Jeneral, ATSC channels like WB49 Buffalo should come in either crystal clear or not. This is called the cliff effect and if it was an aiming issue you would have pixellation and audio cutouts happening before sudden and complete failure of the signal, but not interference.

The WB49 in question is the NTSC signal. I guess I should have specified that. I ASS-U-ME that everyone lives in the GTA. WNYO-DT (WB49 Digital) is pretty much impossible to receive reliably in the GTA. All my other ATSC channels work perfectly. Since I can't receive WB49 in Digital, a clear WB in Analog would be nice. Like I mentioned, I aimed my antenna for NBC. I need to aim it a little more to the left to get WB49 NTSC clearly. I'm just afraid to weaken NBC and ABC too much. I'm not sure it's worth it

The WB49 in question is the NTSC signal.Ah... I see. Never mind. ;) Back to CM422X antenna discussions in this thread.

Yesterday I removed my dual antenna setup and wanted to try and a single 4228 antenna with a rotor.

I installed a 9521 rotor with the 4228.

I upgraded the mount and size pole. The antenna is currently sitting about 3' higher than where the 4228 used to be.

About the same height as where the 4221 was mounted.

None of the Buffalo stations came in any stronger than when I had the dual setup. As a reference on my Samsung it was 10 out of 10. On a dish 811 was reading between 84 to 93%.

The only channel that comes in a little stronger if I reposition the antenna is Sun.

There is now a disadvantage and advantage to the new setup.

Iam currently feeding 4 tv in the house and the advantage with the old setup is that I would not have to worry about getting a strong and clear signal from any stations like Nbc and Fox at the same time.

Now with the smaller angle of coverage of the 4228 I have to position the 4228 that Nbc gets 7-8 and Fox 8 to 10 on the signal meter. I know Iam picky want to see 10 out of 10. :)

The advantage is that yesturday guess because it was warmer if I point the antenna to 140' on a compass and on the display, I was able to pull in Fox, Pbs, and Nbc at max signal 10 from Rochester.

Last night they dropped to 4.

Nbc from Buffalo came in max at 160' and Fox and Toronto between 185 to 189'. 180' standing on my compass reads south and this was where I aligned the antenna to.

Since my Buffalo signals are all strong at max I think when the weather gets better I may remove the 4228 and try a single 4221 with the rotor setup.

That way I can position the antenna so I can get 10 on all the channels except Sun. I know what will the rotor do then :D guess fine tune for those days the signal may drift or summer time Rochester ?

After abandoning the 4221 and 4228 setup in Etobicoke due to never being able to recieve all the channels I expected I have installed the CM 9521 rotator.

Overall I am very happy. I now have the 4221 on the rotor as that seems to be the best setup for me. Due to the construction of my house I was able to get the 4221 about a foot higher than the 4228 which meant all the recieving elements were only blocked by roof and not brick wall with the 4228. This gave me consistantly stronger signals across the board.

I've had a week to evaluate things so thought I would post.

10 bars on all Buffalo and Toronto stations except:
City - 7 really consistent
NBC - 7 to 8 bars
SunTV - 4 to 5 bars not stable (too many trees + weak signal)
WB - Nothing

I'm running the rotor off a Harmony universal remote so when I punch in the channel number it changes both the Samsung 451 and the CM rotor position.

No complaints so far, we'll see how things are when the snow starts falling.

Brewmaser those are great results Iam glad that you are able to finally get good consistant signals.

Is your 4221 now outdoors.

Today I came home and really wonder if I should bother trying the smaller 4221. Nbc is a steady 8 to 9 and Fox is at 10.

This is with out moving the rotor.

Last night must have had some flaky signal from Nbc and Fox.

Is your 4221 now outdoors.
Still indoors. I'm going to move ouside only if the snow is a problem.

Brewmaser snow should not really affect UHF signals.

Not like satellite where wet snow and intense thunder storm on the dish will absorb the signal.

Maybe during heavy and intense thunder storms for 15 to 20 mins the most.

I know when there was a hurricane in Miami at the end of Aug on the same night I was on the phone with my brother and he was amazed that he was still watching ota HDTV during the storm till his power went out. :D He had to go outside and start uo his generator and he was still watching tv.

