You need to be facing south and west for Buffalo.

If you were on the south side of the building and a few stories up without any obstructions, you'd have an excellent chance.

Regarding your position, I'll give you a firm NO.

Jon-W how high up are you? I also live in a downtown, north/west facing condo and was woondering about reception. What stations can you pick up?

I think any of the Toronto stations shown in the GTA Results thread will be available to you.

There's only one post from a member in the downtown area and he claims some local stations can't be picked up...

The only Toronto DTV OTA that he will likely pickup are 9-1 and 5-1. 53-1 and 66-1 are much lower power.

I agree also, the Winegard SS won't be of any help.

Hugh -- he has to face S. and S.E. West will take him too far. Buffalo is S.S.E of Toronto.

thanks for the replies gentlemen. I figured as much about the Buffalo thing but I thought I would give it a try. Sorry about the new thread thought, I did not intend to create one just for this question. WilJP, I bought a cheap nexttel indoor antenna from The Source and picked up SunTV, CTV, CBC, and some channel playing 60 Minutes (not sure if this was Global or a CBS station from the U.S. With some fine tuning I also got CityTV. I hope that helps you out. I am on the third floor

Here are my results: 1-10 bars = 10%-100% signal

14-1 (29) Fox WUTV 29 Buffalo - 7 bars

20-1 (5) CBC CBLT 5 Toronto - 9 bars

24-1 (25) CBC (F) CBLFT 25 Toronto - 8 bars

32-1 (23) UPN WNLO 23 Buffalo - 8 bars

33-1 (2) NBC WGRZ 2 Buffalo - 5 bars

38-1 (7) ABC WKBW 7 Buffalo - 8 bars

39-1 (4) CBS WIVB 4 Buffalo - 7 bars

40-1 (9) CTV CFTO 9 Toronto - 7 bars

43-1 (17) PBS WNED Grand Island / Buffalo - 7 bars

53-1 (57) CityTV CITY Toronto - 8 bars

66-1 (52) SUN TV CKXT Toronto - 6 bars

I have a 50' self-supporting tower.

as my Rogers free trial is on route to ending, i am interested in dumping Rogers Digital Cable, switching to StarChoice with a west coast network feed, and using OTA to get the east coast feed. I have a few questions though:

1) I live in Thornhill, in an area bordered by Dufferin-Bathurst-Centre-Clark.
I have a full view of the CN tower on a clear day.

what is the cheapest way for me to go OTA, and what kind of reception can I expect (Canadian and American stations)

also, my mom records 2 programs off of Basic Cable (global and ctv) with rogers right now. Would i be able to split the antenna signal, one going into the OTA reciever and the other going into the DVD Recorder to record SD programming from CFTO and CIII?

If you check there is a post of a guy from Woodbridge that says that he can get even Buffalo channels in Woodbridge. Maybe someone can direct you to it. I can't seem to find it.

If you can get a Channel Master 4228 up on the chimney or roof you should receive all available OTA.

You would have to split the cable for Global. Gobal is analog. One goes to TV straight the other to the ATSC tuner. But by doing that you may need a distribution amplifier becuase the signals tend to get weaker with a split.

If you check there is a post of a guy from Woodbridge that says that he can get even Buffalo channels in Woodbridge.Woodbridge is north of the 407 so its in the Richmond Hill/North of 407/Markham - OTA Results thread:

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36537

CorSter, read through as many of the GTA area threads as you can. Also, Yaamon is finding that the CM4221 is also a good antenna for your area, but I agree with what Mark2074 said, the CM4228 is generally the "go to" antenna.

I just picked a Motorola Voom DBS receiver with OTA capabilities off ebay. It's äctivated, and has the ability to scan for local channels.

I live near Leslie and Finch.

Through my tv's NTSC tuner, I get a fairly clear picture of analog CITY, Global, CFTO, CFMT using a single bowtie antenna.

I have some problems with the receiver recognizing a signal from the bowtie. Tuning into CITY's RF number, no signal is detected ( or for any of the 69 channels for that matter). Not even a flicker.

My question is: since I get a clear analog picture, should I expect to get a sufficiently strong digital signal ? I'm looking at a CM 4228 eventually, but who wants to climb up on the roof with all that snow-- even if the neighbour has one of those roof shovels to borrow. Would a CM4228 solve my problem?

You are not that far from me. You can expect decent digital signals, but it depends on if you have a good line of sight of the CN tower. If you do, you will mostly likely get US channels as well.

Mark2074,

Unfortunately I'm in a valley that Finch dips into between Don Mills and Bayview. I plan to try an outdoor antenna to see if I can pick up local channels first. I'm testing to see if this receiver even works.

I was hoping that since my indoor antenna picks up some local channels somewhat clearly, that I would be able to pick up digital signals too.

Hey guys,

I'm in a 5th-floor apartment building located at Sherbourne St. and Bloor St. (http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=sherbourne+st.+and+bloor+st.,+toronto&ll=43.672342,-79.376822&spn=0.023343,0.071411) in downtown Toronto. My little apartment's balcony faces east, and had that not been the case I would have gotten myself a FTA satellite setup.

Now I'm examining the OTA HD angle, and my main question is, with a unobstructed by fairly narrow south view - in addition to my east-facing view - am I a good candidate for the purchase of a Samsung SIR-T451 or other set-top box + some antenna? This will be output to my Samsung HLR-4264 DLP HDTV (http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/tv/dlptv/hlr4264wxxac.asp) (which the website claims to have an ATSC tuner but is lying about, as far as I know).

