Discussion of getting AMC will have to go in the FTA forum, folks. ;) Let's get back to just OTA in this forum.

cheers

I had the mounted on the top of my house but nothing and then moved it abit lower and nothing so maybe even lower or go higher going back out to play with it. I also trying to get my 36" dish with a linier lnbf to pick up amc 3 or 4 put boy very hard.
I wish that there were a few more VHF's to play with. Only three right now, but Buffalo may add one in the not to distant future. WWNY, WHEC and WHAM come in very well, here in the Belleville area. Been trying to shoot for a few others, that are long distant in Binghamton NY, Albany NY, and Erie PA, with no luck. Have been able to hit a couple of the UHF's out of Albany, for a short time. I also get Utica NY once in a while on 29 and 30. The other on 27 gets wiped out from the analog Global channel 27 in Brighton, ON.

Could be difficult picking up the Buffalo 7 with WWNY being on 7 as well. Having VHF in our area though means anyone looking at an antenna, needs to have both UHF and VHF.

Also out of Buffalo, I have been picking up WNYO the past few days. If CJOH lights up its digital transmitter, I won't be able to pick it up anymore.

Could be difficult picking up the Buffalo 7 with WWNY being on 7 as well. Having VHF in our area though means anyone looking at an antenna, needs to have both UHF and VHF.

Also out of Buffalo, I have been picking up WNYO the past few days. If CJOH lights up its digital transmitter, I won't be able to pick it up anymore.
Where is the transmitter going to be located? I thought that they were going to walk away from their Mt. Carmel transmitter, in Prince Edward County? Too bad that they wouldn't broadcast on 6, because it's close enough that I wouldn't need a VHF low antenna.

Hi folks...

Just starting to look into OTA.

I'm a long time user of FTA and familiar with how forums work, so I hope I don't mess up too badly here.

I've read all the posts in this thread and I see that OTA reception in Peterborough might be a challenge.

At present both my TV's are analogue, so I assume the first thing I'm gonna need is a digital-to-analogue converter, right? The supplier I'm looking at recommends a unit called "Channel Master CM7000 D2A Digital to Analogue converter box". Is there discussion here on various brands and types?

And for antennas, they tout the channelmaster 4228HD for "fringe" areas, which I assume Peterborough is.

I'll keep reading and try not to ask too many stupid questions.

Thanks

Hi Danolo,
I can't speak about the converter, but there is a whole thread about ATSC tuners and converters. The 4228 is the antenna of choice. Hopefully you're on high ground and put the antenna as high as possible, tower or rooftop. A rotor will be needed, gives you a choice of buffalo, toronto or rochester. If you become a fanatic like me, you'll end up stacking 2 of those 4228's for more reliable signals. :)

Does anybody know if there will be HDTV service for this repeater (serving Kingston) in 2011?
Or CICO-DT for that matter?

Thanks Tom F1

Yes I think I can get the antenna on the roof...

In stead of a rotor, I'd prefer to use two antennas, one pointing at Toronto and one at the US.

Will this work? Is there info on a setup like that, here?

Thanks

From what i can tell from Wikipedia, Peterborugh's elevation is 195 m, or 640 feet.

The building on which I'm mounting my antenna is about 18 feet high and if I put a 15 foot mast up, that should give me approx. 673 feet elevation or 205 meters.

From what I can see on the Google terrain maps south of Peterborough, there are 200 meter high spots, so this might not do the job.

I think I'll visit the local airport and see if they can give me better info on elevations between here, Peterborough and Lake Ontario.

I think I'll visit the local airport and see if they can give me better info on elevations between here, Peterborough and Lake Ontario.I think I'll visit the local airport and see if they can give me better info on elevations between here, Peterborough and Lake Ontario.

Why make life so difficult -- the interactive map feature at TVFool.com will calculate the path profile between you and the transmitters in Buffalo, Rochester, and Toronto.
It will also tell you whether you have Line of Site, or whether your recption would be via the less efficient single or double edge refraction.

Today is the first day of poor reception we have had in weeks.
This morning was only getting WUHF 31 and WPXJ 51 on UHF.
This afternoon getting no stations on UHF.
10 WHEC and 13 WHAM on VHF still coming in good and strong.

Ok, I got TVFool to work and it seems from those results that for me to get US channels is going to be pretty difficult. It looks like they are "2Edge" and all around 60 - 80 miiles.

My antenna height is going to be the limiter. The highest I can get is about 25 - 30 feet AGL.

Do you think ganged and or stacked antennas are going to work for me?

Thanks

Silly me - I thought it would be easy to get off satellite and get an antenna, until I started to read these posts. Yikes!

