I started out using a silver sensor as well. The US Bellingham stations are about 90 degrees away from Mount Seymour, but are quite strong, so an antenna pointed somewhere between the two will usually get all the local DT signals (now 7 stations). There are two things that might allow you to get all the stations with one antenna - add an amplifier to the silver sensor - ie run the antenna output to an cable amplifier (available through an electronics store) and then into the receiver. The other is to switch to a better antenna (plus amplifier) such as the CM 4220 (about the same price as a silver sensor).

I was able to hang my sensor from a hook in the ceiling like a upside down xmas tree oddly it picked more that way but looked to weird to remain.

I took your advice and hung the antenna on the wall, like some abstract silver Christmas tree. Now it pulls in CKVU, KVOS, KBCB and I only lost CHNM (No big deal). The signal meter occasionally twitches to 5 bars for KOMO-DT, but no signal lock.

To Quote Mr. Spock, "He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking."

wierd things can yeild great results glad it helpped

I got an amplified ZSS clone on thursday from tiger direct - thankyou stampeder for the antenna selection chart! It works great. I get:

CHNM-DT
CBUT-DT
CKVU-DT
GLOBAL in HD
CIVT -DT

plus A and french CBC in analog. The ant is next to a north facing window pointed towards downtown & mt seymour (which are roughly in-line from my location) on top floor of house.

Of course, one always wants more... I'm thinking of putting a long range antenna outdoors on the south side for US stations. Its a bit more money for a CM 4228 and not sure what the results will be.

cfrancis that might be an iffy place for SeaTac reception but you'd almost certainly get the two Bellingham stations with an outdoor south-facing antenna.

with one being a home shopping network...

Michael,

I am interested in your KOMO-DT reception. You say you can intermittently attain up to five bars of signal strength but no signal lock. Perhaps the reason is due to your ATSC tuner.

I too have an Samsung LN550 but I have it paired with a 4228 HD antenna and occasionally a CM 7777. After pointing and scanning in various US directions with no lock, I have concluded the tuner is at fault. Is there substance to this line of thinking anyone?

(Note: I have one tree obstruction approximately 60 ft south of my antenna)

Thanks,

Bryan

Sorry to get your hopes up. I think the blips were just an artifact of the way Media Center measures signal strength. I added KOMO after nukdoc reported that he was able to receive it. But realistically, I shouldn't expect to receive any SeaTac channels with an indoor antenna.

It is a joy to finally be able to watch Ugly Betty (despite its pending cancellation) and 30 Rock in HD without involving a download. I just got a new TV stand and my amplified PHDTV3 sits snugly on a shelf just below the TV. I can point it diagonally across my suite towards the window that roughly faces Mt. Seymour. All 5 Canadian digital channels come through, although at any given point in time I'm usually only getting 4 out of 5. If I fiddle with the positioning I can generally pull in the station I want to, and then I just lose one of the other five :P

Well, after contently enjoying the olympics in HD using a set of rabbit ears placed on the railing of my balcony outside I finally decided to upgrade. Reasons for upgrading: Signal strength would wain and if I was receiving CTV, I wouldn't recieve CBC and vice versa. I didn't want to mess around with the rabbit ears any longer.

I picked myself up a 4221 HD from Channel Master, shipping and everything it came to about $70. I plugged it in, stuck it on my balcony, leaned it against the wall and went back inside the house to check on reception.

I was getting full signal strength for all the usual suspect channels and I didn't even have to mess around with the placement of the antenna on my balcony.

I haven't tried to point the antenna south to get FOX, perhaps I'll give that a go tomorrow...

Gregan

The CM 4221HD is not designed to do VHF-Hi. KCPQ is RF Channel 13 so it is very unlikely you will receive it.

If you're after Fox and other U.S. Channels I would recommend the CM 4228HD or better still the Antennacraft HBU series which are designed for UHF and VHF-Hi combined

So my wife is out of town tonight and I finally decided to give another kick at the can for OTA. I had tried several years ago when we were in a 2nd floor apt at the bottom of Lonsdale Ave in North Vancouver, but the ZSS clone didn't work, probably because of too many buildings and trees in the way. Now we're up in Lynn Valley, just north of the freeway between Lynn Valley Rd and Mountain Hwy. We're in a townhouse so I won't be trying an external antennas, but the TV is on the north side of the house, right beside a window in which I can see Mt. Seymour, so I figured that not much more than a coat hangar would pull in at least a couple of stations.

I mention that I'm trying this experimenting without my wife around because she has little patience for me mucking around with the TV, so I figured that I had a one-shot deal to get'er done tonight. I swung by London Drugs over lunch, knowing that their antennas are overpriced, but like I say, I'm a man on a mission with limited ability to play around. I wound up picking up the Terk CFDTV2, which I'm sure is overpriced for what it is (stampeder, I can hear you cringing), but dag'nabit, it looks good. And I know that unless this sucker looks smooth, it will be kicked out of the living room as soon as my wife walks in the door.

So, stampeder's good advice be damned, I've set it up and lo and behold, I'm getting CBC, CTV, CitiTV, and KVOS, all in glorious HD (apparently I need to try adding Channel M as well). I'm running the antenna through a Hauppauge 850 (thanks stampeder for saving me from spending $40 more to get the 950q) and all is well. I did try to connect the antenna directly through my Dell W3207C, but the 850 is definitely more sensitive, so I'll stick with that.

Thanks to all for their advice (even when I ignored it), and also a big shout-out to pnear for his info and patch that got Windows 7 Media Center playing nicely with my newly acquired HD channels.

Hee hee, I've said the following many times in the past and I'll say it again: I am delighted when people get OTA reception that is satisfactory to them, even if it is with gear that I do not recommend. Glad you are happy with your Terk CFDTV2 antenna. With your gal having set the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) dial so high it is a better looking unit on the set top than many other indoor antennas. :)

Johnny thanks for sharing your good story. Sometimes I feel like I'm the guy out there that has similar issues you described. Don't get me wrong I love my wife to the nth degree but I need to pick my time wisely to get things done too.

I'm getting CBC, CTV, CitiTV, and KVOS, all in glorious HD (apparently I need to try adding Channel M as well).seems like your missing global...22.1...

A few other notes...

- No luck on Channel M, but yes, I'm getting Global as well.
- My wife came home and didn't even notice the antenna. Success! She was suitably impressed that OTA was so clear with none of the old analogue ghosting and fuzziness (I think that despite my descriptions, this is what she was envisioning). Most of what we watch comes from Global, CTV, and CBC, so I have a feeling that we'll cancel our cable TV soon.

Is there a signal meter on your HDTV, jonnyfreeze? It would be interesting to see if moving your antenna in various ways affects Channel M's reception.

Try getting the new PBS repeater in Bellingham (24.1 and 24.2 which remap to 28.1 and28.2), if you get KVOS then you might get Seattle area's other PBS station which started a couple of days ago.

A lot of the OTA lists on the web suggest that various Seattle/Tacoma HDs might be available in the Vancouver market. I am wondering if this is true in the downtown area? If I had height, say 10-15 floors or rooftop at that height, could I reasonably expect to see any Seattle signals with a 4228HD?

-Jeff

I would say no.
The range of those is about 60 miles and distance to Seattle is about 100.
But maybe amplified, assuming that you are high up enough.
My location/height is not the same as yours, so mine is an educated guess.