Looks like you're probably shielded by Mount Carmel to your south. You may get WWNY-DT 7 from Watertown if you point your antenna EastSouthEast.
Post your tvfool.com results to be sure, but you may be out of luck until the Kingston locals convert to digital, unless you want to put up a 200 foot tower.

I have a friend living in the lake of the mountain area. He gets Rochester, Syracuse and Watertown from his location.

If you are able to get your hands on a different antenna, preferably one on the antenna chart that Stampeder maintains, I would suggest that as well. Please post your TV Fool data as well. How far are you from the CJOH retransmitter?

My Wife was P.O.ed that she couldn't watch any of the Olympic figure skating events since there is no CTV channel in the Kingston area. She decided that she would search every channel manually to try and get a channel. Lo and behold, she picked up CFCF out of Montreal! It was the middle of the day this past weekend, so I didn't believe her until I saw it with my own eyes.
The signal was a bit snowy, but it was watchable. As of this morning, we were still picking it up.
I jokingly told her I'd go up on the roof to see if I could adjust the antenna for a better picture, to which she replied "Only if you wear you slippery shoes".
No respect.

Don't you get CJOH on channel 6 out of Deseronto?

I have a friend living in the lake of the mountain area. He gets Rochester, Syracuse and Watertown from his location.

If you are able to get your hands on a different antenna, preferably one on the antenna chart that Stampeder maintains, I would suggest that as well. Please post your TV Fool data as well. How far are you from the CJOH retransmitter?
The OP says he's at Green Point. If you look at TVFool interactive maps, you'll see that he's probably in the valley just north of Mount Carmel (where channel 6 transmitter is.) The Syracuse and Rochester stations are all at negative NMs for him. Obviously, if he was at the top of Mount Carmel (where the old Ottawa Cable Consortium headend picked up Rochester analogs) it would be a different story.

Mr Frugal, you should be able to get CJOH on channel 6 pretty decent in the Kingston area. If you have a 4-bay antenna, then it will be pretty rough. I know from experience, I couldn't get CJOH-6 to save my life, not that there was much on it at that time to watch besides Corner Gas.

TVLurker, negative NMs aren't good.

My friend is also a HAM enthusiast, so he has one heck of a setup which probably helps along with the location.

Hi:
This is my first post. I have been wandering the site on and off now for a couple of weeks. I first got interested in OTA after reading an article in the Toronto Star. I had abandoned my 23 yr. old antenna a few years back for BEV and its expanded digital service. Last year I took the plunge and bought my first HDTV, additional receiver and everything is good.

But with increasing BTV bills I thought I should explore OTA.

This isn where it gets good. I had not taken down the old VHF/FM/UHF antenna so after reading some of stampeders posts I thought why not. I plugged the old RG-59 cable into the back of the television set and scanned for channels. I got a bunch of analogue channels of varying strength and the following digital channels

2.1 WGRZ -HD
2.2 WGRZ -US
2.3 WGRZ -RT
4.1 WIVB -HD
5.1 CBLT
7.1 WKBW -HD
9.1 CFTO
17.1 WNED -HD
17.2 WNED -SD
17.3 WNED -TH
23.1 WNLO -HD
25.1 CBLT
29.1 WUTV -SD
41.1 CIII -DT
44.1 OMNI 2
57.1 CITV -HD
64.1 OMNI
66.1 CKXT -DT

The antenna is on a 40 ft. tower. I re-checked my channels and I have lost 57.1 and 66.1 (no signal). 43.8, 43.9 are show as signal cannot be decoded.

As I mentioned I have not used this antenna for otherv than FM. It is on a rotar but it has either seized or the control wires have broken because I cannot re-orientate it.

Can I expect much improvement if :
1. manage to fix/replace the rotar.
2. place a new antenna (CM4228?)
3. replace existing coax with some RG6.

hey there i am prity new to the ota sceen,,, but am haveing no luck picking up any digital stations,,,,,
am using a clearsrteem quad loop hd antena on a 60' ant with a preamp (winegaurd) i think,,,

am using a belexpressvue 9200 as my atsc reciver

i live in Prince Edward County the north east part (green point) and i have the antena pointed in a south south east aprox at Syracuse

when i do a scan it only picks up 8 analog stations,,, no digital

any advice will be geatly appreciatted...

