Hi Zeuss. The rabbit ears/loop combination is the right one for indoor use. The only channel you were able to pick up was an analog VHF channel. How is the picture quality? Hopefully it is very clear; this would mean you have a good reception environment.

I find it interesting that you did not also pick up channel 31 analog. This suggests that your TV is set up in "cable" mode. I had a look a the quick setup guide for the TV here:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=KDFE42A10&LOC=3#/manualsTab

Please note that your TV has two coaxial inputs on the rear. This is unusual. Since you're only getting channel 7 analog, I think maybe your antenna is plugged into the "cable" connection when it needs to be connected to "vhf/uhf".

Try connection the antenna to vhf/uhf, and first confirm that you are still getting channel 7. You may have to consult the manual to set the TV up for off-air antenna reception.

The channels in your area are 7 and 31 analog. The digital channels are 13, 27, 29 and possibly 11.

Good luck and let us know how you get along with channel scanning following the instructions in your tv's manual.

Hi, Ralph
The picture quality is really good,nice and clear and yes i did pick up 31,it is a french channel,and you may be right on the " cable mode" because when i go into settings to try to run a scan,i dont even see antenna anywhere,all i see in the options that i can use is cable,i do set it to off,but maybe its not doing what its soppose to.i also dont see the signal meter when i scan,so im sure something isnt right .when i look at the rear of the tv i only see one coaxil input,and what i find really strange is that it has uhf/vhf written just above it,and cable written just below it,so im pretty much confused with that part of it.so i most likely am getting channel 7 off the cable,with the rabbit ears, so i know im not doing the scan right,ill check the back of the tv again to see what other inputs are there.

i just took a look at that quick set up guide,and yeah im way off,when i think im doing a scan for channels im not,all i have is snowy screen untill it stops on a clear channel,it looks nothing like the diagram,in the set up at all.so im back to square one untill i figure out what im doing wrong.

I had a good CBC signal in Halifax today until the late evening, signal quality dropped from 25 bars to 4, and SNR from 18 to 15. I don't know if channel 39 in Boston is having some kind of tropospheric ducting causing interference here, but something seems to be borderline cutting into the CBC signal. The game looks great when it's stable, but it's full of break-ups and signal cutouts and is unwatchable. The other Halifax stations are as strong as usual. Anyone else noticing this problem, or have any thoughts?

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_nat.html

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html Nope, no tropo or I'd be enjoying some digital tv down here in Yarmouth.

I live about 70 km from halifax and when we moved here in 1992 I used plain old rabbit ears on the TV and it worked fine. I haven't used OTA in about 10 yrs and was thinking of going back. I recently tried an outdoor antenna on the TV and could not get anything!

Did CBC/CTV reduce their signals or is it my Samsung LCD TV?

Varmit: Welcome to the forum!
Please take a moment to go through our message for new members.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=125161
It contains invaluable information and instructions so you can help fellow forum members help you better.
Cheers!

My husband and I currently get CBC and Global digital TV. We want to get CTV as well and are wondering if anyone on Fredericton's south side gets it. Officially it's not supposed to exist in Fredericton. But in fact, we have friends on the north side and I took our converter box to their house as a test, and guess what? They get it. So it's certainly gettable in Fredericton, at least on the north side, and I would like to know what lengths we need to go to to get it.

We bought a small outdoor antenna, and so far we've tested it in the attic. Results were disappointing. Now we're wondering if it's worth installing at all: at the most it will be a couple of feet higher, and will that really make a crucial difference? Or do we need a bigger antenna? Or should we give up?

I'm most interested in hearing what's worked for other South-siders.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d4bba4e3e309df7

Thanks.

One of your issues with CTV vs CBC and Global is that it Transmits on the VHF band on channel 9 which is vastly different from your CBC/Global stations which are transmitting on the UHF band. You didn't mention what type of antenna you had but not all antennas get all bands. You will probably need a specific VHF antenna or a VHF/UHF combo to pick up CTV especially since that transmitter is more then 40 miles south of you on Mount Champlain. If you plan to "hide" the antenna within a structure you will probably also need an amplifier to boost the reduced signal strength.

I installed separate VHF and UHF antennas and an amplifier at my mothers place north of you on Keswick Ridge and easily get the channels your after along with FOX, CBS and PBS from Mars Hill, Maine as a nice bonus

Rob, CTV transmitted on channel 9 VHS before the conversion to digital TV; wouldn't it be different now?

The antenna we got is supposed to get digital, UHF and VHF for a range of 35 miles, according to the box. Do you think we'll get better results on the roof than we did in the attic?

In case the dimensions are relevant, the antenna is 36 x 47 x 22 inches. How big are your antennas? If you have 2 you must be using some sort of signal-splitting thing, right?

Amplification sounds worthwhile, think we'll look into that once we get it installed. I am much impressed that you're able to get PBS as well. Way cool.

Thanks for responding!

Vivian, welcome to the forum!
Have you taken a moment to check out this introductory message?
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=125161
You'll find instructions on what information to share with fellow members so we can help you better.
There is also a link to the OTA FAQ, which contains lots of good info on how OTA works.
Good luck signal hunting!