So, to summarize:

- With a open east and narrow south-facing view from a 5th floor apartment at Sherbourne & Bloor St. (http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=sherbourne+st.+and+bloor+st.,+toronto&ll=43.672342,-79.376822&spn=0.023343,0.071411) in Toronto, should I bother purchasing a OTA HD setup?

- If yes, what kind of antenna is my best bet when I have no roof access and have to use my balcony? I would love the option of an indoor antenna, but a fairly inconspicuous outdoor antenna is not a huge issue either.

I hate to join a forum only to post a question, but hopefully the fruits of asking will let me start to contribute back here with some answers for others as well as much questions. Thanks again. :)

You should be able to pick up Buffalo & Toronto. For Buffalo, you are basically aiming S.S.E. Being on the 5th floor, you have an excellent shot. The only issue, what other buildings are right in front of you?

A CM4221 would probably be OK.

From the set's specs -- I can't tell if the tuners are ATSC or not.

this will be output to my Samsung HLR-4264 DLP HDTV (http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/tv/dlptv/hlr4264wxxac.asp) (which the website claims to have an ATSC tuner but is lying about, as far as I know).I haven't found that information. I would ask here in DHC's Sammy forum and/or phone Sammy's 1-800 number to find out for sure whether it already has an ATSC tuner in it.I hate to join a forum only to post a question, but hopefully the fruits of asking will let me start to contribute back here with some answers for others as well as much questions.Think of the DHC OTA Forum as a Knowledge Base rather than just a forum. Looking forward to hearing how things go for you.

intrac's antenna advice is the way I'd go too, with competitors to the CM4221 being the Wade 4BT-1483 or Winegard PR-4400. Yaamon has had good success with the CM4221 in the GTA area for Toronto and Buffalo stations.

Recently I picked up a Channel Master 4221 from Yaamon :)). I finally had a chance to install it somewhere this weekend. I originally planned to mount it on the wall of my house, but I couldn’t find a good spot for it - one day I'd get excellent signal strength, the other day I'd loose half of the stations - ? There is a 5 storey building about 150 meters from my house that partialy blocks my southern view, so maybe that's the culprit.

I settled for an indoor installation :/ - in my garage, at least until I re-roof the house. The signal has to pass through our garage walls and an adjacent garage. The antenna is mounted about 10ft above ground.
I'm getting following channels:
FOX 14 @ 80%
CBC 20-1 @ 90%
UPN/CBS 32 @ 80%
ABC 38 @ 70
CBS 39 @ 70
CTV 40 @ 90
PBS 43 @ 90
CityTV 53 @ 90
SunTV 66 @ 80

The funny thing is CBC French - It seems that when I adjust the antenna for US stations the CBC French gets into some kind of dead reception spot, and I get only 40% on it. If I rotate the antenna by 2 degrees either way, it jumps back to 90% - but that kills 10% of the US stations. More tweaking to do.

I'm not receiving NBC (about 40%), although I was able to pull it in at 70% couple of days ago (lasted one day ?).

I have about 130ft of cable and a cheapo RCA amp plugged in on the antenna side. The amp bumps the signal by about 15-20%. Without the amp I can still receive all these stations, but channels 38 and 39 aren't reliable. Should I be able to get significantly better results with a better amp?

Thanks for all help!

j2k glad to see you got decent results. :) Man that was fast work with the tempoary install. :D

The reason why chan 38 and 39 is not reliable they are in the area where Nbc is. These transmitters are further away and at a lower elevation compared to the station you get from Grand Island.(Fox, Pbs, Cbs32)

To get Nbc, Abc, and the other Cbs station properly the antenna needs to be mount alot higher. Once you mount it on your roof or above the eves, you should be able to receive all the channels properly.

The signal that you have gotten from 10' off the ground is excellent for being in the garage.

130' feet of cable is long and I would recommend a better amp like a Winegard AP4700 preamp. But it seems that the little rca amp is working for you. If you have time try and mount the amp closer to the antenna and see if you get better results rather than close to the tv.

This way you are boosting a stronger signal closer to the source rather than at the end where the signal is alot weaker.

I have found that any cable run longer than 65-70' on a 4221 starts to lose signal.

Remember if its a indoor amp that you cannot use it outdoors. Temp your garage is fine as long as you have ac power close by.

Yaamon the antenna works great. Compared to the amplified indoor one that I had before I get much more reliability and no walking around to get various channels. The amp is sitting in the garage very close to the antenna.
NBC is bugging me a little bit, but you're right - the height matters. I stuck the antenna on a pole about a meter above the roof of the garage, and I was getting 60% signal strength without an amp.

In general I'm very happy with the setup :) Now I just need to see how it handles bad weather and check if operating the garage opener changes anything :D

Just did a install for a existing customer used a set of diplexer since I had installed a satellite at his house a few years ago.

Used a 4221 antenna, cable run was short about 50'.

Customer tv is a Sony KDLV32XBR1 32" Bravia, pointed the antenna using a compass 170' went inisde and did a channel scan. :)

92% on Nbc and 95% on Fox. All other stations was between 95-98% except Sun was at 85%. I was suprised very little signal loss with the diplexers.

Was expecting Nbc and Fox to be around mid 80's.

Did not bother to move the antenna, I just tighten it up. :)

The customer said to me how did you know where to point the antenna that I did not need to adjust it, he said by eye? I said no way I'am blind I wear contact lens. :D I said it's from experience and with a compass.