It's probably pointing at Rochester - just a guess though. What is E-W and N-S in the GTA is not always true compass directions. My street runs north, but it's really N-E, I believe. (or it's just knocked out of position, lol)

mkmorris: Tuners can make a HUGE difference. People have reported amazing tuners on here that lock with like 10% signal.
My tuners require about 50%, I would say. (SNR of around 18 if you want to be more exact :p)
If I had one of these wonder tuners I would probably receive every channel without any problems.

This morning as per usual I switch on 57.1 CITYTV HD and it was black! nothing, nada, zip, so i tried OMNI2 HD, nothing, flicked through all the other HD channels and nothing! All the normal SD versions were there - terrible I might add, but no HD.

From what I can work out, and by the direction the antenna is pointing at, its getting the signal from Oshawa? East West??? Should I try and repoint it North South? The mast is easily 30ft in the air on its own structure, im not good with heights!
This mornings reception was affected by fog. Fog is the worst thing you can do to RF signals.
Pointing in the wrong direction won't help either. :)

stuhome, you should be getting reception now.

Depending on where you are in Scarb, the antenna is usually ponted south to south west but definately east of the cn tower.

Hope this info helps.
Good luck.

Thanks everyone for your help, I will check when I get home, I'll also see if I can find out the signal strength. I thought the antenna was pointing the wrong way, but now I know which way it should be pointing, that really helps, just home I have the guts to climb up there!

I've read a lot of threads and done a couple searched but have come up short...

Looking to get something set up to watch the Superbowl... what, if any, is the best store to get equipment from in Durham (i'm in Oshawa).
Also, I'd like to get NBC but understand its tricky... what combo would be my best bet, even if its only temporary.

Been into FTA for a while, just getting into OTA and am a quick learner.

Thanks in advance!

Chris

CJVant

The Superbowl is also on CFTO (much easier to pick up than NBC).
Depending upon where you are located (height,line of sight etc),a simple home made antenna made out of coathangers and wood would suffice.
My first antenna was just that and I got 6 HD channels (including CFTO) from my house in Oshawa.

I've read a lot of threads and done a couple searched but have come up short...

Looking to get something set up to watch the Superbowl... what, if any, is the best store to get equipment from in Durham (i'm in Oshawa).
Also, I'd like to get NBC but understand its tricky... what combo would be my best bet, even if its only temporary.

Been into FTA for a while, just getting into OTA and am a quick learner.

Thanks in advance!

Chris
Try Durham radio in Whitby.
From Oshawa, its easier to get NBC from Rochester, than from BUffalo

CJVant - if you want a 'real' antenna over a coathanger one (if you're trying for NBC)
I'd suggest going to Able Antenna or Durham Radio, both are close-by in Whitby and carry name-brand outdoor antennas. You can also get lower-quality reception (but cheaper) antennas from most computer stores in the GTA (CanadaComputers, Fortune Computers and a few others I don't remember off-hand).

Edit: Tom beat me to it! :P
Also, I'm in Whitby, I receive NBC no problem (Buffalo)

i was surfing the net yesterday and stumbled across this site.i was quite pleased in finding it as im in the process for the dtv changeover.i acquired a tivac convertor from durham radio and a philips man510 antenna from walmart.so far so good,i was pleased that i can get 8 stations.now ,heres my situation.my apt.faces north,with no balcony,and my antenna is on my living room window ledge.the uhf panel on the antenna is facing southwest,which is the best position for reception.after reading lots of info and reviews,i acquired a philips mant940,and i hooked it up on a 8 ft mast and put it by my bedroom window,which faces west.i angled the antenna to face southwest.im using rg6 cable,and the antenna is equipped with a 18db amp.well,the results were disappointing.nothing!i even put it in the same spot as my mant510.still nothing.so im guessing that the mant510's 50 db booster is what is bringing my stations in.but when i tried the mant510 in my bedroom,i can only get 1 station (cbc).so what im thinking is what if i bought a preamp and hooked it up to the mant940,would it make a difference or am i wasting my time and money? i know there is no alternative to having an antenna outside,but in my case,that is not possible.anyone have any ideas? also,when the changeover takes place,will the signal power be boosted by the broadcasters?anyways,thx in advance for a great site.

after reading lots of info and reviews,i acquired a philips mant940Can you return that MANT940 for a refund? I've never recommended that antenna so sorry that it didn't work out for you. If you read through this thread you'll see what is possible in Oshawa and with which gear. As for amping an indoor antenna, I don't recommend it but if you can get a full refund if it doesn't work out you could try to add a mild one (10 to 12 dB) to your mant510 from your "sweet spot" and you might see a benefit, but I doubt it.

thx for the reply.i spent most of saturday afternoon going over the threads for my area.as far as getting a refund,it was a cash deal from a company that i found advertised on ebay,and they are located west end toronto.i went in person to pick it up,seemed legit.the reviews ive read were 90%positive,hence the purchase.i guess im stuck with my mant510 for now,hopefully the better weather in the coming months will help.thx again for a great site.

Hi everyone,
Thought I'd give you an update, seems like there might be something wrong with my mast in the garden.
Im wondering if the last round of high winds ended up spinning the mount?
A friend went up there today to check if there was anything loose. Although it didnt appear to be, it certainly looks like it has moved.
Problem is although there appears to be a rotor on the mast and we found in the basement the wire we think hooks up to it, theres just bare ends on the wire without any controller.
Having browsed through this forum briefly, I've no idea what rotor its using as it was heaving down the snow in my friends face, does it matter what controller I plug in - if I can find one? Or is there a simple DIY solution to controlling the rotor?
Thanks so much for all your suggestions!
Stoo

Update to my reception issues from before:

Now, with a mast extending 7' abouv my eaves, I can pull in CHCH from hamilton with 2/3 bars (out of 10). WGRZ is 1/2 bars last night, but in better weather seems to go to 2/3 bars. If I aim directly to get 2/3 bars, I lose CityTV (which is coming in at 2/3 bars now).