Downbeat, I read all that. If there's something you think I should have done that I didn't, would you mind being specific?

Update: We tried the antenna outside, about 10 feet off the ground, and obtained no better results than we did in the attic. In fact, the results were no better than with an amplified set-top rabbit ears. Which is pathetic, so this antenna is going back to the store. My friend has a giant antenna he's willing to sell us; maybe we'll try that. Or give up, I dunno. Pretty discouraged right now.

Downbeat, I read all that. If there's something you think I should have done that I didn't, would you mind being specific?

Update: We tried the antenna outside, about 10 feet off the ground, and obtained no better results than we did in the attic. In fact, the results were no better than with an amplified set-top rabbit ears. Which is pathetic, so this antenna is going back to the store. My friend has a giant antenna he's willing to sell us; maybe we'll try that. Or give up, I dunno. Pretty discouraged right now.
Vivian,

I'm on the Northside of Fredericton. I didn't have too much luck until I upgraded my antenna. If you are looking for a new antenna there is a report you can download on this site - http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=97121, which gives some options depending on your situation. Maybe the antenna you bought is on there somewhere so you know if it does a decent job picking up high vhf. I ended up getting a Channel Master 2016 because it is good for both uhf and high vhf. CTV is high vhf and that was the one I was having trouble with. The signal does come in stronger on this side of the river so there is no guarantee it will come in especially as it appears there are some poor reception areas where you are.

I have my very good signal but CTV is muted . My Toshiba tv is my tuner previous tuner was Bell 9200 and it worked no problem ,is it CTV or my tv ?

Hey guys.. I'm another Frederictonian (west side, past silverwood) trying to get an OTA setup up running. Am I to understand CBAT-DT on 31 (CBC) is up and running? I can get Global on 44 with my little indoor flat top antenna but that's it.

I had the day off today so I tried building a larger antenna to see what else I might be able to pick up.. I improved my signal on 44 and pulled in a french CBC channel 19 but still no sign of anything else. these are the antenna/instructions I found http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/

I have a 4228HD and amp coming in the mail this week, hopefully I have better luck with that than my little home made contraption.

i am having no luck with this ota, i still get only two channels,cbc n.b,and 31 which is french,and i understand those two channels are analog,so are there any other analog channels i might get,if i could pull in ctv,or cbc ,nova scotia that would do,but im having no luck as far as auto scan,that goes nowhere.i guess its because the sony wega has no antenna option.

it must be frustrating trying to work with weak signals. i'm 3.2 miles from transmitter, and now getting occasional problems. i lost ctv one night, and all channels another night. ctv seems the worst for problems receiving, so i replaced my short rabbit ears dipole with a uhf bow-tie antenna, kept the long rabbit ears dipole connected with the splitter, and made sure the cables for each were nearly the same length. antennas are still on my 3rd floor ceiling. i think i made a bit of headway, but still pointing antennas occasionally to find ideal directions. both my Homeworx converters like to crash, like the sound going muted, picture freezing, and sometimes losing all reception, all requiring rebooting with the remote to fix problem.

Lukeab, our antenna was a Channel Master, I think CM2016, the same as yours. It went back to the store yesterday because it proved to be no better than rabbit ears when we compared the signal strength for the channels we already get.

When we returned it, the guy at the store said that a lot depends where you are because the digital signals are directional. They don't just go out all around. So it sounds like, if you don't have the luck to be in the path of the signal you want, you may not get it no matter what you do. He said it might get better in the future when the stations beef up their signals. I don't know when that's supposed to happen.

Makes me wonder if the long-term plan is to pull the plug on OTA TV altogether.

Rabbit121, we're getting CBC (CBAT-DT). We must be pretty close to the transmitter; CBC is just up the hill from us. I'm surprised to hear you're getting French CBC as we only get the analogue version. We turn off the converter box when we want to watch it. Good luck with your new antenna.

Oh, you know what's funny? TV Fool seems to think I shouldn't even be getting CBC.

Why do you say that? It is listed as your strongest station. Remember, you need to select the "Pneding applications included" option to see the post-transition operations.

Some advice based on your TVFool report:

You have at least two VERY strong UHF stations, CBAT (digital 31) and CBAFT-10 (analog 19) which are the CBC and SRC stations. I can't tell if Global's CIHF (digital 44) is active, but it would be extremely strong, too. You do not need more than a loop antenna to get them. On the other hand, the CTV station on ch. 9 is MUCH, MUCH weaker, with a noise margin (signal level compared to the minimum needed to successfully decode) of only 2.6 dB. You need an antenna capable of 10 dB gain or more in the high-VHF band to capture this reliably. The CM2016 does not have anywhere near that gain, which is why it didn't work. The guy at the store was probably trying to describe terrain blockage, but as you relate what he said, that's completely wrong.

For CTV, you will need to buy (per this forum's OTA antenna chart) either a Winegard YA-1713 or an Antennacraft Y10-7-13. Don't pay attention to mileage ratings.