I'm in Pickering and lost CFTO after the transition but when I replaced my CM 7775 preamp with a winegard 8800 CFTO now is one of the strongest channels I have.

Audiohead,

How is your CHCH reception. How many tv's do you have in your setup and what is the length of each cable run? I'm concerned about overload on my strongest signals. CBC comes in at 90%-100% with any preamp.

I have 2 computer tuners (DVICO Fusion and a Onair HDTV GT) and I'm going to add another in the near future. I also have 2 LCD tvs hooked up as well, so I have the cable split 5 ways. Now the weakest tuner would have to be my Fusion tuner and with the rain we are having at this moment my reception is fluctuating between 89 and 93% at 22.1 and 23db. I"ve also been told by the guy who owns Sal's tv that where I live it's a real bad area to pick up stations.
Hope that helps.

audiohead,

I'm undecided about the winegard 8800 or the channelmaster 7778. My CFTO reception is already over 90% and I'm unsure about the extent of overload and how to attenuate VHF to compensate.

In a situation like mine, and i guess for anyone without perfect line of sight, it'd be nice if they could move these channels to frq's that weren't being used in any of the surrounding markets.

Couldn't be that hard. We're talking 3 channels here...just for reliabilitiy's sake.:D

Using Google Earth, Syracuse is roughly 270km away from Toronto. Drawing a circle around Toronto, that is 270km radius, takes in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, London, Kitchener, Kingston, Peterborough, Hamilton, as well as large areas of Ontario with repeat transmitters.

I don't think there's 1 RF (14-51) channel that's free in every one of those markets, let alone 3 channels.

I'm in Courtice, just east of Oshawa (Nash Rd. and Townline). We have Rogers, but all we watch is Canada AM in the morning and maybe a total of 5 hours of night time TV a month. For everything else, we use NetFlix and/or iTunes, and really only need "live" TV for news.

So for funzies I put a piece of RJ59 into the antenna input on my Sharp LC-52D64U and touched the other end to the middle screw on a power outlet. This managed to get me WNLO digital perfectly, analog CBC 22 just up the road from my house, but nothing else.

So then I got a ******** ANT-2086 to try out. I aimed it SSW and reprogrammed the TV. That got me excellent pictures on WIVB (39), CBLT (20), WKBV (38), TVO (19), CIII (41), WNLO (32), OMNI2 (69) and WYNO (49). I'm sure there's more that I've failed to write down. All of these have signal strength between 40 and 85, and excellent picture quality.

But it's the things I'm *not* getting that I find interesting…

CTV, the only channel we really need, is zero. Not low signal, zero. I tried both 9 and 40 (although 40 seems to be different channels on different lists).

This is my biggest issue, can anyone offer an explanation of this? I know it's not a strong signal, but neither is TVO, which I get with a 80.

I understand that my UHF antenna isn't great for VHF, but is a complete zero picture expected? Anyone else had any luck pulling this in around the Oshawa area?

These are less of a concern, but still an issue:

All of the PBS stations on 43 are received, but they always say "no programming now" (or to that effect)

NBC is a high power signal in the same direction as the rest of the Buffalo stations, but I get nothing at all.

CFTO on 9 is really weak and at that distance you will need an outdoor VHF antenna to get CFTO.You can try aiming your UHF toward Toronto and see but i doubt it.

As the bands are widely separated, would it be possible to use a VHF-only antenna in series with the ANT-2086?

Does CFTO have any plans to open a second channel in the UHF?

UHF and VHF antennas plug into separate ports on a VHF/UHF Combiner:
R-S 15-2586 and A-D EU385-CF have DC Passthru on UHF port in case a Preamp is used.
UVSJ from Macom-Pico and Holland have DC Passthru on the VHF port (why...is still a mystery....).

