ON/QC - Ottawa, Outaouais, Eastern Ontario - OTA (CLOSED - See Post #1526)

[stampeder]

Results and general regional discussion are allowed in this thread, covering the Ottawa valley down to Cornwall, up through the Outaouais and to the Gatineaus, and east beyond the Quebec border.

[DaveM]

Hi, new to the group, live in Ottawa. Using an OTA module in my ExpressVu model 6000 receiver and a 4-bay in the attic. PBS from Norwood and Plattsburgh generally solid, but since WNPI changed channel ID to 23 my receiver doesn't tune it in properly (hangs for several seconds, then jumps to analog 18). Anyway, glad to see that there's a place to talk about OTA DTV in the Ottawa area. Anyone getting Watertown regularly (WWTI and WWNY)?

Thanks, Dave

[gmd]

Originally Posted by DaveM

Anyone getting Watertown regularly (WWTI and WWNY)?

Do you get Watertown at all?

My moto 100 does not have any problems with WNPI with ID 23.

-gmd

[DaveM]

Originally Posted by gmd

Do you get Watertown at all?

Not usually, but have on several occasions. My antenna is in the attic, and pointed between Mannotick and Norwood (I'm in Stittsville), so it's not really pointed at Watertown. I'm hoping that a pair of CM4228s on the roof this spring and WWNY going full power (not sure when that is) will improve the situation. The bonus with WWNY is that 7.1 is HD CBS and 7.2 is SD FOX.

I've emailed the enigneer at WNPI and he tells me that nothing has changed at their transmitter recently, but they've got a field engineer going out this Frdiay to "fix a couple of small bugs".

Dave

[gmd]

Originally Posted by DaveM

I've emailed the enigneer at WNPI and he tells me that nothing has changed at their transmitter recently, but they've got a field engineer going out this Frdiay to "fix a couple of small bugs".

Do you have a pair of CM4228s in your attic right now? Did you get those in Ottawa? I need to upgrade my good ol' YAGI...

-gmd

[DaveM]

Originally Posted by gmd

Do you have a pair of CM4228s in your attic right now? Did you get those in Ottawa? I need to upgrade my good ol' YAGI...

-gmd

Nope, just a 4-bay Radio Shack antenna for now. I'm getting the itch to get a pair of CM4228 antennas and mount them in a vertical stack about 10-15 feet above the roof. I'm assuming that I'll mail-order them, or take a drive to Ogdensburg one weekend.

Something's not right with WNPI-DT. It's showing up as channel 23-1, and no video/sound. WCFE on channel 38 comes in fine, and I just noticed that test transmitter on 67 is back up. Hopefully whatever they tweak tomorrow will fix this up.

Dave

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by DaveM

The bonus with WWNY is that 7.1 is HD CBS and 7.2 is SD FOX.

I was just noticing this on WWNY's website and according to W9WI.com, WWNY-DT [35] is transmitting at 1000 kW (are they up to full power yet?) as compared to 316.0 kW for WWNY-TV [ 7]. Has anyone been able to pull this in from Ottawa? Are they always transmitting both CBS and FOX?

[gmd]

I've never picked it up with my Motorola.

BTW, I lost WCFE for about a week. It came back last night; are they doing something to the signal?

-gmd

[louisph]

I'm curious, since we would be in the "deep fringe", if someone actually tried catching something else than the test transmitter from Manotick?

There is no sticky for this section...

Thanks,

[stampeder]

I revised the title of this thread to take into account the area that would receive OTA signals from the Ottawa stations (Hull, Gatineau, Aylmer, Chelsea, Outaouais region). Regarding points east to the Lachute area, as long as they can get the Ottawa stations they can go in this thread. If they get the Montreal stations better, they can go in the Montreal thread.

[gmd]

Originally Posted by stampeder

I revised the title of this thread to take into account the area that would receive OTA signals from the Ottawa stations (Hull, Gatineau, Aylmer, Chelsea, Outaouais region). Regarding points east to the Lachute area, as long as they can get the Ottawa stations they can go in this thread. If they get the Montreal stations better, they can go in the Montreal thread.

Being originally from Hawkesbury, I suggest that Hawkesbury and Cornwall be considered to be with Montréal, as both cities are closer to it than Ottawa, stations from Montréal are easier to get as signal strength is better, and they get Burlington/Plattsburgh stations.

Actually, they "get" US network stations, as opposed to Ottawa which in that regards is considered rural Canada... Depending on which side they point their antenna, they could well contribute to the two groups.

They to will get the stations from Ottawa, if/when ever they show up.

-gmd

[gmd]

Originally Posted by louisph

I'm curious, since we would be in the "deep fringe", if someone actually tried catching something else than the test transmitter from Manotick?

There is no sticky for this section...

Thanks,

What do you mean by "tried catching"? If you look higher up in the thread, you'll see my earlier posts (and some from others) about people in Ottawa getting PBS from Mountain Lake (ch. 38) and Norwood (ch. 23).

Regarding Manotick, you really have to "try" with that one, as it is down 98% of the time.

Where (and why) is there a sticky missing? (or has this been fixed?)

-gmd

[backpackster]

First post, but I have been lurking around for a while. I have reached my breaking point with Rogers. Thus time to go OTA.

I tested my reception on my second floor of my side split house and find the UHF reception satisfactory for a cheap 4221 clone. However reception of VHF channels 6 and 11 are just terrible. They may improve when I put the antenna on my roof. I was going to get a second clone and point one at Herberts Corner and the other at Camp Fortune. From Navan, they are 83 degrees apart. However since the transition to digital is so slow here, I decided, I need VHF-lo now to survive in the interim, thus I will be picking up a Channel Master 4242 tomorrow.

The expertise on this forum is amazing, so I am hoping you can help me out with a couple questions.

1) Can I point the CM 4242 at the US stations at approx. 120 degrees and hope to get all the Camp Fortune stations on it's back end at 286 degrees. It works out close to 180 degrees. It seems to me that if the front end has 100 mile capability the back end should easily pick up 21 miles. (the cm 4242 reception pattern: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/cm4242.html ). This way I get all CF stations, avoid using a rotor and maybe get the odd US station occasionally, if lucky.

2) Can I also mount my 4221 clone 2 feet below the CM4242, point it towards Herberts Corner, and combine the signals? Thus getting the best of both worlds. If so, will a splitter/combiner be enough?

3) I have a steel roof, does this help or hinder????

Hopefully this makes sense.

[RamKat]

For channel-6, an FM interference trap seems to be the ticket.

Yup, There appears to be three things that I need on the short term. One is a FM Trap. I am hoping that I could get something that will kill the whole 88 to 108MHz band. The second thing is a few high quality baluns. I am currently using a couple that I bought from The Source and if they are the same as the ones from Radio Shack then I am loosing about 5dB (from the Balun discussion) The third is a diplexer to combine the super paper clip with a Gray Hoverman. Hopefully a bag full of goodies will help to keep the shipping cost down per item. This brings up the question. Is there any .com supplier for this kind of stuff out there that does does not consider Ottawa,Canada as international as Gabarone, Botswana. Till today I cannot understand how a US supplier in New York will be willing to throw something in the mail to Alaska but unwilling to do the same thing if the address on the package happens to be Ottawa, Canada

[RamKat]

mlord, the FM trap that you have, is that a selectable one or a wideband? The reason why I am asking is the answer to the question if the concern is the whole FM band or just the 88MHz section immediately adjacent to Channel 6? Some of the wideband filters that I have seen "leaks" into channel 6 band which I dont think is a good idea if you are having difficulty getting channel 6.