Looks like it will be tough to get WNGS, but FOX (WUTV) looks solid.

That's ok, I have the MLB.tv package, I just want to make sure I get a FOX stn once the playoffs start. I would like the ch to come in strong so I can watch the better looking picture rather than streaming it online.

One thing that I thought about that I left out of my original post. My roof is rather steep, I am confident about my own abilities working safely with this, however I will require help from one or two others (don't want somelse to fall, don't want to get sued, NTM seriousley affects ability to enjoy a couple of beers during a project like this).
I contemplated hireing a professional service but, I would rather save the money. I came across an eve mount on Save & replay's site (Channel Master 9030 Eve Mount).
So the two questions I have regarding this are, is there a recomendation of the mast height that would be supported by this mount? Seems this would be a little less stable than a chimney/tripod roof mount with extra height. Lastly, would a mount like this be able to support an additional antenna at height?
If I was to go with two antenna's would a 4228 (aimed at Buffalo), & 4221 (aimed at CN Tower) make sence for this application?
Thanks again,

A 10' pipe (EMC 1 1/2") can easily support two 4221 assuming 3' down below is mounted solid. I have XG91 and a CM4228 on a 10' EMC pipe on side mount, no issue even with strong wind during spring.

Eave mount can support one antenna, two CM4221 can be very challenging because the bottom section lack proper length for solid support, I wouldn't go beyond 5' pipe on eave mount. Also check that your eave has solid wood behind it.

You (Ajax location) don't need two antennas, one CM4221 is good enough. Fox is always solid for our location...

ok, I thought I may have issues with height and that style of mount. Thanks for the reply. Hopefully I can get this project started this weekend. Since the move I have been stuck rewatching the stuff I have on Blu Ray. Called Distributel the other day, the soonest they can get in to hookup my internet it July 12th...
Oh, how did we ever cope without this stuff! Life's difficult eh! haha

Hello Everyone,

I am about to move to Ajax in a couple of weeks and I thought it would be good to finalize planning for my HD antenna setup. Goodbye to my Rogers cable bill!

My house in on Lake Driveway facing south near Garnett Drive and I was hoping I could get some recommendations on equipment and clarity on what channels I should be able to receive from that location.

I already bought some equipment: ChannelMaster 4228HD and a j-Pole. I intend to mount this on a side wall near the roof (so in the end it will be about 3-4 feet above a second story roof - about 24 feet high). Do I have the right gear or should I get two j-Poles and combine two antennas?

I would like to receive Toronto and Buffalo signals together to route them into my satellite PVR.

Any advice from someone living close or install antennas would be greatly appreciated.

Hi bhingi,

I think the 4228 should be enough antenna for Toronto/Buffalo reception in your location. Seems like lots of people in Ajax do quite well with a 4-bay. I would install it and see what you get, then evaluate the need for a pre-amplifier.

I have a 4228HD in my attic in Brooklin with a CM-7778 pre-amp and I'm pulling in 28 channels at last count.

Good Luck.

bhingi,

I live not too far from that location. CM4221 is all you need but 4228 will do just as good.

Your location is great since not much obstruction in the way. Just point the antenna a little west of CN tower and you are all set getting all Buff/Tor stations.

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for your quick replies. This is excellent news.

I am going to take this 4228 back (it is quite huge) and get the 4221 and maybe use the difference for an amplifier.

Hi,
I am new to OTA forum. This is TV tool report.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d03f39b8d2ecdd5

I need help buying antenna and I would require atsc to digital convertor box as well. I appreciate any help/suggestion with this. Btw, I live on a high rise building, on the 11th Floor. My balcony faces south west. Does this mean I will be not receiveing North East channels or south west. Looking forward to hear from you.. :)

Thanks..

Lizardwolf,

I installed a Channel Master 4221hd on a South West facing fourth-floor balcony last winter at Kennedy and Steeles.

They got everything from Toronto, Hamilton, and most of the Buffalo channels - including all of the "main" Buffalo channels of PBS, CW, MyTV, Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC, plus their sub-channels.

Altogether, they had about 25 stations to watch in perfect reliable digital/hd.

They didn't get the Oshawa and Peterborough channels to the northeast.

If you went ahead with the same set-up, you'd probably be more than happy with your results.

You would probably get the best results by pointing your antenna as much to the left (south or south east) as possible (ie towards Buffalo) - without actually pointing at your building.

With your location you're bound to get the Toronto and Hamilton stations without having to aim at them.

Good luck.

To get these results, the antenna would have to be outside on the balcony and be a quality brand-name antenna like a Channel Master 4221hd or Anennas Direct C2 or C4. Maybe even a Channel Master 4220.

If you have a small indoor antenna inside your apartment expect to be missing up to half of the stations I have mentioned. Even if you buy an expensive indoor antenna.

Thanks HWP,

I appreciate your help. I have few more questions though.
1) Would just antenna be sufficient? People over here are talking about amplifier and such.
2) I have been browsing OTA parts forum, but is there any shop maybe you recommend and is in Toronto?
3) Can channel master 4220/4221 be installed without pole?
4) Is this better antenna? (Channel Master 4228)

:)

No, it's not what you might think.

I was sure I had an OTA antenna on the roof I moved into a while back. It looks like a flying saucer. However, try as I might, I could never get ANY signals from any of the disconnected RG59 cables in my basement. As there were some channels I couldn't get OTA anyway (eg. Space, Discovery HD), I went and got a cable subscription.

Recently I finally got myself a Gilbert tool and opened up the cable box. The antenna line goes into the cable box but it turns out the RG59 line had been disconnected, which explains why I could never get any signal from it.

I reconnected it to one of my jacks, and now I can get OTA HD - crisp and clean for the most part. I live on the lakeshore in Toronto (Scarborough).