BTW: I searched for dimensions of ANT-2086, but came up empty....REALLY?????
If dimensions are in the ball-park of original CM4221 (36-in x 20-in Screen Reflector),
then it is likely that VHF Gain has blown out the BACK of the antenna, unlike the
Super-Sized-4-Bays (e.g. EV's SuperQuad and mclapp's M4), with FORWARD VHF Gain:
http://imageevent.com/holl_ands/multibay/4bayrefl

PS: Although I've seen CM4221HD detailed dimensions posted, I have yet to see
results for a 4nec2 file posted.....

Two thoughts;
1. CFTO on 9 is not weak, a blow torch out here at 100% signal, I just have a quality VHF antenna. That is what will do it. 40 has nothing on it so makes sense you got same.

2. Try pointing to Bobcageon for 35, CFTO repeater.

He's right, CFTO is not weak, it's well recieved even in Buffalo NY. Like he said, you must have the right equipment especially if you are distant from the transmitter. Same applies to those who complain about losing CHCH or CKVR. I went through the same issues at first.

IF CFTO were strong than he would receive it with a uhf antenna.Those out from the city with VHF antennae on towers with LOS to CN tower will surely get it strong but put in some city electrical noise and force the signal to go thru any obstruction and CFTO will be weak and hard to receive.Getting 30% signal of CFTO in Buffalo while many in the GTA get near 100% strength of the Buffalo signals proves its weak.CFTO now has the highest position on the tower.

I'm 100km from the CN Tower in Kitchener, and CFTO is quite strong and error-free here. I certainly wouldn't characterize it as a "weak station". And I myself do have a local VHF interference problem.

As the manufacturer of this UHF antenna has been banned for spamming in this forum (see warning here (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=145911)), I do not wish to dwell on conversation regarding it.

Briefly, holl_ands makes a good point that this antenna's VHF gain may be found off the back of it. The antenna's height is 800mm (31.5")--no info on width.

Maury Markowitz: Just to confirm: Are you using a pre-amp? If so, does this amp pass and amplify VHF signals?

If there's no pre-amp, I would advise installing a proper VHF-High antenna, and combining it as mentioned above into your setup.

Getting 30% signal of CFTO in Buffalo while many in the GTA get near 100% strength of the Buffalo signals proves its weak.

The radiation pattern of CFTO is directional. A deep null in the contour appears to skim the edge of St. Catherine's down the Niagara peninsula, with Buffalo and area well into the null.

Maury, I believe the simplest solution for you would be the CM4228HD antenna. This inexpensive relatively small antenna has very reasonable VHF HI performance. I know because I have one and I can reliably receive CFTO 85 miles away. You are actually in the holy grail location for OTA.

With the CM4228HD you will likely get RF9 100%. You may often even get CHCH RF11 and Rochester's RF10 and RF13. Your UHF performance will be improved as well.

That’s still using a hammer to drive a screw. I offer a compromise solution. Use a combo antenna such as the one HWP uses. Best of both worlds and may cost less.

So the problem is that I live in a condo with a regulation against any outdoor antennas of any sort (including sat).

That means the only useful location is in the attic, which I do have access to. However, I have limited room, so an 8-bay antenna is not going to fit. But given that I have such strength on other signals from the CN Tower - 88% on CBC's channel 20 for instance - I suspect that changing the antenna dimensions or brand will have little or no effect.

That suggests that only a VHF antenna will do the trick. However, all the medium-distance examples I'm aware of are yagis, and there's not really any place for a yagi up there. Any suggestions on this front?

I do not have a pre-amp. The signal path is about 30 feet, and I get excellent strength on those channels I receive.

OK I'm pretty sure this is an antenna issue for picking up CFTO. The closest I have to it is channel 14, which comes in but does suffer from dropouts. Channel 9 is a long way from 14 in freq, so I think a VHF is the only way to go.

Maury try making a folded dipole for channel 9.You can make it from an fm T antenna and cut it to shorter length for channel 9 and reconnect the ends.This will perform better than a uhf antenna.VHF signals dont penetrate as while as uhf.

I think you have it backwards, VHF penetrates more easily than UHF.
The problem is, it's more prone to interference. :(