I live in oshawa close to Lakeview park (Valley Dr/Ritson rd S) and I have a CM4221HD. It's mounted on top of my garage (so I can just climb out of my bedroom window and point it), but when I point it South (parallel to Ritson Rd) I only get Buffalo Channels, and when I point it SW, I mostly get a few Toronto Channels.

Whats the best way to figure how to get the most channels? Right now I only have 5 or 6. Do I need a pre-amp? My antenna isn't mounted very high though.

Can you get consistent reception from Rochester in Oshawa? meaning all the time.

thenewdc, i can get the rochester and hamilton channels when I point my antenna south, but then the toronto channels get no reception.

I currently gave 2 4221HDs pointed half way between Buffalo and Toronto, each feeding separate tuners.

I'm thinking of trying combining, pointing one at Toronto and one at Buffalo using a reversed splitter to combine and then a splitter to send to both tuners.
Would a distribution amp help here (replacing the second splitter) to help decrease loss from the splits? My cable lengths is about 10' total.

I wouldn't bother with such short runs.
Digital tuners are only interested in SNR, not absolute signal strength (amplitude).
Like someone standing next to you whispering, you can still understand them clearly, no need to shout.
When they're across the room, though, you need them to shout in order to make out what they're saying.

Hi guys, I came here to seek help

I am ready to buy an ota HD antenna right now I just don't know which one. I heard channel master models are better than winegard and vise versa I don't know who's right. Can someone suggest which is best for me so i can buy a model already.

I live in scarborough toronto in a neighbourhood surrounded by houses and trees no buildings or towers. My goal is to find an antenna under $100 but wonder if a cheap antenna around $70 ish will do the trick. I basically want the american stations: cbs hd, abc hd, nbc, fox 29..as well as the main toronto stations city, global, cbc.......

can someone direct me please? i found a bunch of online retailers located here in ontario which is very convenient with good deals..so i just need some suggestions and i'm ready
thanks

Hi James,

There is an antenna chart in the stickies at the top of the thread.

Look for excellent reception in the fringe column. south Buffalo stations are over 100km.

What you'll find is the 4221hd preamped or the db8, not preamped. (original 4228 hasn't been available for a while and IMO should be removed from the chart). (or you can look for threads on modifying the 4228hd)

Either will work, the pre-amped 4221hd might be more suitable for splitting to more than 1 tuner. with the DB8 I recommend a distribution amp to go to more than 1 tuner.

I've read peoples posts from places like missisauga and toronto using the 4221 hd and picking up the buffalo stations in perfect hd. So i think i am going to save $50 and go ahead and give the channelmaster a shot

I've got a two tuner SageTV HTPC, I'm in the Toronto beach's area and have one yagi pointing to grand island the other to the CN tower. Both antennas are in the attic and I get great HD reception.

I just have 2 final questions before I undergo my first hdtv experience

1. i'm ordering the cm 4221 hd..do i need to buy any extra accessories for a better performance? Ie: rg6 cable, rotor??

2. once i get my hd tv working, being in scarborough, can anyone recommend a high quality but fairly cheap PVR so i can record in HD?

thank you

Rotor is optional, you might want one as it helps to fine-tune the antenna without having to go up and also allows you to rotate it to different markets.
E.g. up to barrie for A, hamilton, buffalo, rochester, etc.

Cables.. if you don't have any cabling you're going to need RG6. If you already have some cable through the house you can use that, though you're going to want the shortest runs possible to your tvs/pvrs/whatever, so it might be worth it to just run a new line of cable.

I've heard good things about the DTVpal for recording, but haven't used it personally. I just use a tv with built-in ATSC as well as PC tuner cards to record shows to my computer.

More info on the DTVpal here:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=95820

I don't believe there are any atsc-pvr's available in Canada, you would probably have to get one from the states or through a company that has already imported one.

Following the high winds with the tornadoes near the area, I had to climb the roof and reposition my antenna. In the same position, same direction I can not find Ion. I did have it coming in at 80% before. Has anyone else lost Ion?

Also, I was surprised to find that my TV seemed to take a day to come back to full strength on channels. Is this weird, or no?

I haven't seen Ion in a while, though tbh I'm not pointed at it. Usually just comes in on mild to moderate DXing days.

As for the "recovery" period.. no idea. Unless your tuner got overloaded and needed time to recalibrate or something (if it auto-attenuates to compensate for strong signals and the like)

ok, so i'll be moving to harmony/taunton in oshawa next year. currently i have a cm4228 on a tower, but i'm not taking down the tower and plus the wife hates it and would refuse for it to go up on the new house. so if i can get the antenna off the top some how i'll be bringing that along. otherwise i'll have to but some new equipment.

anyway, the wife's first choice at the new place (and perhaps only choice) would be an attic install so that not is visable from the outside on her new house. what would be recommended for me to still get the us networks and toronto networks with this setup? would a cm4221hd with preamp work? or do i need an antenna with more gain?

thanks

thanks recneps..that was helpful

first choice at the new place (and perhaps only choice) would be an attic install

When I moved my antenna OUT of my attic I had a huge gain in signal quality. You will really kill your reception inside behind the sheathing and shingles. It won't just reduce signal strength of your channels, it will make some of them impossible to receive.

You can get J-mounts or wall-mounts that keep the antenna almost impossible to spot if you position it correctly. It won't be as high as a tower, but it will be no lower than the attic mount and will be outside.

So for my initial setup I had channel 2 and 49. The initial setup consisted of 1 combiner, 2 joiners and 1 splitter. Just to make sure I had distance and the route planned out. So I went out and bought good RG6 cable and ran 1 cable from attic to kitchen(splitter) one split to kitchen TV then one split to basement TV. Thinking this would be better, I have now lost channel 2 and 49 which I had with all the joiners, spliters and combiner.

I am a little upset as I had these channels and then lost them. Actually I had channel 2 and 49 with the kitchen TV before I connected my TV in the basement. So I guess that the receiver in the basement is pulling the signal and because it is week it isn't being seen at all. Could that be?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated? For some reason Global was coming in choppy last night but strong this morning. I didn't check the signal strength either time. Will do tonight.

Thanks in advance.
Khester

Following the high winds with the tornadoes near the area, I had to climb the roof and reposition my antenna. In the same position, same direction I can not find Ion. I did have it coming in at 80% before. Has anyone else lost Ion?

Also, I was surprised to find that my TV seemed to take a day to come back to full strength on channels. Is this weird, or no?
I wouldn't blame the tornado, but the tornado signaled the end of the heat wave and the end of the summer tropo season.

I've lost Ion and don't miss it at all. :)

49 is rare at best.
Especially from an attic.
NBC should be fairly easy, though.
Again, hampered by the attic.
Just put the antennas outside and be done with it ;)

Side note:
I just don't understand the common belief that an antenna is ugly and should not be visible outside.
One could say the same about sat dishes, yet i see them covering houses everywhere..

I guess that's just me not giving a damn, though. I'd rather free HD over what others may think about my house.
(I'll stop my little rant there :p)

i don't have a problem with it on the outside, it's convincing the wife to allow me to put it up there. i was thinking wall mount on the back of the house, but right now she's saying 'no', i guess i have 6 mths to convince her.