Well then, Red Deer it is. Anyone else in Calgary snagging CBC Edmonton's Red Deer repeater on analogue 22?

No, not for a little while now.
Two/three weeks ago, if I planted my modified Stealth Hawk (DIY antenna) on the balcony in just the right way, I could get snowy reception with decent, decipherable audio. It got a little better if I held it up in the air to peak above the flat roof.

I picked up cfcn 4.1 at 80% in red deer for 15 min.

had a lock on global at 92%

I also had ch 12 rocky mountain house , had cfcn floating on top of city on ch 4.

I put my preamp on my calgary antenna, that helped a lot.

I also put a metal screen behind the antenna to boost the gain.

My best bud in Tuscany reports getting good reception of CICT-DT and CFCN-DT in his basement using my old SBGH. However, he says there are picture disturbances (dropouts and pixelation) to CICT-DT when he or his wife move about in the room and hallway, so it looks like he's got a multipath problem down there. Maybe I'll haul one of my modified Stealth Hawks over for some experimentation …

However, he says there are picture disturbances (dropouts and pixelation) to CICT-DT when he or his wife move about in the room and hallway,

This is a common problem with any indoor antenna (you will notice analog reception will also change as you walk around the room, often in ways that are don't seem to make any sense). This alone is a good reason to get the antenna out of the room and outside or at a minimum in the attic.

roger1818 - Agreed - A loft or outdoor antenna is really the only way to go with any TV service in all but the most favourable circumstances.

This present thread is now only for discussion of local reception results, reports, and questions in the City of Calgary and across Southern Alberta south of Red Deer.

All discussion of the actual technical and operational status of TV stations in the same area now goes in this stickied thread: OTA Station Status: Calgary and Southern Alberta (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=128296)

Yesterday, I installed a mostly modified CM4221HD in Bridgeland (did not resize the reflector). I am getting reception in the mid 80's for both CICT-DT and CFCN-DT on a Toshiba TV with an SNR around 30db.

Digital Home provided all the information required to make this happen. Thank you.

That's great! Are you on the flat, low part of Bridgeland or somewhat up the hill?

I am on the low part on 4th ave about 700 ft south-east from the Ukrainian cathedral. TVFool GoogleEarth patterns show that I am on the edge between green and red.
The antenna was vertical, pointed around 270 degrees, I have inclined it up about 5 degrees and got a small increase of 1 db, steady of 31 db. (signal strength went from 85 to 90 on both channels). Other than the hill and tall trees, I have a clear sky:D

I was given an old antenna from my neighbor,who hasn't used it in about ten years. I decided to mount it to my house to see what I would get. Getting all Calgary analoges fairly well. Channel 2 glogal is snowy but not bad. The clearest ones are CBC channel 9, CTS channel 32, and Omni Channel 38. I'm also getting CTV on channel 12? Snowy but watchable, and something on channel 11,but its too week to make it out, might be CBC. We also decided to connect it to my sons new HD set, got global HD showing as Channel 2.1,but couldn't get CTV HD. Originally had the antenna connected to the antenna input for 3-4 satellite switch( I think thats what its called).I then disconnected from the satellite thing and hooked his tv up direct to the antenna, through a ground block, and rescanned we now get CTV HD on 4.1.

Any time you see signals disappear as you add or change connections you know that you're on the borderline of workable OTA signal strength. A preamp will fix it so that you'll always get the DTV stations from Calgary. :)

@frontpl8: Thanks for the report!
FYI … if you can see CTV Calgary on VHF 12, you're probably receiving CFCN-1 Drumheller, which is about halfway between Drumheller and Hanna. CBC on VHF 11 is probably CBRT-5 Bassano.

These two stations must be coming in from the back side of antenna, as I've got it pointed at Calgary. Is this normal for this to happen?

I know a pre amp will help because I've got a fair bit of cable to travel through, probably 100 ft total between antenna, and all tv's, plus if I add splitter, too. Will this also bring the weeker analoges in clearer as well, or is the fact there isn't enough power coming from the transmitters right now?

frontpl8 - Yes - if you have a VHF Hi antenna that is not strongly directional or have it pointing the wrong way (i.e. towards the EAST) - you will receive the CTV channel 12 repeater in Drumheller. You may also receive CBC from Bassano on Channel 11 but this signal may be weaker depending on your location.

Adding a splitter will certainly reduce the signal level downstream.
The number of outputs from the splitter will also decrease the output of each line downstream further. So if you are considering a pre-amp, this may well improve the situation as far as signal level goes depending on the type of splitter you use and it's number of outputs. The lower the number of Decibels of loss, the better!

Thanks for the advice regarding preamps.I am though confused, since i have been reading through the posts on preamps, I'am looking for a recommendation. I am not sure how powerful of a preamp I should get, and I certainly don't want to overdo it and cause possible tuner damage.I m also on a bit of a budget too ,so don't want to go overboard on price either. I am also thinking of rewiring the whole set up, by locating the 4way splitter near where the antenna feed come in, and running everything to there. Right now its just tapped into the Cable tv feed near the breaker panel box, which requires about 75 extra feet of cable.I'm thinking by cutting out all this extra cable I can hopefully get by with a lower powered preamp.Would this be a good idea?
BTW last night with just one analog tv hooked up the signal was great on all channels,except channel 2 Global was still a bit snowy. I was even getting CFCN Drumheller channel 12 coming in good, as was CBRT channel 11,though it was snowy was watchable. I'm not really interested in these channels as they are just duplicates of Calgary, but just thought I would note what the reception was like on them.

frontpl8, don't sweat it too much - you're planning to drive several lines from one preamp, and you're in a rural area, so go for a CM7777 and also pick up a couple of attenuators, which are cheap. See Post #14 in the OTA FAQ (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=362984&postcount=14) to understand how amps and attenuators work together to give you the best signal levels for your own situation.

When you hook up your preamp for the first time just make sure to put in the attenuators first between the preamp and the splitter to test your system. You would remove each of the attenuators one by one (testing each time) to find the right combo.

Stampeder: Thanks a lot for your help. When I get a preamp and attenuators I will try that.

I've begun scanning for CKAL-DT (Citytv) on Channel 49 on a regular basis, now that the CRTC has approved it. No signal as of yet.