That is a lot, but those Burlington transmitters are on top of a 4000' hill- a good thing for Bw1t1, who has very little elevation at his location in Montreal.
Many San Diegans can get the Los Angeles transmitters line-of-sight at over 125 miles, thanks to Mt. Wilson. Height makes might!
There are no doubt some viewers located at sufficient elevation so that Mt Wilson
is LOS (220-ft per LOS Calculator)...but the RF ducting effects due to temperature
inversions over the open ocean are the primary way a few lucky viewers in southern
San Diego & Tijuana can receive (a few) stations from Mt. Wilson....unfortunately,
come and go ducting effects as well as co-channel/adjacent interference makes this
very unreliable. I've seen only maybe TWO reports of success at 125-miles....

Our UHF antennas were designed to excel on UHF. The C2v is our only small combo with excellent UHF capability and decent high-VHF capability. OTOH, the C5 is, for its size, a very good high/VHF antenna and a fair UHF capability. The new DB2e and DB4e models were optimized for UHF only.

The alternative is to go with a more conventional combo that has a UHF Yagi and either an LPDA or a high-VHF Yagi on a single boom. Depending on capability, that style of antenna might range from several feet (urban/suburban "range") up to 14' (deep fringe) in boom length.

Our UHF antennas were designed to excel on UHF. The C2v is our only small combo with excellent UHF capability and decent high-VHF capability. OTOH, the C5 is, for its size, a very good high/VHF antenna and a fair UHF capability. The new DB2e and DB4e models were optimized for UHF only.

The alternative is to go with a more conventional combo that has a UHF Yagi and either an LPDA or a high-VHF Yagi on a single boom. Depending on capability, that style of antenna might range from several feet (urban/suburban "range") up to 14' (deep fringe) in boom length.
Thanks a lot ADTech!

bw1t1, I think you'd do well to ask in the Montreal reception forums. Many people there have reported their results in trying to get WVNY channel 13. It is very tough, as Channel 13 is only throwing 1 kW or less towards Montreal, and you have to deal with adjacent channel interference from local channel 12. Since Mount Mansfield is 46 degrees off Mount Royal at your location, you may have a chance. And being 100 degrees off angle for co-channel analog CBMT-1 from Trois Rivieres should help, too.

There are no doubt some viewers located at sufficient elevation so that Mt Wilson
is LOS (220-ft per LOS Calculator)...but the RF ducting effects due to temperature
inversions over the open ocean are the primary way a few lucky viewers in southern
San Diego & Tijuana can receive (a few) stations from Mt. Wilson....unfortunately,
come and go ducting effects as well as co-channel/adjacent interference makes this
very unreliable. I've seen only maybe TWO reports of success at 125-miles....

I watch Mt Wilson UHF and VHF TV stations every day at a distance of 90 miles over a non-line-of-sight path using an indoor antenna. Reception is almost always reliable. I can receive the San Diego stations, but I hardly ever watch them.

Brian

According to AD site, Clearstream 2 might be the one to get?

The big advantage of the CS-2 is its ultra wide beamwidth. If you don't need that beamwidth, a more directional antenna may be a better choice.

I agree with tvlurker that antenna recommendations would be better discussed in one the Montreal reception results forum.

The NF is printed right on the label of the amplifier module (slide the cover open). Older ones say "2.8 dB NF", newer ones say "1.8 dB NF". Performance enhancements were made back last winter.
I am new here so maybe this question has been addressed elsewhere but I am curious why none of the major manufacturers of pre-amps provide equipment with better than 1.8 dB noise figure, while 0.4 dB amplifiers are easily obtainable elsewhere. A number of the semiconductor houses sell the transistors for a few pennies, and IC packaged solutions for a few dollars. The semiconductor houses even publish example circiuts that were used to measure the noise figure along with PC board artwork, so it does not seem all that hard to bring this technology to the market.

While 1.4 dB in SNR will not break the bank it seems silly to throw it away for a few pennies!