His dish was out no signal.

Not like satellite where wet snow and intense thunder storm on the dish will absorb the signal.

How much care do you have to take with ice on the rotator? Is it easy to burn them out if the rotator becomes coated in ice.

How much care do you have to take with ice on the rotator? Is it easy to burn them out if the rotator becomes coated in ice.That's one of the most Canadian questions I've ever seen! :)

I received my new 4221 today Thanks Yamonn Not very happy with the results
replaced my terk tv55 which I was getting all the buffalo stations good except for 7-1 which was weak and channel 5-1 was only on now and then With the new antenna I get channel 7 and 5 good but can't find a sweet spot to get 2 and 29 at the same time i was also hoping to be able to get ctv but no luck at all any suggestions?

From Fonthill you of course are at a point of a triangle with Buffalo and Toronto, so is your new CM4221 on a rotator?

fonthill Iam glad you got your antenna that was quick.

I just looked up your location on my street and trips program.

Grand Island is almost dead east of you that has Fox and Pbs.

To get the other Buffalo stations that is almost 45'.

Toronto is another 90' from Grand Island.

The angle is too great for the 4221. You will need a rotor.

Usually the more gain a antenna has the more directional it gets. That is how they achieve more gain.

fonthill
The angle is too great for the 4221. You will need a rotor.

The 4221 or 4228 will only get you one direction or the other from Fonthill or Thorold. I can pick up 43 Buffalo PBS without moving the antenna from the Toronto direction but that is it. Point at Buffalo and none of the Toronto stations come in.

I can tell you that I have different rotator settings for 2 (which does 2, 4, 7, 23, 29, 43; 9 (which does 5, 9, 25); 15 (which does Hamilton SUN); 66 (which does Toronto SUN); 49 (which does 49); have I left any out? In other words Yaamon is right. Too much angle, you need a rotator BUT IT IS WORTH IT. Besides, the birds like to go for the ride.

Besides, the birds like to go for the ride.

So funny you say that... I had a flock of black birds covering my antenna today. They were making so much noise up there it sounded like a riot so as a joke I started the antenna rotating.. Did a sync maneuver... that makes the antenna turn 360 and then back another 360. So I go back outside thinking they must have all flown away scared,,, and what do you know... there all still there riding it like it's a ride at wonderland!

I did a little closer look at the height and realized that with the 4221 on the old post it doesn't completely clear the roof line so that could be my problem with low signal from buffalo I will get a new 1 1/4 pipe on monday and see if that helps. The big question i have If i can receive cbc from toronto should I not be able to get ctv or any other toronto stations

fonthill home depot is open today 1 1/4"ID. :)

You should try for a good clear view. Cbc is the strongest HD from Toronto and you should be able to get Cfto too.

Where is your antenna mounted on the roof ? When you say clear the roof line do you mean the peak of the roof o the eves/roof ?

Being on the peak of the roof should be pretty stable.

Another point in favour of a rotator: from Fonthill you should be able to swing the antenna southward and get Erie, PA too.

i know hd is open but the wind today is to strong to even attempt getting on the roof
had to go up just to reposition to get channel 2 for nascar and almost ended up down the street
by roof line i mean i have 2 different height roofs and it's mounted off the side of the higher roof and does not quite clear it

My head is spinning from reading this thread!

Okay I recently got an OTA HDTV receiver (thanks to this site)...and with a simple rabbit antenna, I'm getting 3 stations in Toronto.

I move the antenna into the attic...3 stations still (except I lost CTV and now get CITY...ok - guess I could play more with that). But Buffalo NTSC are coming in (which they werent before - WNED fairly clearly).

Given that I'm in Woodbridge, say 400/Rutherford area...Should I go with a 4221 (accepts a wider divergence I read) or a 4228 (more power but very directional).

I'm even considering building a Yagi if I could figure what that is!

Thanks gang!

spmarceau looking on a map your antenna will be pointing south towards south east for Buffalo.

You should be ok with a 4228 as you are within the window for Toronto, Grand Island and Buffalo.

Good luck.