

2-1
4-1
7-1

added

11-1
41-1.

This might be due to the fact that I need to play with the antenna positioning as I packed it in for the day after it got dark outside. I will try adjusting tomorrow and if I don't get the buffalo station, I will most likely change the position of one of the lead of the balun to make sure they are not out of phase.

Any suggestions?