Things are lookin good. Started with just the digital converter box and rabbit ears, then got a 4221HD antenna mounted on a 2x4 tied to my chimney..better..then got a used rotor, 10ft mast and a 4ft antenna mast,rotor wire,chimney mount kit,set it all up..very good. Still need to get the ground wire stuff this weekend,do that and tidy up the cables. Get 19 channels plus about 6 analog.

The rotor was a good investment as when the weather is poor ie rain I need to aim the antenna better than on a clear day. At first the family was ticked that I got rid of Rogers cable but they seem to be getting the hang of the current setup. I have to sit down and play with the rotor and see if I can pick up a few more channels.

Are there any channels worth finding facing the north east such as Peterborough? Right now I'm just looking south and west.

CKVR analog 3.0 out of Barrie.

CKVR analog 3.0 out of Barrie.

If he has a 4221HD, he won't get a watchable picture on analog 3.

I have the old 4221CM, since I saw the pics of the "new" one and it looks like a ******** antenna?
I guess my only options are to tweak it, or get an 8 bay?

Iw84no1, if you're thinking of ganging 2 antennas they have to be identical so you'd have a tough time finding another original CM4221 to do that. You could pick up 2 CM4221HDs and do the hardware hack on them before ganging them, then sell your original CM4221. I'm positive there would be takers. :)

Could someone explain to me what the 4221 hack is?

The hardware hacks for the CM4221HD are discussed here:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=104837

I am new to the site but I have always had antenna TV. I don't have alot of money so am totally debating if I should buy a new TV.

My mom had already bought a DTV tuner (apex) and then bought a new TV. I borrowed her tuner to try and see what kind of reception it got and all the DTV stations have digital snow (rainbow coloured snow) and to see anything annalog you have to turn the tuner off (it makes channel surfing a nightmare). I can only assume that there is something wrong with my antenna set-up since she doesn't get that snow on her old TV with the tuner . I did try her new TV out with the antenna at her place and she loses alot of stations with the new TV and the stations like channel 9 are really aweful with no ability to turn off the tuner to watch them.

Having tried the tuner and the TV with an antenna I am inclined to just buy a tuner for now and then upgrade to the TV once the switch has been made here because there are times I want to watch the Canadian stations and the tuner kills that.

Just my 2 cents.

That depends on how large a TV you have now (or what size you want in a replacement) and the cost of a DTV box.
I'm not sure on the prices of DTV boxes these days, but last I checked it was around 80-90 for a box in Canada(?)

They also makes boxes with analogue pass-through so you can tune with your tv's tuner for NTSC.

And there's something wrong with your mother's box. DTV gives a perfect picture or nothing.
Unless you mean blocking/pixellation - that means the station has poor signal and you're about to lose it (or JUST able to receive it)

DTV gives a perfect picture or nothing. Unless you mean blocking/pixellationThat's what I was thinking too, so probably her antenna is not suitable. It might be just a VHF or it might have a very short range UHF too.I have always had antenna TVmom2teens, how old is the antenna and the other OTA gear, is it outdoors, and what does your antenna look like (can you post a photo of it)? Do you know the brand and model number of your antenna?

Which channels do you get presently with your original OTA gear?

This is the antenna

http://s401.photobucket.com/albums/pp99/mom2teens/?action=view&current=TV004.jpg

It is about 15 years old. There is a rotor on it but it has stopped working a few years ago and I have an archer 15-1108 amp hooked up inside and if I remember correctly there was apiece that went up top as well. It has coax cables going up and they were replaced with the antenna.

These are the images that the tuner gives when it is plugged in

http://s401.photobucket.com/albums/pp99/mom2teens/?action=view&current=TV001.jpg

http://s401.photobucket.com/albums/pp99/mom2teens/?action=view&current=TV002.jpg

http://s401.photobucket.com/albums/pp99/mom2teens/?action=view&current=TV003.jpg

The picture is horrible at my house. My parents have the same antenna and their New TV doesn't do anything like that. I have not had the chance to try that tuner box on their old TV to see if it is anything like that I get here.

Is that problem a faulting connection to the antenna up top? The idea of climbing that tower to have a look scares me spitless and forking over $100+ to have someone else do it is lousy too.

The antenna looks just like the model HD7078p. I am near some large appartments that cause some strong ghosting on some stations. We have gotten used to that :rolleyes:

I get:

02 weak
03 weak
04 slightly stronger
05
07
09
11 weak
12 weak
13 weak
17 -now gone :(
19
22
23 very strong
25
27 terrible ghosting
29 - now gone
36 weak
41 - ghosted
47
49
51 -sometimes quite weak
52
57
69 some ghosts


Anyone have any ideas?

The dots you see are a problem with the connection between the box and your tv - a faulty cable, perhaps? How is it connected? Coax or RCA (red/yellow/white plugs)? If you have both types of input on your tv, perhaps try using the other method and see if the noise is still there.

Your analogue reception seems pretty good, what does the DTV box give you in terms of channels?

In our area, you'll receive everything on that list (assuming a good tuner and antenna pointed in the right direction(s)) except for TVO and A(CKVR) currently.
I think fixing that rotor will help you get all your channels at their best and in digital. An amplifier wouldn't hurt either.

Unless you really watch TVO or A channel, there should be no need to retain analogue capability after June.

We do like the TVO. Not sure what A channel is. I love 51 (myTV) and I hear that is one that will likely be lost with the conversion to one of the new antennas.

That tuner is my mom's so I will have to buy my own. The remote on it was horrible (it would not register at all unless I was pointing right at the box and then it was still hit and miss) so I have to look at other options.