The house is on a slight rise so a roof top antenna should work pretty well. But which one is best??? According to TVFool.com,there are lots of channels I SHOULD be able to pick up, but some are north, some south in the US and some south west towards Toronto.

What would be the best multi-directional antenna for me - or should I be looking at a rotor and a unidirectional antenna for the best results. I"ve looked at Stampeder's antenna charts (thanks for all that work!!) but I'm still not sure what my best options are (seems like older models worked better than the newer ones!)

I am totally a Luddite when it comes to all the technical stuff and hoping for a simple - or relatively simple - solution for a guy just wanting to watch some HD TV without having to use a satellite.

All suggestions as to best antenna, where to buy - even who can install in PEC - would be greatly appreciated.

Then my next quest will be for a OTA DVR!

Hi Danolo:

What sort of Noise Margin's NM are you getting? A stacked antenna will add 3dB (max) to your total gain.

I am getting good signal from Watertown (WWNY) with 2 edge at a NM of 3.9.
Cheers.

Ian_D, for your location you definitely want a rotor to swing your antenna around. Can you please post the link to your TVFool results?

All suggestions as to best antenna, where to buy - even who can install in PEC - would be greatly appreciated.

Then my next quest will be for a OTA DVR!

Hi Ian D:
The best antenna - as Stampeder asked, post your TVFool results.
Lightfoot Antenna is right in Picton. I used them for a purchase of an antenna a few years ago.

Your location should be excellent for signals from Watertown, Syracuse and Rochester :), and possibly Buffalo, and Toronto?

I did not have much like finding a decent OTA DVR. I ended up purchasing a TV tuner for my PC. But that is for another thread.

Today is the first day of poor reception we have had in weeks.
This morning was only getting WUHF 31 and WPXJ 51 on UHF.
This afternoon getting no stations on UHF.
10 WHEC and 13 WHAM on VHF still coming in good and strong.
I can agree to that. Had a bitch of a time pulling much out of Rochester and Syracuse the last three days, with all of that heavy rain along the front. The VHF's came in but the UHF's were totally wiped out. Buffalo, forget it. Watertown stayed true and strong, but they were away from that rain front and were not affected. Pulling the radar of of WHEC Rochester and WSTM Syracuse and all you saw was big blotches of green and yellow. They are bouncing back in tonight again so all is well.

Silly me - I thought it would be easy to get off satellite and get an antenna, until I started to read these posts. Yikes!

The house is on a slight rise so a roof top antenna should work pretty well. But which one is best??? According to TVFool.com,there are lots of channels I SHOULD be able to pick up, but some are north, some south in the US and some south west towards Toronto.

What would be the best multi-directional antenna for me - or should I be looking at a rotor and a unidirectional antenna for the best results. I"ve looked at Stampeder's antenna charts (thanks for all that work!!) but I'm still not sure what my best options are (seems like older models worked better than the newer ones!)

I am totally a Luddite when it comes to all the technical stuff and hoping for a simple - or relatively simple - solution for a guy just wanting to watch some HD TV without having to use a satellite.

All suggestions as to best antenna, where to buy - even who can install in PEC - would be greatly appreciated.

Then my next quest will be for a OTA DVR!
I bet you'll get mucho grande signals over there in the County. Living in southeast Belleville and I pull Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Watertown from here, with Utica as a part time signal, as well. I'll bet you can grab those Utica's on 27, 29 and 30 and you might also get a shot at Binghamton and Elmira NY, on a good night, if you get some good gear up and running.

Thanks. Here is the link from TV Fool
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d663db053acac9a

I'm impressed by all of the info and cooperation on this site! As I said, I'm a Luddite in tech stuf, including these "threads" but I'll work my way through them and am so glad I'm not stumbling around in the dark trying to do this.

Thanks

Hey Ian D

You are more than welcome. I find everybody here excellent and more than willing to help

You are going to get good results from:

Watertown (@~100 deg mag, 70 miles)
Rochester (@~214 deg mag, 59 miles)
And should get acceptable reception from Syracuse (@~155 deg mag, 85 miles)

You should go for a good deep fringe antenna with a rotor.
Syracuse is considered deepest fringe for us.
And as PrinceLH mentioned the other stations on good signal days.

I can get Syracuse about 75% of the time with my existing equipment.

I am planning on building a DBGH, but my wife thought it was more important that I replace our rotting wooden fronts steps.:p Been busy the last month installing interlock steps and a walkway.
Hopefully I wll get my "new" DMX-68 tower installed in the next month and then build my DBGH;)

Good Luck