If you guys are in Kleinburg, you shouldn't even be getting 2.1 except rarely via tropo.

WIVB 4.1 possibly, but only with an outdoor antenna, otherwise only tropo.


This report is for the Kleinburg area using a 30ft tower/antenna:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d81a33f54753518I have had full reception of 2-1 and 4-1 as well as 29-1 & 7-1 from Buffalo, as well as all the Canadian HD locals. I have received them all for the last 4-5 months (ever since I set my antenna up) uninterrupted. BTW the (DB8) is in the attic 30' above ground, its not even outside on a mast....imagine if it was what I could pull in. LOL
Yes, from Kleinburg (Major Mackenzie & Islington) I am about 148Km - 150Km from the farthest tower according to TVFOOL, which BTW, is 2-1 for me.

Paul

Hi Paulo,

I used to live at Bloor and Christie and am now 1.5km (almost) due south of your position.

No issues with WGRZ (96%) or WIVB (90%).
Stephen is your antenna outside or in the attic. Mine is in the attic....let me know

I have had full reception of 2-1 and 4-1 as well as 29-1 & 7-1 from Buffalo, as well as all the Canadian HD locals. I have received them all for the last 4-5 months (ever since I set my antenna up) uninterrupted. PaulLet me clarify! Tvfool may not be 100% correct, but it provides an excellent guideline. You said you have had good reception for the past 5 months, during summer months where tropo plays a big role in reception. Let's evaluate your reception possibilities as the winter months roll in and see what is possible without summer tropo assistance.

Let me clarify! Tvfool may not be 100% correct, but it provides an excellent guideline. You said you have had good reception for the past 5 months, during summer months where tropo plays a big role in reception. Let's evaluate your reception possibilities as the winter months roll in and see what is possible without summer tropo assistance.
OH, I see what you are saying.....I'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks as the weather changes. I was told by the people over at Save & Replay that my reception would even get better during the winter. I was and still am picking up everything, I would just figure that the signal strenghts would just increase over the winter months from the low 80's now to maybe high 90's for the 2-1, 4-1 channels.

Paul

I find some stations seem to get stronger in the winter and others weaken. Normally I get ION at full bars, but now it stays around 2-4 bars now that the weather has cooled, mind you it's still rock steady at my location. Last winter I never had any issues with ION other than it being weaker than in the summer.

I'm glad I checked back here and seeing others are having recent issues getting 4-1. I had it solidly through all of last winter, all of this year up to two weeks ago when it started breaking up. And this is with my 2-Terk indoor setup at Major MacKenzie & McCowan :) Oh well, at least I still get all the others like 2, 7, 17, 29 etc. Nice to have had ION in the summer, but of course that's gone. Interestingly, my collegue at Warden & 7 who has the exact same setup as me says he's still getting 4-1, but then he could never get ION. Oh well, hopefully 4-1 comes back for me when it snows..

You're not too far from me and I'm still getting ION reliably with an attic setup.

Wow mikebgn, that's great you get FOX with a 2-Terk. I'm probably a few houses away from you and I only started getting that when I started building my own antennas.

Ya, I've been very pleasantly surprised. I put in my 2-Terk HDTVa last winter as a quick and dirty for OTA since I couldn't put in a "real" outdoor rooftop setup, and it's been rock solid ever since. Never had the need to do the rooftop mast, rotor etc etc thing; I get all the channels (incl. 11-1 for movies, which others need a rotor) without needing to touch or adjust anything after getting it right the first time. Its just 4-1 WIVB these days is kind of flaked for me at night when the temperature drops. And the wife has even mostly stopped complaining about the 2-Terks pointing out our bedroom window :D

Did you guys notice the tropo last week with the warm weather? I was getting like crazy 10+ extra channels I never even knew existed; specialty channels like american religious channels...fun stuff, too bad it's gone with the wind..

Mike, as for WIVB (4-1) these days......they are doing some repair work on their antenna. This was according to some of last weeks report on the Buffallo OTA thread. I don't know if its fully oprational in terms of signal strength. I get it no problem in my bedroom TV ( closer to the attic Antenna), but the signal is in/out on my main tv on the main floor (60' away from the attic antenna). All other channels are good so I'll guess that they are still reparing it!!

Paul

Paulo.
but the signal is in/out on my main tv on the main floor (60' away from the attic antenna).

Do you have a distribution amp/booster at the feed point of that 60' cable length?

Paulo.


Do you have a distribution amp/booster at the feed point of that 60' cable length?
Hi ota canuck, yes, I have a Channel Master 3412 MultiSwitch (Distribution Amp). Its actually located 16' away from the antenna in the attic, at which point it splits to the tv in the bedroom (1') and to the tv on the main floor (44' away from the splitter).
Why do you ask?

PS. I had not checked....... but it seems that 4-1 wivb is still down, I don't get this channel in my bedroom tv.

Paul

Installed a CM4221 in the attic (antenna facing south-west and attached at roof peak with a string) with a coax cable run of 50 feet and get all Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo stations with the exception of ION 51 (no big deal).