Thanks
I was over in your area, on Saturday, and looked at the terrain. You are blocked by Mt. Carmel and it may be difficult to even hit Watertown, from your location. I'm not exactly sure where your array is, but it may take extrordinary measures to get any of the Syracuse/Watertown locals. However, once the weather gets better, try to see if you can use the Bay Of Quinte to hit some gaps to the west and southwest. Rochester may be a better option, or even Buffalo. Being in the extreme east end of Belleville, not far from the north shore of the Bay Of Quinte, I have problems on many of the UHF's out of Rochester, thanks to Mountain View, but the two VHF's work OK. That may be your only option from your location. Best of luck with your attempts.

TVLurker, negative NMs aren't good.

My friend is also a HAM enthusiast, so he has one heck of a setup which probably helps along with the location.
I know. That's why, as PrinceLH points out later on, extraordinary measures are called for in the shadow of Mount Carmel.

My first post in the "OTA Reception" threads.

Location: Kingston. Near the Kingston Shopping Centre.

Near major intersection: Princess St & Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd.
( ... there's a few tall appartment buildings to the south ... )

40 ft bracket tower (approx.)

Winegard HD-9032 "UHF only" antenna, on top of tower, went up today. [Me.]

NO RF preamp YET.
( I've got a Research Communications UHF only amp ready to go - that'll be the next test )

Maybe ... 70 ft of RCA RG-6 COAX cable from antenna to receiver.

Pointed antenna at SYRACUSE N.Y.
Best I could, with a cheapy compass, 180 deg from Magnetic North - ie. straight down the white "South" arrow of the magnetic compass. (TV fool shows that's about correct, from this location, for Syracuse, NY stations. TV FOOL - Azimuth: various Syracuse channels: Magnetic: 180, 177, 183, 180, 180 deg. True: 168, 165, 170, 168, 167 deg. - from the Kingston location.)

Receiver: Digital Stream DTX9950 DTV Convertor Box
(box says made by NHENS Digital inc. Torrance, CA. Kahh-lif-fornia ? )
( purchased in the U.S. - and so far it looks like a pretty good unit for a very reasonable price. Has lots of menu features ... including manual channel list editing, and channel scan with ADD, EPG, analog pass through etc. )

RECEPTION RESULTS SO FAR (NO RF-PRE AMP installed yet...)

Real Virtual Station Signal% Network City

7 7-1 WWNY-HD 28% CBS Watertown NY
7 7-2 WWNY-SD 28% CBS Watertown NY
(note: Picking up a VHF on a UHF only antenna - so results naturally poor )

41 16-1 WPBS 68% PBS Watertown NY
41 16-2 WPBS 68 PBS Watertown NY
41 16-3 WPBS-HD 68 PBS Watertown NY

21 50-1 WWTI-DT 55% ABC ?Syracuse/Utica?
21 50-2 WWTI-2 55 ABC ?Syracuse/Utica?

19 68-1 WSYT-DT 35% FOX Syracuse NY
19 68-2 WSYT 35 FOX Syracuse NY
(and TVfool is showing this one as -1.9dBm NM "noise margin".
(hmmm. less than zero noise margin?)

See what kind of reception that you can pull from the RF35 LP transmitter, that is on the WWNY tower. Tropo is coming next weekend, so get ready.

My first post in the "OTA Reception" threads.

Pointed antenna at SYRACUSE N.Y.
Best I could, with a cheapy compass, 180 deg from Magnetic North - ie. straight down the white "South" arrow of the magnetic compass. (TV fool shows that's about correct, from this location, for Syracuse, NY stations. TV FOOL - Azimuth: various Syracuse channels: Magnetic: 180, 177, 183, 180, 180 deg. True: 168, 165, 170, 168, 167 deg. - from the Kingston location.)


Use TVFool's online maps feature, switch the google view to satellite from terrain, and turn on 'lines to transmitters'. Zoom in on your tower location. You should be able to establish sightlines to landmarks for each transmitter, so you won't need to use a compass.


19 68-1 WSYT-DT 35% FOX Syracuse NY
19 68-2 WSYT 35 FOX Syracuse NY
(and TVfool is showing this one as -1.9dBm NM "noise margin".
(hmmm. less than zero noise margin?)