Will a preamp cause issues with over powering some stations causing the tuner to cut back signal? I know in this area some of the local channels like CTV are very strong even without an amp.

I was using coax from the amp to the TV. I had the VCR in the middle and got nothing on the TV so I too it out. I can see small amounts of snow on channels like 4 when I am using the regular antenna as well but nothing like what I was getting with the digital tuner on every station.

MyTV is very weak currently, but they're supposed to have a stronger signal come June, if I'm not mistaken. A channels' in Barrie, CKVR. Used to be "the new VR" a while back. Without a working rotor, reception of that would be very rare. It's on channel 3 analogue.

I really can't say what that noise is, but it's not from the digital channels/reception, it's from the box itself to your TV - you can see this when you look at the on-screen display in the second picture. Since the noise is over the OSD as well, it's something wrong between the TV and the box, and not the BOX decoding the antenna signal. The fact that it's on every channel also adds to this theory.

As for preamp, it's true it can cause overload and lowering of signal to compensate, but generally people use a preamp when pointed at the weaker buffalo stations. Since the local channels are so strong, they can often be received without pointing directly at TO, and the preamp helps this even moreso. I wouldnt spend money on one just yet, though.

I think if you get that noise issue with the box fixed, then you can analyze what kind of reception you're getting without one and then decide if you need one after all. If you're getting all the buffalo stations without one, then you should be fine. If the Toronto ones aren't coming in too well because you're pointed at buffalo, fixing/replacing that rotor should fix that for you as you can then directly aim at TO when you want to watch a station there.

The UHF end with the arms is pointed SSE so I assume that is towards Buffalo.

Can I keep using that antenna with the DTV? If I can I may just have Able or whoever some in and put a new rotor on there and see were I am at. Then if I have to do a preamp or new antenna I can do them at a later time.

I may have to breakdown and get a new TV if I can get a cheap tuner. I think the extra that the expensive tuners cost would be better spent on a TV since this TV is a good 13 yrs old and the front is scratched in a few places. Not exactly free TV is it?

All of the channels you listed are analog. Don't you get any digital channels with the DTV box?

You should at least get 5-1 & 9-1.

Your antenna will keep working fine. The only ones that won't work well after June are the VHF yagi's - the ones that are just a flat plane of rods as opposed to the "V" ended UHF ones.

Depending on how large a tv you want, it may be more beneficial to upgrade to a digital TV.
I've seen a 22" TV with great res and I believe a combo ATSC/NTSC tuner for $270. (Just over $300 shipped if your order out of province - no PST :p)
Considering that a box these days is nearing $100 in Canada (unless they've dropped in price recently), that's not a bad investment.
Even if it doesnt have analog tuning, if you have a VCR with RCA (yellow/red/white) outputs, you could use that to tune the analog stations for you.
I'm pretty sure it does, though, based on reviews.
Very few manufacturers make an atsc-only tuner for TV's currently.

If you're interested, it was a Samsung model T220HD.
It's actually a 22" computer monitor with a tuner added in - that's why you get 1680x1050 res as opposed to 1280x720 that you see in 22" TV's.

I managed to get ahold of one of the RCA Digital tuners from Walmart. I have discovered that they drain quite a bit of signal when they are plugged in making my antenna feed too low to compensate. This tuner gives me snow on every channel as well and was worse than the APEX making me thing the APEX is a stronger tuner. Mind you the remote on the RCA works far better than the APEX (it has to be defective).

Clearly I need a call into someone to fix the antenna with a new rotor and pre-amp for more signal. I am definitally got to have to buy a new TV as well because the STB are a pretty lousy option from I am seeing.

There's some kind of interference between your box and the tv if it's happened with two of them now (if the interference was with the antenna, you'd get no channels playing at all, just a "no signal message"). Try using a different coax cable if you have one.

If you want to get a new TV, return the STB and shop around.
If you don't want too large of a TV, the Samsung T220HD I mentioned earlier should work well for you.

Several computer stores have them at $280 currently, and if you buy from BC you can save the PST.

If you're getting a new TV, I'd get that before doing anything with the antenna - the latest tuners don't need much of a signal to get a lock. Once you know how well it performs, then you can look into an amp and/or rotor.

I pickup this RCA DTA800B converter at Walmart and connect to my analog TV . After channel scan, I was able to pickup 30 channels. The resoltuon on all my channels are very good (will keep my analog TV!). However, my other two expensive HDTVs were not able to lock in to WQLN and WSEE stations. The DTA800B also has signal meter, and program guide which is not available on my other expensive HDTVs.

My current TV reception listing...
2-1...NBC BUFFALO
2-2...NBC BUFFALO
4-1...CBS BUFALO
5-1...CBC TORONTO
7-1...ABC BUFFALO
9-1...CFTO TORONTO
11-1...CHCH HAMILTON
17-1...PBS BUFFALO
17-2...PBS BUFFALO
17-3...PBS BUFFALO
23-1...CW BUFFALO
25.1..CBLFT
26.1..WNYB BUFFALO
26.2..WNYB BUFFALO
29-1...FOX BUFFALO
29.2..Fox BUFFALO
35.1..WSEE Erie
35.2..WSEE Erie
35.3..WSEE Erie
36.1..CITS-DT
41-1...GLOBAL TORONTO
44-1...OMNI 2 TORONTO
49-1...MY TV BUFFALO
49.2...MY TV BUFFALO
54.1..WQLN Erie
54.2..WQLN Erie
54.3..WQLN Erie
57-1...CITY TORONTO
64-1...OMNI 1 TORONTO
66-1...SUN TV TORONTO