Can't believe the steady consistent results, but altitude is likely much more important than mounting the antenna on the roof versus the attic.

You are practically my neighbor and I get ION consistently. The trick is to aim your antenna at ION slightly south east and use a pre-amp right at the feed. In the winter I roughly get 2 bars from ION and in the summer I get 10 bars. By the way aiming at ION might give you reception issues with Global and CKXT since they are very low power. In my case I use 2 antennas. Stouffville is an excellent reception area. If you run a tvfool report you will see practically everything is LOS

Same neighbourhood here (south end of Mostar) - using a 4228 on the roof, I can rarely get NBC or ION except in June when tropo is high. I could get these if I pointed a bit further east, but then I start getting low signal on the Toronto channels, so I figured I'd optimize for Toronto and reorient after the Canadian transition once most channels bump their output power. Doesn't help that I have a tall treeline directly south of me. Whereabouts are you guys at 9th/hoover & do you have the same trouble w/ NBC?

I'm east of 9th off Hoover. I never have an issue with NBC, it's always rock solid for me, and full bars even in winter.

This kind of local reporting is what makes the Reception Results forum so great - several of you can reference each other's reports and those of others going back almost 6 years for ideas and comparisons within locations that you can visualize from personal experience.

Can you folks list your gear too? We should compare to see who has come up with the best solution for that specific area unless of course something extremely local is hampering the NBC and ION signals. Even the brand of tuner/HDTV/etc. can make a difference.

I have 2 homemade SBGH antennas mounted in my attic, both with pre-amps at the feed, and both aimed in different directions. I have no obstructions except my own roof since it's inside. I've always had great solid reception with everything out of Toronto,Hamilton and Buffalo with the exception of WNYB and WNGS. I'm surprised that you guys both being so close to me are having issues with ION and WGRZ.

I'm using a CM4228 (the original, not the new one), which I bought from a distributor in the 'states many months after they were discontinued; people weren't crazy about the new 4228's at the time so I wanted to go with a tried-and-true antenna. The antenna is on a 8-foot (approx) tripod, so about 30 feet total above the ground. I have Los to CN Tower except for a thin (50-100ft) line of trees about 100-150 feet due south of me. The tallest trees around 50 feet high, but it hasn't seemed to hurt my signal (no difference between when they have leaves vs. no leaves, etc.).

thenewdc I think you don't have problems w/ IOC/NBC because you have 2 antennas! If I had 2, I'd point one straight at the CN tower and the other at Buffalo (NBC). I checked my strength settings yesterday and Global and City were the weakest (21/30 each) and WNYO & Sun were third/fourth at 23/30. All others including CHCH were at 29/30 or 30/30. ION and NBC didn't even register on the signal meter. I'm using an Haupauge HVR-2250 dual ATSC tuner in an HTPC rigged up to run as an HD-PVR using Windows 7 Media Center. Very happy with the setup (especially since upgrading from Vista to Win7, ie. much more stable and nary a crash, except when the power blips as it frequently does in Stouffville.. Need to get a UPS...).

I'm also running a Winegard 8700 preamp. It's been a while since I've been active on the forum, but I harped on at length about a year and a half ago about people NOT using the 7777/8 preamps, especially those along the Yonge corridor, because it will saturate and kill the reception of your weaker (Buffalo) channels due to IMD distortion. Even in Stouffville it's not really great, because the high power analogs still transmitting from downtown will saturate a 7777. Still, folks seem to have good luck along Yonge even with a 7777, probably due to the ability to point to both Buffalo and Toronto (they're practically in line along Yonge) and therefore compensating for the preamp distortion by having better gain by being pointed right at Buffalo. And once we transition to all-digital, the 7777 will be the hands-down winner no matter where in the GTA we are, but until then I would still be wary of getting a preamp with too high of a gain (since they usually have a lower max spurious-free input power). Ok I'm digressing..

To sum: I'm at 9th line/Hoover, 30 feet above the ground, CM4228 + Winegard 8700, ~40 feet of cable to a 2-way splitter, Hauppage HVR-2250 dual tv tuner (integrated splitter) in an HTPC running Win7 MC, reception results:

WNGS: can't get ever
NBC, ION: can't get, except in June and other rare days
Global, City: Solid, 21/30
WNYO(MyTV), SunTV: Solid, 23/30
Everything else: Solid, 29/30 or 30/30

I plan to reorient once City/Global boost their output to get NBC/ION. After initial pains and grumbling from my significant other about the stability of the setup, Windows 7 has saved me and the setup is rock solid. The setup was a bit expensive ($500 for gear, installation, etc.) plus HTPC (which I had most of already anyways), but it's paid for itself already and now I have free tv for life (or until they decide to stop broadcasting, or the kids decide they want the Disney Channel - shhhh!) :)

Tom

I'm thinking your reception may be hampered by that small forest to your south. I'm not inline with that forest.