Hello all, I am in the Chicopee/Centreville area of Kitchener and have a DTV/ATSC capable LCD TV. I was thinking about getting a CM4228 to get the OTA HD channels. From my location, what is the minimum height the antenna would need to be at get reception? I am not really interested in erecting a tower in my yard.

(also, any more updates on when Kitchener will get their digital transmitter tower running?)

Hi All,

Is anyone in Cambridge east side using an OTA antenna? Can anyone fill me on what channels I can pick up? What is a good antenna and where can I get one?

Thanks,
Rob

Hi I am in the North end of Cambridge just started with OTA HDTV love it so far. I am getting all the Buffalo HD OTA and all the Toronto signals.

I am using a UHF arrow outside on a 48ft tower and an older 80's channel master amp with an old rotor. I have a new amp for sale I bought and did not need.

All my channels at night are in the 90's during the day mid 70's to 80.

rvhoody, you'll see a tool called "Search this Thread" in the blue navbar above. You can input the term "Cambridge" into in and see quite a few related posts in this thread about your area. :)

I think hsplrguy's post bodes very well for you with a tower (if you need one where you are).

Thanks Stampeder we get a little more inteference during the day but have not lost the OTA HD Buffalo feeds it just drops to around 75-80%. The last few nights I have even gotten some Rochester NY HDTV channels. I have a few that show up and not sure where they are also I get no channel id. The image on OTA is so crisp compared to my 6120 HD channels in the 800's. Hockey on CBC totally blew me away.

hsplrguy, just wondering if you are able to pick up fox?

i am in the west end of waterloo (Post #214) and am using a channel master 4228 with a cm7777 preamp. I'm able to pick up nbc, abc, cbs, and pbs on occasion, the past few weeks seeing them more and more, but have yet to even get a signal on fox.

this is of course with my channel pointed towards toronto, i've been planning raising the antenna and pointing it towards buffalo to see what happens.

yes got Fox29 and Mytv on 49 you have to point a little away from Toronto so you stations from TO will drop to about 70% and the Buffalo's come in great but if you go to far the 2,4,7 come in excellent but then 29,49 suffer. You have to compensate just a bit on the TO stations to get all the Buffalo in one shot. But have not lost signal on any. I do ocassionaly lose City HD 53 and SunTv 66 but no worries as SunTv comes in on 15 in HD for me as well.

What OTA channels can I receive? I am located in Kitchener and am Curious if I can get Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo or any other OTA HD channels.
I would like to know before I buy one and am Curious if their are any good stores to buy OTA antennas in Kitchener.
Thanks

I would also like to hear from someone in the north end of Cambridge (Hespeler) area.

I tried sending a PM hsplrguy who seems to have a working setup, but have not had a reply after almost a month.

As long as I can get a reliable signal from the major networks (ABC,NBC,CBS,CW,FOX), I can look at dropping rogers. I am mainly worried about FOX.

Thinking about putting a 4228 mounted off the chimney.

I am going to double check line of site from my roof tonight, but will most likely put up a cm4228 off my chimney.

Will split it two ways, to the inputs on the HDHomerun, which will feed the signals into a windows vista ultimate machine running media centre. Will then use an xbox 360 to play things back via a projection setup.

In the future I can pick up additional xbox 360's to use as extenders on other sets in the house, giving them all access to recorded content.

I will be picking up an amp right away too (waiting to hear back from someone selling a cm7777). I figure I will need it with the distance (I am in the north end of Cambridge (Hespeler)).

Will post my results when I am done.

Walter.

I am going to double check line of site from my roof tonight, but will most likely put up a cm4228 off my chimney.

Will split it two ways, to the inputs on the HDHomerun, which will feed the signals into a windows vista ultimate machine running media centre. Will then use an xbox 360 to play things back via a projection setup.

In the future I can pick up additional xbox 360's to use as extenders on other sets in the house, giving them all access to recorded content.

I will be picking up an amp right away too (waiting to hear back from someone selling a cm7777). I figure I will need it with the distance (I am in the north end of Cambridge (Hespeler)).