Anyone know if I were to gang another one of those CM4221 type antennas, if I couls extend my reach to get WGRZ without losing the remaining channels. I'm ok with losing CHCH. Up on the mast with the extra 10 feet or so I can watch WGRZ and it doesn't chunk too much, but still a bit (might have been the showstorm as CityTV and Global last night were going from "no signal" to watchable)

Anyone else experiencing bad reception on City, Global and/or WGRZ last night?

Thanks,
M

stuhome, any way you can post some pictures of the rotor and the wire-ends and a description of the problems into the Rotors thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=41103

There are experts there who can tell you by looking at photos how to proceed.

mkmorris: you could combine a 4221 pointed at NBC and one pointed in your current direction to improve your results if you so wish. There are a few threads on this - the hardest part is making sure they are positioned properly to be in phase. After that you just use a splitter in reverse to combine to a single coax.

mkmorris I was also going to suggest 2 antennas (you'd need to get a second identical EagleStar - see Post #16 in the OTA FAQ) but you also were mentioning a preamp in your previous post - have you tried that? You wouldn't want a high powered one, just something in the 10 to 12 db boost range.

Hey stampeder...

I was looking at the second 4221 (eaglestar clone which I can easily pickup today/tomorrow), and there would be enough room on the pole, with a lower antenna pointed at toronto, and the higher one at buffalo (the higher one is pointed at buffalo now, with the side lobes grabbing toronto/hamilton/rochester)

I'm aware of the pointing / peaking issues. it won't happen till summer mind you as my ladder was iffy enough clinging off the side of the house last night in the snow to get the halfway point between wgrz and toronto stations. I have to be able to get on the roof to add a second antenna to the pole and point it properly without disturbing the existing antenna's aim.

I haven't tried a preamp. If I do, I am pretty sure I will blow my reception away. I've got an entire run of less than 25 feet of rg6. And cbc comes in so strong that I think it will overload the pre (it is at full strength - where everything else is not). I was pretty sure that pre's were only to compensate for long runs, no?

Now, if I am right about the preamp overloading, what alternatives do I have?

If I go on the assumption that I don't need a pre and maybe just a few db gain, what would be a good recommended one port amp to get only a few db gain? Or is there another way to do it that I am missing here... I assume if I up the db's on the whole thing, that as long as I can keep cbc from overloading, all should be ok no?

If I can avoid the second antenna that would be ideal and the wife isn't crazy about the aesthetics of the current one and I'm sure a second would make her oh so happy. ;)

If all I have to do is pump another could of db gain into the system, without overloading cbc, that would probably be the easiest and most acceptable - at least until spring comes around and it's safe to get up there.

Mike

Edit: Found two ratshack / sourcecc amps in the 10-14db range.
1) P/N 1501118 - 10DB UHF/VHF/FM COAX AMPLIFIER (old school, one in one out, looks like the transformer is built within the casing, so so reviews)
2) P/N 1512505 - NEXXTECH ONE-WAY PROFESSIONAL BROADBAND SIGNAL AMPLIFIER (14dB GAIN) better reviews. I can always terminate the second output (have those) the power supply/transformer is a wall wart.

Edit2: I forgot, using a Samsung DTB-H260F - I know it's a good tuner, but will it benefit from the additional db one of those buggers above could add, or is it going to just be "amplifying crap" and still get no quality of signal. (me thinks, if only I had the time, I would hook up my oscillioscope to the output and see what I was receiving - no time, no time)

Ok, here's the deal:

Put that Nexxtech 15db amp in ("renting" it from RatShack until I am %110 sure). It's very similar to my DropAmp one that I have for cable. Uses RG6 to power via an adapter, doesn't list a noise floor, but does say it's a 0.5db insertion loss.

Anyhow, everything coming in just fine - I think. I probably COULD use more amplification, but I think I'll stop there.

So it's Easglestar DB4/CM4221HD clone -> 25feet of RG6 into the house / through the wall / along the floor -> RatShack DropAmp -> TV.

Getting 4 or 5 bars on all my questionable stations (WGRZ was 1/2 now it's 4/5 - but very very solid; CityTV was 3/4 now it's 5/6 - a little chunking - weather I'm pretty sure; CHCH was one but solid, now it's 2; Global is 4/5 but was chunking when checking - although I think that's the weather again) the rest all went up at least 3 bars and can lock signal now with minimal or no chunking. And CBC doesn't seem to be overdriven. It's still at full strength, and not crappy looking at all.

Although, having said that, when I take the amp out of the question the chunking on global goes away, but drops a couple bars. Ugh. Not really bad, just maybe a blip every 15 seconds or so. I can deal with that better than WGRZ *was*. I just don't really get why that one channel would now blip (noise floor? aiming?)

I know this goes against conventional wisdom, I think the only reason I can get away with the indoor preamp is that I have a very short run to my antenna, and I used solid rg6 and weatherproof compression fittings (not crimp).

Would a CM 7775 work better? It would only be 40 bucks more I suppose by the time tax is figured in. I don't *really* want to install anything up on the pole if I don't have to ;)

I would say that if you are satisfied with the amp you've got (and it seems like all is well) then stay with it. :) If you have concerns that CBC is too strong you could install a 3dB coax attenuator between the amp and the TV for cheap and then test all the channels again.

Thanks Stampeder for the link!

Will take some pics this weekend when the weather is a bit nicer.