I have one of those 0.4 dB amps, the Kitztech KT-200 coax. I have found that it makes just a tiny bit of difference on my hardcase stations (below -5 NM) over the CM7777. It's a very fine line, but the Kitztech does hold just a wee bit more stable than the CM. It's not a blockbuster, but it does allow you to dance a little bit closer to the edge of the digital cliff.
That being said, the Kitztech is not as powerful of a preamp, and this really shows up when you have long cable runs and use splitters. The signal level at the tuner suffers in both cases, whereas the CM doesn't seem to care- it powers through long runs and splitters like they weren't even there.
The ultra-low noise amps are kind of boutique items- great for DXing, or for grabbing that otherwise-impossible faraway station.

Update to earlier this year. I need to clarify my experiences with the DB8 now that it has a permanent install. It is not as directional as I first thought. When pointed at CN Toronto it also receives quite well Most Buffalo stations where the 91 does not do that. It seems to have very nice side lobe reception.

In general, I believe Yagis are more directional than Bays.

it depends on the length of the yagi boom, my Ad 42xg have a Wb
comparable to my DB4e. same w/the fracarro sigma 6hd loop yagi antenna.

In general, I believe Yagis are more directional than Bays.

Not necessarily. Maybe, maybe not. It depends....

edtrutone, Where did you find the 3dB beamwidth info (or better yet polar plot as 3dB beamwidth can be misleading) for the 42xg? Without doing a simulation or a measurement in a controlled environment, you can't really tell as there are so many other factors at play that you likely won't be able to detect.

Back to the original post, on the surface, the DB8 and XG91may seem to have a similar beamwidth, there are some key differences. The DB8 has deep nulls followed by large side lobes not seen by the XG91 as shown in the following polar plots:

Old DB8 (current one should be similar)
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/DB8az.gif

XG91
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/XG91az.gif

There is a polar plot at ad website for 42 xg, i tried one and i got a wb on that
antenna same w/ my db4e.

The formal datasheet for the 42XG (and certain other of our antennas) is posted on our website. Go to the product page for the 42XG and look under "Documents" for "Technical Data".

The DB8 does not have one at this time...

I bring this up, hoping it helps somebody else.
I never gave it much thought, until I split the two halves of my AD C4.

I noticed that the terminals were spinning, so I opened it up to tighten the nuts.
As soon as I got them open it spilled water all over me. I'm not talking drops, I'm talking ounces.
Unless the halves weren't glued properly, the only other entry point, could've been the bolt hole.

It would not cure the problem, but a couple weep holes in the bottom may alleviate the possibility of cracking, if it freezes. This could be a real bummer for people that use PVC to make their GH. Especially in Wisconsin and points North, where winters can average 13 months per year:D

I have also seen splits in tower sections and full size mesh satellite dishes.

This weekend, I had to disassemble my ClearStream 4 Vertical-stack with homemade combiner harness. It was having too much trouble with nearby low-power co-channels- they were interfering with the faraway full-powers that I am trying to get. So I re-assembled the C4 into stock configuration, but it didn't work at all. After a bit of troubleshooting, I found that it would work if I moved the balun box on the combiner bars around- something inside has gone loosey-goosey. I'll have to e-mail AD and ask for a replacement.
In the interim, I grabbed a pair of identical baluns and a pair of identical 6-ft. RG6's and hooked them through a splitter in reverse. Wow, this thing really cooks with this combining method! It seems to work much better than it did with the stock combiner. Maybe mine was always a little loose?

Call us directly for warranty replacements. 877-825-5572.

Short-term, drill weep holes in the bottom of the loops and drain the water out.

Early production loops were glued together. Later, production moved to an ultrasonic welding process that has been successful.

You probably cracked the PCB inside the combiner box. Get us an address and we'll get a replacement part in the mail.

Your temporary solution should work fine. I have a "home made" C4 on my desk made out of two C2s and a similar harness and splitter. Works fine for my cubicle.

Thank you for the offer, AD.

Thing is, I purchased this from a charity store that sells products that are returned to Target.
For some reason, it was returned w/ the hardware bag unopened and was never assembled.

I figure I'll just burnish everything, use star washers and coat them w/ T&B Kopr Shield and glop lots of RTV about the seams.

I will then drill the weep holes.

Thank you for responding so kindly!
Craig