HI all!

Well - we are going back to basics - saying goodbye to the Star Choice

We are located in Ladysmith, south facing and at the top of one of the hills.
What I would like to know - is what is the best bet as far as antenna equipment to start with. We tried an indoor Radio Shack special yesterday - and actually got station 12, 17 and 31 - I believe they were CTV, City Vancouver and Kvos

One was terrific (Bellingham) but the other two were lousy.

Does anyone have any idea what we can realistically expect to receive in our area with an outdoor antenna - and which one would be a good one to start with.

Thank you for any help you can offer

Hi Ladybearbc, if your television is an HDTV with an ATSC tuner (since you got KVOS on 12 it seems that it is) then you would want a deep to deepest fringe antenna on a rotor so that you can swing it around to Vancouver or southeast towards Bellingham and/or Victoria and maybe even for SeaTac stations.

Another option would be one antenna fixed in place (no rotor) towards Vancouver and another fixed in place pointing southeast. You can see several posts in this thread for areas near you to get a sense of what is available.

One further complication: while most of the OTA stations are in the UHF band, Global in Vancouver, CITY on Salt Spring Island, as well as 3 SeaTac stations are or will be broadcasting in the VHF band, so the antenna(s) you choose need to get both VHF and UHF. See the Antenna Chart for more info.

I don't know of any OTA gear dealers on the Island but here's where to start looking:

OTA: BC & Western Canada Parts, Sales, Service, Installers (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=51079)

Some very positive results from the southern tip of the Island. I added a CM7777 pre-amp to my Winegard 8800 and I am now pulling in a whopping 27 digital stations from the SeaTac area. Granted, a few are the wrong language and content for me, but I was able to pull in several new mainline stations with the new pre-amp so I am a believer.

Here is my list of stations:

4.1 KOMO-DT
4.2 KOMO-SD (the KOMOs are new and I've not been able to get before)
5.1 KING-DT (KING was borderline and new very strong)
5.2 KING-SD
7.1 KIRO-DT
7.2 KIRO-SD
9.1 KCTS (PBS) (KCTS was borderline, now very strong)
9.2 V-me
9.3 Create
11.1 KSTW (KSTW is new)
13.1 KCPQ-DT (KCPQ is new)
13.2 KCPQDT2
22.1 KMYQ
28.1 KBTCSD1 (KBTCSD1 is new)
28.1 WrldVie
28.3 KBTCdoc
28.4 Create
33.1 ION
33.2 qubo
33.3 IONLife
33.4 Worship
42.1 DTV42.1 (DTV 42.1 is new)
44.1 AMG
44.2 Azteca
44.3 AAT TV
44.4 MBC
51.1 KUNS

Should get a chance this week to mount my new home built M8 pointed towards Vancouver with the pre-amp to see if the Canadian stations will come in and I will post the results. I am also going to add my Hauppauge PVR150 tuner to my SageTV server and pull off some of the SD locals.

So tried giving the Vancouver digitals a go today now that I have the antenna pre-amp. I've made an M8 -- verified that it works by picking up the Seattle digitals. When I point it towards Vancouver, I'm still not picking up any of the digitals. Channel 22 (Global) shows a very strong signal strength on the HDHR of 90%+ but just won't lock into the digital signal. CBC (58) also shows good signal strength of 70%+ but again, won't lock into the digital signal.

Few more things to tweak to see if bringing in these stations is possible.

Hi Kip

We are in Ladysmith - totally newbies and acquired a motorized antenna from ebay

We pick up KVOS which I believe is in Bellingham - but to date - nothing further south.

Also - all the Digital stations in Vancouver, A channel in Victoria (not pretty), Omni - and the ever popular CBC in french. Also, several of the Vancouver stations come in on analogue.

acquired a motorized antenna from ebayUh-oh, that makes me nervous to see that you did that - I hope it isn't one of the antennas in here: Wacky, Tacky OTA Gear (What NOT To Buy!) (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=35083) :eek:

As I said, you need a deep to deepest fringe antenna on a rotor. The Antenna Chart lists models that I meant by that. ;)

live in enderby bc wondering what chanels can i receive here:confused:

CHBC (So to be a local Global Affiliate)on Channel 16
And CBC (Vancouver) on Channel 24
With an Outside Chance of Global BC (Vancouver)from Vernon on Channel 12

thanks loads guys

what type antena should i use thinking 4221hd

garyr9216, follow the step-by-step instructions in Post #10 of the OTA FAQ and post your TVFool results here in this thread so that we can give better advice. We'll compare those U.S.-based TVFool results with the Industry Canada database to get the most accurate picture of your situation. After that we can recommend the perfect antenna for your needs. :)

Little info is available here and the people at the electronics store are less than helpful. Did my own digging though - Channels available are Global (ch5), CHBC (ch2), CBC (english (ch 45) and french (CH ?)). CTV does not broadcast here. The tower for these stations is in the hills somewhere on the westside on east side OK lake - maybe in area across from The Grand hotel - or further north? I'm in an appartment downtown and rabbit ears work fine for these stations. For now anyways, we'll see what happens come transition time (think it's likely they'll pay to retrofit the tower to digital when the time comes....) Because of our geographical location, I've guessed that using fancier equipment or an antenna placed higher won't get more channels - too many mountains blocking far away signals. Maybe someone knows different though?

Locations of all present and future Canadian TV transmitters are found in the Industry Canada database:

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/Canada_TV_Stations/

Haha. I'm such a newbie. See now that "rabbit ears" would refer to the v part (vhf) part of antenna only? And if that's all I had it wouldn't get ch45?? Bought a nexxtech vhf/uhf with internal amp from the Source in the mall - with the amp on picture quality is decent, but maybe something more would be required if you live outside of downtown or face away from the mountains?

Does anyone have any experience receiving CTV & CITY OTA in Whistler? I'm Creekside and all I'm seeing is snow.
I'm using basic rabbit ears (probably came with the TV). I noticed that these channels are UHF. Do these antennas pick up UHF?

I'm new to this forum and I am really interested in finding out more about OTA possibilities in Campbell River. Can anyone direct me or contact me about what to do to get set up and where to buy the equipment? Thanks, Ron

Hello and welcome here - presently there are no digital OTA stations available in Campbell River, only analogue channels. Please read through the links I'm providing in this post:

I guess just there is no chance of OTA in Victoria if your exposure is shielded from Mount Doug and Saltspring Island. Unless there is something coming over the water from Port Angeles. I do not think there is any digital transmission that can be received in my end of town. Unless I sent up a balloon with a digital antenna on it!

Is line of sight an absolute must? Or is there a way to boost a weak bounce signal. There are lots of stores here that sell "digital antennas" but I think that they only do so as a lark. The same as some retailers selling fishing gear for crappies, perch and muskies, they have to carry the inventory but it is essentially useless.

Hey guys.. just found this topic on CHNM-DT. I'm in Parksville and receiving 42-1 not too badly. I'm running a SBGH in my attic with about 30-35' of cable.

I'm having issues with CTV-DT (CIVT) cutting in and out. No loss of signal (bar remains same) just loss of picture with absolutly no pixalation - Get picture/sound then about 10 seconds nothing - straight to black.. then picture back... It's weird.
Any suggestions?

It was happening for me also on CTV-DT during the NFL playoffs on Sunday. signal strength was consistently 8 bars, which is more than enough. But the picture kept freezing then black then back to live. It was very annoying. Evern during the freeze / black portions it was giving me 8 bars of signal strength.

Has anyone called them to inquire?