Thanks guy for all the feedback. I was just trying to help those after me like you guys help me when I first decided to go OTA. OTA has to be promoted more so that we get more channels. But that is wishful thinking since Canadian market is not as big as the States. I guess I have to catch American broadcast though I would prefer Canadian content. I been trying to get all my family members to convert to OTA but then they have to buy an HDTV first.

It is just awesome with the picture quality I get compared to analog cable. My cable bill will be gone next month. :) It is such a waste of money to even considered basic cable when I get this kind of quality for free. Now if you must have your DISC-HD, TSN_HD and such then I guess you have to subscribed. But other than high hope DISC-HD for free, I don't really care for anything else.

026163, about the splitter, is there a specific frequency range or amplification I need to look for when buying a non-powered or powered splitter? I assumed a powered splitter because I don't want to lose signal level. I also would prefer the splitter over the preamp since I can plug it inside the house. A preamp means I have to send power out to the antenna which I do not want to do. BTW, I really can't remember the exact price since I bought the box of RG6 years ago. I had just enough to finish my current setup. I would assume RG6 to be around $35-40 for 250-300 feet at Home Depot. I was not too worry abou that price since the crimping tool was the biggest cost.

99gecko, good advice about grounding the mast. I guess it nevered occured to me to ground it because I thought the current would travel through the RG6. I guess it can also hit the mast and would have to travel through the house to discharge. BTW, what is the standard depth a grounding post should go down to?

i wouldn't buy a non-powered splitter. If all your channels were coming in at excellent, and you wanted to split your signal, and non-powered would be fine then.

i can't tell you tons about powered splitters, but i know theres a basic one at the source for 30$ that takes your signal, and duplicates it into 4 identical signals for 4 TV's (or it did for me anyways). i think they are pretty straight forward, and the good thing about the source is that if it doesn't work right, take it back.

BTW, what is the standard depth a grounding post should go down to?

If you read through that forum (I know it's long - took me quite a while), you'll find what others have done.

This probably belongs in that thread but,...

My research indicated varying notions of between 4 ' and 8'. Myself, I sunk a 4' copper ground rod, exactly 4' into the ground ~ 3' away from the house to avoid gas, phone and cable lines. However I am by no means an electrician, and I highly recommend getting a qualified opinion.

Please note there are lots of other considerations - type of soil (avoid sand and gravel), what else is now grounded by your new ground (i.e. does your ground wire touch your aluminum eavestrough, which in turn touches the gas line :eek: - mine does and requires modification of my downspout routing), and loop ground :
(see http://www.hometheatersound.com/features/videonoise/vn_20030601.htm)

cheers

hieppo

im in the same area as you... how high is your antenna mounted.... mine is about 5m above the ground... i have a cm4221.... im getting terrible reception on some stations... with my tv i need at least 30% stable signal to get proper reception... noticed almost no difference when NBC and ABC increased signal power... i dont need a preamp since my cable is 7m long

2 NBC - goes on and off... sometimes 50%, other times 10%-25%
4 CBS - once in a blue moon ill get 30%... usually 5%
5 CBC - great 90-95%
7 ABC - rarely i get it around 50%.... usually 15-25%
9 CTV - great 85-90%
23 UPN - good stable at 65%
25 CBCF - great 85-90%
29 FOX - good usually stable at 60-65%... sometimes it goes below 30% for extended periods
34 - awful... once in a blue moon 30%... otherwise 5%
43 PBS - poor... usually 15-25%... rarely ill get 30-50%
57 CITY - great stable 90%
66 SUN - great stable 80%

Hi All,

location: downtown Toronto (sherbourne/bloor)

I face w-sw from my balcony, and have clear line of sight with the CN Tower. The crappy whip antenna I got with my Dvico Fusion 5 USB picks up the stronger local channels, but not all very well (some 20%, 50%, 8-12db, no picture/sound).

I want to pick up everything possible (locals, NY, Det?) including analog ch 2-14 (or higher, tuner supports digital and analog).