Yes, that is correct. That -1.9 dB (not dBm, which is an absolute measurement, not a relative one like dB) is the simulated power level (relative to the minum required for ATSC reception) in the air, BEFORE you add your antenna gain and subtract your system noise figure. Your 9032 provides many dB of gain, so your net NM will be positive.

mrvanwinkles please keep us updated I am very interested in hearing how things work out for you, what equipment you end up using and what channels you can pull in. I am waiting for the ground to thaw and then I am going to attempt to put up a tow and antenna(s) and ditch my cable subscription.
WWTI is out of Watertown and WSYS is out of Syracuse.

mrvanwinkles, you might want to try and hit the Utica stations, about 35 miles east of Syracuse too. They are on RF 27, 29 and 30. They may also be viable, if you can hit Syracuse. I can often get RF29, when the tropo is right, here in Belleville. RF24 seems to be the strongest signal, from my location, when pointing at Syracuse.

So last weekend I decided to get the 46" Toshiba in the garage ready to go for the Spring. I hooked up my 4 bay that was not being used. It is about 15' off the ground with 50' of RG6 running to a 10DB amp then to the tv.
Results
2.1
2.2
2.3
4.1
7.1
8.1
10.1
10.2
13.1
13.2
21.1
21.2
21.3
23.1
31.1
49.1
49.2
51.1
51.2
51.3
Guess it's time to plug in the beer fridge and get the car ready to come out of winter hibernation.

Will do.

I'll post some new results very soon when I get some more data and get some more time to get back on the FORUM again.

Basically, I've now installed the Research Communications UHF only RF Pre-Amp this morning. at top of tower -and- Re-pointed the antenna a little better. -and- Pulled up the mast and antenna 3 ft or so higher at the top of the tower - so at least now the corner reflector of the Winegard HD-9032 UHF antenna is clear of the tower steel. -and- taped down / secured the RG-6 coax so it's not hanging loose down the tower.

SAFETY WARNING
(climbing tower / working at top of tower is SCARY and tiring / Do NOT do it folks unless you're sure enough what you're doing and feel fit and strong enough - and tie yourself off good first thing before you do any work up there. SAFETY FIRST - yikes. Hire a professional to do this if in any doubt. Good weather conditions prevailed in Kingston for the last couple of days - so I was "able" to do it. Calm enough, warm enough.)

Basically I was able to improve signal strength quite a bit on the channels I was receiving ... and picked up some more channels too - some watchable - some not. But that's around noon, during daytime - clear weather.

I wanna wait and do some reception tests at night and compare.

But don't forget ... these new channels I'm picking up now are a fair distance away.

Syracuse is about 90 miles, straight line, from where I am.
That's quite a distance for Over the Air Digital TV.
Really ... I'm somewhat impressed I'm receiving some of these far off stations at all - this early in the setup and testing.

P.S. Thanks for suggestions Stampeder and everyone ... I'll get round to those things eventually ...

Stay tuned. More results to come.

I'm staying tuned, Same-Bat-Time, Same-Bat-Channel ;)

mrvanwinkles,

Most UHF antennas can pick up very local VHF reasonably well. If 7RF is the only station you're expecting to receive, then you should do just fine with the antenna you already have. The prostar 1000 antenna has a healthy 15db average gain up to channel 50 before it even begins to drop off. I don't think you'll even need to add a VHF antenna in your case.


Digital Stream DTX9950 reviews are mixed:
http://dtvconverterboxes.blogspot.com/2008/09/digital-stream-dtx9950-digital-to.html

Let us know how you make out with that converter. Apparently they are known to suddenly crash and quit working. If it does fail, then you could pick up a Tivax unit locally with mostly the same features and about the equivelent CDN$.

Good Luck ! Keep us informed on your results.

Your location only has RF7 on VHF that is viable, in Kingston. Myself, 50 miles to the west, only have 3, including RF7, plus RF10 and 13 from Rochester. There is a couple of VHF's, south of Syracuse, in Binghamton, but that's another 45 miles south. Using a dedicated UHF antenna should be no problem from your location. You might want to invest in a rotor, however.