These are the channels I get (on an el-cheapo 19" Auria):

4.1 WIVB-HD (CBS Buffalo)
5.0 CBC (analogue but pretty grainy)
5.1 CBLT-DT (CBC Toronto)
7.1 WKBW-HD (ABC Buffalo)
9.0 CTV (analogue)
9.1 CFTO-HD (CTV Toronto)
11.0 CHCH (analogue lots of interference)
17.1 WNED-HD (PBS Buffalo but not coming through at the moment)
17.2 WNED-SD (also not coming through)
17.3 WNED-TH (also not coming through)
19.0 tvo (analogue)
23.1 WNLO-HD (CW Buffalo)
25.0 CBC French (analogue)
27.0 Global (analogue with lots of interference)
29.1 WUTV-HD (Fox Buffalo)
29.2 TCN (The Country Network)
36.0 RGM
36.1 CTS-HD (not coming through)
41.0 Global (analogue)
41.1 CIII-HD (Global HD but not coming through consistently)
43.4 ??? (not coming through)
43.5 ??? (not coming through)
44.1 Omni 2
47.0 CFMT
49.1 WNYO-HD (My TV Buffalo)
49.2 Cool TV
52.0 Sun (very inconsistent)
57.0 CityTV
57.1 CityHD (glitchy)

---

Is this pretty much what I should expect? Should I swap out the RG59 for Belden 1694A RG6? Or some other type of RG6?

I'm a little disappointed that CityHD is glitchy (esp. since Fox, ABC, and CBS work perfectly), and that PBS and GlobalHD aren't working. What about NBC - that's 33.1 right? Cuz I get nuthin' there.

P.S. Recommendations for RG59 connectors? One of the lines has been cut so I need to reterminate it. I have the stuff for RG6 with Thomas and Betts compression connectors, but they don't work for RG59.

I'm not familiar with your exact area, but I can help with some general answers :p

1) you don't need an amp for your situation, most likely.
Only needed for long cable runs and/or lots of splits. If you're directly connecting antenna to one or two devices you're fine.

2) I bought my antenna from Sal's in east Scarborough (Kingston Rd (http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=sal's+tv+scarborough&hl=en&t=h&z=12))

3) It doesn't need to be on top of a pole, but the design for mounting is a single pole through the back. You could use like 3' of pole and have it end in an umbrella stand or something. Or directly mount it to a railing of some kind using the mount points. (e.g. the corner post of a balcony )

4) For your location, no. You want the wide angle of the 4221.

You can buy RG59 T&B connectors. The same compression tool will work for these as well.

CityTV is actually an extremely weak station: 1.2kW average ERP. Global is also weak. Your "flying saucer" antenna may be directional, and not rotated towards the CN tower. And thus your issues with CityTV.

Further, CITY and Global are high up into the UHF band, where attenuation is higher, and RG59 cable has a high loss in that channel range. If you wait a few weeks until the digital transition, the ERP goes higher for these stations, and they move down the "dial" to channels that attenuate less over a given distance.

Hmmm… I guess this explains why I don't have great signal:

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt24/EugW/Multimedia/TV/Disconnected.png

I'm getting the signal from the ~60 ft RG59, but it's not actually connected to the antenna. It seems to have been ripped right out of the connector. Raccoon?

Perhaps I won't need to replace the cable if I can just reconnect it. Would the T&B SNS1P59 be a good choice? Mind you I could probably get 100 feet of Belden 1694A without breaking the bank too.

BTW, can you tell if this "saucer" is a directional model? Right now the open face on top is facing south southeast.

I would say poor crimping.

Doesn't appear to be a proper outdoor connector either. No doubt water has gotten in and froze, pushing the connector off. Or the connector came off when whatever caused the disk to go off horizontal occurred....

I'm all for reusing legacy antennae whenever possible. But given that you can get a decent antenna for your area--say the DB8--for around $100 or so, I'd go with that option. It might save you some headaches trying to figure out what to do with this antenna, etc. (with regards to aiming, or whether it's still viable).

Not bad reception for just "open coax in the air" though...

i agree with jase88, all the hard work has already been done.
i would replace that disc with a db8, fix the connector,
aim, and you should be good to go

It's supposed to be horizontal?

I went back up there and the F connector had rusted right onto the connector on the disc. I had to use a wrench to remove it. There was a lot of junk in there and I do wonder if it's no longer viable. I cleaned out all the junk but the hole where the central wire goes seems very wide. The wire doesn't catch - it falls right back out. If the connector really was damaged by ice, I wonder if the centre hole mechanism (whatever you call it) was too.

I just looked up DB8 and it's very big and conspicuous. This may seem like sacrilege, but could you recommend something that isn't so conspicuous?

I went back up there. Yes, I bent it back to horizontal very easily.

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt24/EugW/Multimedia/TV/Horizontal.png

As Jase88 said, perhaps whatever bent it caused the connector to rupture too. The plug on the disc was too high, and the wire wouldn't reach, so that makes sense in that context.

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt24/EugW/Multimedia/TV/Disconnected.png

BTW, here's what the plug looks like with the rusted connector removed:

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt24/EugW/Multimedia/TV/Rusted.png

I wonder if it'd be possible to replace that plug.

I'm inclined to try re-terminating the cable, and then if that doesn't work well, replacing it with another omnidirectional disc. If I can get stable signal from the US and glitchy signal from CityTV just with this RG59 cable sans antenna, I figure an omnidirectional antenna might be OK, without looking so conspicuous. I'm still going to be keeping cable anyway for the time being, and maybe using this for the guest TVs so they can have some HD channels too without having to get more clunky cable set top boxes in each room.

What's the best local shop to buy T&B RG59 connectors? I don't really need to get 50 though.