What kind of outdoor, stationary antenna should I get? If I lean over the railing to face south, I can see the lights of Niagara Falls or Buffalo (not sure) across the lake, but I don't think I could really mount anything to point in that direction.

If I get some super duper antenna, will there be issues with strong local signals interferring in some way? (5 km from CN Tower). I'm trying to avoid antennas bigger than say 3 ft sq. Oh, and I need to run the cable about 30ft from my balcony to my tuner, preamp necessary?


thanks!
p.

2 NBC - goes on and off... sometimes 50%, other times 10%-25%
4 CBS - once in a blue moon ill get 30%... usually 5%
5 CBC - great 90-95%
7 ABC - rarely i get it around 50%.... usually 15-25%
9 CTV - great 85-90%
23 UPN - good stable at 65%
25 CBCF - great 85-90%
29 FOX - good usually stable at 60-65%... sometimes it goes below 30% for extended periods
34 - awful... once in a blue moon 30%... otherwise 5%
43 PBS - poor... usually 15-25%... rarely ill get 30-50%
57 CITY - great stable 90%
66 SUN - great stable 80%

something isn't right about those results. in some cases, people from Toronto have low signals on one or two stations from Buffalo, but not everyone (except UPN) like that.

I wonder if your antenna is just in a really bad location by chance. is there a way you could move it around a bit, try to experiment with different positions in your (yard?) im guessing.

this could be the case of your antenna just being in a dead spot, and moving it to the other side of your yard will solve your problems. height meight help too, but 5m about the ground sounds high enough. Is there a huge tree of building right in front of your antenna between Buffalo?

i don't think you'll be pulling in any Detroit stations on a regular basis, bit too far away for that. You certainly have a good chance at Rochester though with some good equipment.

You are up 30 floors, so you really want to take advantage of that, but if you unable to find a good position for your antenna that has a fairly clear path towards Buffalo, a big outdoor antenna won't do you any good.

do you have a clear view to Rochester? If so, they have pretty much all the channels as Buffalo, so you could aim an antenna like the 4221 at Rochester and then recieve the Toronto channels from the back.

do you have a clear view to Rochester? If so, they have pretty much all the channels as Buffalo, so you could aim an antenna like the 4221 at Rochester and then recieve the Toronto channels from the back.

thanks for the info!

I'm going to look into a cm4221, unless someone can suggest something similar with good VHF reception. Is the cm4228 really over 6 ft tall? :o

I borrowed a strange RCA ant706 'archery bow' looking thing:
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:RCA%20ANT706%20Antenna:1991361503:page=user-reviews

... and its not great, better than nothing. Propped it up on a box against the wall on my balcony for now. Without the 10db power injecter, I picked up the locals, but with it and fully extended, I also picked up WKBW, Jamestown, PBS and a couple more. All locals were at 100%. No WUTV FOX-HD, little or no signal. Is anyone downtown still getting them?

for the curious, I was told its avail at a local surplus store, but I'm not really sure if its much better than ears&loop.

protovision

Let's just be clear that in Downtown Toronto if you live in a tall building and your balcony faces east or southeast and there are no buildings in the way there is the possibility of getting Rochester stations. Just a possibility, not an expectation.

For most Downtown Toronto viewers Buffalo stations will be just fine, with Rochester stations being nice-to-have but not likely.I'm going to look into a cm4221, unless someone can suggest something similar with good VHF reception. Is the cm4228 really over 6 ft tall?I'm not sure where you're getting your info but the CM4221 is UHF only, and the CM4228 is less than 3 feet tall. Please read through the OTA Forum Knowledge Base and FAQ. :)

I'm not sure where you're getting your info but the CM4221 is UHF only, and the CM4228 is less than 3 feet tall.

I realize the cm4221 is UHF only, I was thinking I might live without the local analogs, unless someone had a suggestion for an equiv UHF+VHF. I've read that the cm4228 does alright for VHF.

