I have a J mount which supported a satellite dish about 15 ft from the ground mounted on a brick wall. I want to clear the roof line and evestrough and be able to point antenna direct south. The cable to the satellite dish will extend about 12 ft, thats all the play I have.

The antenna's I am considering do not weigh more than the original dish and set up.

It's not so much the weight of the antenna that's the concern, it's the wind load. The j-mount wasn't designed to have a 10' or more mast plus antenna attached to it.

Jase 888

The antenna has to have a mast, right?

What is a safe length of mast to attach to a j mount?

Is there somewhere I can look that up?

I will have to move the J mount up the wall then, any members on here local with a 25ft + ladder?

onebat,

I have a DB4e, it is ligther than CM4221 (I have that one as well). I live not too far from you and familiar with your location.

My suggestion is to try on existing J pipe first and check the reception, then determine the next step.

Thanks Koo guy.

Jase 88 has a good point though. I have been checking the other forum which covers installations and wind shear is a problem.

I now have a back up plan of a roof tripod and a new run of cable. Though I am loath to drill the roof! I will do some more reading and see if there is an alternative.

I wont post any more in this reception forum, till I actually get the antenna up and gauge reception.

How did you mount your antenna?

I now have a back up plan of a roof tripod and a new run of cable. Though I am loath to drill the roof! I will do some more reading and see if there is an alternative.

Don't worry about the holes.

Look in your attic; your roof already has thousands of nail holes.

If you install your lag screws properly, your antenna spot will be the least likely place to leak on your whole roof.

Good luck and enjoy your OTA!

onebat,

How did you mount your antenna?

I do wall mount for my antennas...

Just click on my user ID then profile to see the pictures.

Omni1 rf51 is solid, CityTV rf44 disappears on tropo days I'm assuming because of the CBLFT 44 transmitter at rice lake.

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.

Given CBC's decision on analogue transmitters, it looks like your RF44 problem won't last much longer.

I am a newbie to the OTA community I got the Mohu Leaf Plus and tried it in my condo in Pickering on the 15th floor in 3 different locations, facing west, north and south, I must say I am very disappointed in the results, I got 14 channels including 3 different ones of one I have never heard of WNYB. I was really hoping to get Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC to watch US college football this fall but no luck.

Welcome to the forum.

You have come to the right place to read-up and learn about OTA in Pickering.

15 floors up, facing south, with the right antenna you should be able to get everything you want.

Please read the Welcome threads and read through the Toronto Indoor and also the Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax thread. You will find all the information you need to make the right choice of replacement antenna.

Perhaps an Antennas Direct Clearstream 2.

Good luck.

Having just dropped around 80 bucks for the Mohu Leaf Plus, I am not sure I wanna go out again and spend more money not knowing what kind of results I will get. My window facing south isnt direct, it's more like southwest, and I dont have a huge place where I can start moving around the antenna to test it out. All I expected from this antenna was ABC to watch the US college football this fall, but oh well I guess I will stick with Netflix, USvideo and watching things on ESPN3.com website.

You would have been better off with something like a Terk HDTVi or HDTVa. Those are more than capable of picking up Buffalo channels. Southwest should have been very good from Pickering - as long as you are not blocked by another building right in front. I used to use a Terk HDTVi (have since upgraded to an Antennas Direct C2V) and got 24 channels with my Terk, although Fox 29 wasn't 100% reliable, and I didn't get NBC. From your location with an indoor antenna, you should get NBC, ABC and CBS, but may not get Fox reliably. When I upgraded to the C2V I still got 24 channels, but Fox is now reliable, the signal is stronger and I get NBC more often, although still not reliably.

I'm hearing so many stories like this about the Mohu Leaf that I'm beginning to wonder if it should be added to the list of "Wacky, Tacky" antennas to be avoided.

I am in Whitby with an original CM4228 and I am curious how well people get the 7.1 ABC channel. I get it but with the occasional breakup.

My 4228 is still at the old house, but I never had issues with ABC except for (bad) tropo.
Aimed due south.

I should clarify, mine is in the attic. Aimed slightly east of due south. I am at Cochrane and Taunton. Do you recall if your current antennae pulls a weaker or strong signal?

Thanks!

It was a bit weaker than other Buffalo stations (e.g. FOX, CBS), but still well above the cliff.
It required a lot of fine tuning to get that sweet spot, though.

That house is also much closer to the lake, so that likely changes things. Unless you're on that hill crest just east of there which would help tremendously.

We are fairly elevated in the neighbourhood so that helps, but I am frustrated by the audio drop outs on 7.1 ABC. I have not yet made the trip back into the attic to adjust the 4228 since I would likely die a quick death due to the heat at this time of year!

The reported signal is fairly strong (one bar short of full on WMC) but the audio drop outs are very regular - every 10-20 seconds or so. I am hoping that a little fine tuning will clear it up, but I am worried that come the fall I will lose it completely given the struggle at this time of year.

Eljaca

Hey onebat
I have a DB4e as well and call Able and because of my condo no roof mounting rules they were able to use a J mount right under my eaves and a small 5 foot mast clears the eaves and just under roof peak
what a difference get all Buffalo as well as Ion have a cm preamp they did a great job

Hi everyone,

I'm in the Oshawa area, looking to ditch my cable and hook up an antenna. I'm wondering if anyone can give me some pointers on what I would need to do to get it up and going.

I live in Courtice near Hwy 2 and Trulls. The previous owners had a satellite dish installed on the garage (it's still there)

So, a few questions:

What is the best kind of antenna to get for the Courtice/ Oshawa East area?
Will I need a receiver inside of the house connected to the TV and antenna?
Would I be able to remove the dish, and use its coax cable to hook up my antenna?
and where can I go to get a decent antenna other than Best Buy? I know they have them at the Source, but are there any small shop that sell them / install? How much would I be looking at to get someone to install for me?

I know that's a lot of questions to answer. Thanks in advance to anyone who is able to help out!

Use the Search This Thread tool to the upper right beside Thread Tools and put in Courtice or local street names as search terms, and you'll see how others in the same area have done. :)

Advice needed:

After some research, I've narrowed it down to either an Antenna Direct DB4e or DB8. The corner of my fully detached home is facing south-west, which is clear enough to mount a J-mount underneath the soffit on brick, and have an extension mast mounted to almost clear the roofline. Unfortunately LOS is not clear as there is a treeline obstructing. I plan to run either a Channel Master CM7777 or CM7778 amplifier, and I intend to split the signal in 3 once inside the house.

I am in need of advice as to which antenna (DB4e or DB8) and which amplifier (CM7777 or CM7778) would be best recommended.

Thanks!