Will post my results when I am done.

Walter.

wfeddern, you might need to think about stacking 2 CM4228s if the geography makes reception a bit too weak. You'd gain about 3dB before the signal enters the preamp. Here's hoping you won't need to do that. :)

wfeddern, you might need to think about stacking 2 CM4228s if the geography makes reception a bit too weak. You'd gain about 3dB before the signal enters the preamp. Here's hoping you won't need to do that. :)

Hi folks, I live in the Waterdown area, but am going to set up an antenna for my niece who lives in Rockwood (SE of Guelph), in a new subdivision high on a hill, with no obstructions. Suggesting she needs a 4228 with a SM Spartan preamp. I'm guessing this area is OK for the TO stations, but should she expect to get any of the Buffalo stations??

Hard to say but with the CM 4228 you will have your best shot. Your description of the subdivision makes it sound favourable. Might have to use a rotor to get TO and Buffalo, but try without first.

Hello and thanks for all the (overwhwelming) info on OTA. I am new to the forum and to OTA, but have stepped into the pond ankle deep. So far I have connected a Samsung 260 and got no results.

I am just north of Waterloo, 100km from the CN tower and on a reasonable rise of land. I have an old 70's vintage VHF antenna and rotor on a (approx) 45 foot tower.

A couple of questions:

1-Should I get my usual analog signals with the Samsung? I get nada.

2-I fully expected to have to go to the next step which is a UHF antenna. My neighbour has what looks like a Winegard 8200 I can have for the price of climbing the tower. Or is the CM 4228 really the uber-antenna? I really don't care about the lower few channels. I'm thinking the price of the CM is cheaper than having to climb his tower!!

Ok, three questions:

3-TVfool shows a digital antenna co-located with CKCO's Baden tower. Is this just an paper antenna or is CKCO now digital?

Thanks for the help! I'm enjoying the learning experience, hopefully I'll enjoy the HD soon too!

Corndog

Hi corndog and welcome here - if you want the digitals from the CN Tower (assuming they even carry to your location - I really don't know if they do) then you would need to look at the deepest fringe UHF recipe: 2 CM4228s stacked on your tower feeding into a strong preamp down to your Sammy tuner.

As for digitals already in your area, sorry but nope, not yet. If CKCO and Global do put up digitals after 2011 then the rig I've described above might be too strong but that's a few years off and we don't know for sure if there will be time extensions granted. As long as you have a rotor you could always angle them away from local stations to receive them on a weaker back or side lobe, so I think you would do okay.

Regarding taking down an old antenna, I can tell you from lots of experience that it is one of the most unpleasant OTA tasks out there due to dirt, rust, mould, and birdie poopoo getting into your eyes, nose, and mouth... :mad: and I don't think your neighbour's antenna is the right pick for what you want.

corndog:

The Samsung DTV-H260F OTA tuner is strictly a digital ATSC and digital clear QAM tuner. It can't and won't scan for analog OTA signals.

I'm also in West Waterloo not far from the landfill site. I'm thinking of getting an antenna. A couple of things, I don't know were I can buy one in the KW area and if there is an installer. Since my roof is very high, I'm hoping that I could install it on my roof instead of a tower.

I am in the north end of Cambridge (hespeler).

Finally recieved my HD Homerun receiver last week. I installed a CM 4228 and 7777 on a 10ft mast to my chimney.

I had some issues with routing the wire down to the basement (I went in the roof near the chimney, via a small hole drilled underneath a lifted shingle), but was able to finally get the cable fished through. Unfortunately with the storm coming last weekend, I ran out of time, and just took a rough guess on direction, and secured the mast.

I have not had time to properly aim yet, but so far I can get a clear picture on the following:

Suntv (15)
CBLT [CBC] (20)
WNLO [CW] (32)

Last evening I was also able to get
WIVB [CBS] (39)
WNED [PBS] (43)

and WGRZ [NBC] (33) but a very poor signal which came and went.

I am hoping that once I fine tune the aiming I can pick up more.