The first site I went to listed the cm4228 as '6.5', either I read wrong, or its listed wrong. thanks for the clarification.

p.

the CM4228 is useless for channels 6 and under. The lowest digital stations around here is 14 so no worries there. You won't get the low analogs though, but they are all availalbe in HD, so doesn't matter

this could be the case of your antenna just being in a dead spot, and moving it to the other side of your yard will solve your problems. height meight help too, but 5m about the ground sounds high enough. Is there a huge tree of building right in front of your antenna between Buffalo?well my neighbours house is at around the same level as the antenna so that might be a problem.... the trees in the path are not too close but they are a few metres higher than the antenna

im getting terrible reception on some stations... with my tv i need at least 30% stable signal to get proper reception... Your antenna must face the wrong way or there is something blocking the signal. From Etobicoke, (I grew up there, with OTA and a rotor), you should be able to get all Buffalo Stations with a 4221.

My antenna is about 20 feet high. It has a clear view of the south. My problem is that my wire is too long. I don't want to drill a hole in the wall to feed the wire directly. I fished it through the same way as my satelite wires. I know the length is an issue. I have a direct wire to the TV (30feet) and 34-1 comes in well enough to watch and everything else is solid. If I send it through 75 feet of cable, the signal drops down like there is bad weather (rain and clouds).

I have to experiment with different amplifier so that I can send the signal to two receivers. This will be a challenge since there are so many brands and models out there.

hieppo if you can use any good antenna preamp there is no testing needed to see what works.

Dont use cable/booster they are not the same performance.

The top brands that I would use is the Winegard AP4700 at 19db gain or the Channel master 7775 @26 db gain.

I have found that the Winegard is more than powerfull enough to have a 80' run and split 4 ways.

Well I recieved my Dvico USB Gold and Philips PHDTV1 from Snapstream today (after a week of wait).
http://store.snapstream.com/fusionhdtv-gold-usb.html

I put the antenna in balcony and here is the list of channels. There is a heavy rain today.
I am at Broadview and Danforth Area (live on the 4th floor) and my balcony is facing DVP. The CN tower is blocked by some trees and another high rise.

I can get CBC (CBLT-DT) 95%, CFTO-HD 80%, I have a couple WNED channels. I have 2 radar channels. And the analog channels are not watchable. May be TVO if pushed.

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1626/dviocooy0.gif
If I buy a CM 4221 or 4228 I think I will get more and better?

If I buy a CM 4221 or 4228 I think I will get more and better?

I definately think you'll get better reception with a 4228. I tried a baby antenna before i got a real one, BIG difference.
I see some of your channels aren't re-mapping, I'm not at all familiar with that tuner, but i really like the output form.

This is a great thread. I'm new to OTA (I've read the sticky posts) and I'm thinking about trying it out for HDTV broadcasts and using an HTPC (likely with an ATI HDTV wonder).

I'm located just north of Sheppard E. between Victoria Park and the 404 and I wanted to know if people had experience with reception from both Toronto and U.S./Buffalo stations.

It appears there has been a lot of success with the CM4221 in the GTA. I'd rather not have to go with a rotor as I'd like to have a PVR setup as part of the HTPC.

I'd rather hide my antenna as much as possible but I can place the antenna up on a chimney (it's on the south part of the house and fortunately my backyard is on the south side of the house as well).

Any thoughts and experiences would be greatly appreciated!

whoca to receive proper reception from Buffalo the antenna needs to have a clear view south towards 180-170 deg.

If you were to stand on your roof or where you would mount the antenna can you see the Cn tower clearly?

If you can I dont think you will have any problems. The 4221 is a excellent choice for a small outdoor antenna. Great performance for the size and more than enough in the gta area to get all the Buffalo and station off the Cn tower.

I know in the Markham area and north when Iam on the roof I can clearly see the Cn tower.

Hey guys,

Did anyone else was able to scan 26-1 last night? I was able to scan the channel but unable to view anything. The odd thing though is my built-in tuner lose channel once in a while. I tried to scan for 26-1 again and was not able to find it again.

Does anyone know what 26-1 is?