ON - Niagara Peninsula - OTA

[arrow201]

I'm trying to help a friend with his antenna system, he's moving into a
home in the Niagara region. The house already has a 60' tower and existing
antenna (cool !) as per the enclosed pictures. Appears the antenna hasn't
been used in some years and the cabling to the house is incomplete(?)

The intersection of the house is at Dorchester / Thorold Stone Road

Fools report:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9900c2c06ae786

The goal is to get stations off of the CN tower and Western NY ..well as
many stations as possible :P Since most of the stations are UHF, will this
exisiting antenna do the trick ? Anyone know what it is ?
I was initially thinking of him replacing it with a DB8/CM7777 pointing to the
CN tower and catching the US stations off the backside, until i saw this photo
and maybe this existing antenna has enough UHF elements to do the job ?

Any help appreciated ..thanks !

[stampeder]

Yep, that front part (pointing bottom-right in the upper pic) is a UHF Yagi that will easily get Toronto UHF stations. The back part of the antenna is a VHF-HI Yagi that was for the old analogue CHCH on 11, CFTO on 9, and WKBW on 7, but I would guess that at that good height there was also a snowy signal on CKCO 13. As for today's remaining VHF-HI DTV stations, until CHCH-DT moves to 15 that antenna will be fine while they're still on 11, and it will do great for WBBZ Buffalo on 7. In the summer it will probably get Rochester stations too. The elements with the funky angular pieces on them are directors for that VHF-HI portion. Nice rig, but I sure hope the rotor works because that antenna is very directional. That's a great height too.

The cabling should be replaced with fresh RG-6, and the rotor wire needs to be checked or replaced. I would just go ahead and do both to avoid any problems that might be really difficult to trace if the old stuff is kept. That's a very good quality tower, BTW - self supporting, and with a rotor plate.

[erorr]

Is anyone in Niagara Falls getting CJMT Omni2 on RF-40. I can't see any sign of it, DIY 4221 type indoors.

[rob50312]

RF 40 was only testing a few days ago for short periods of time.

[rob50312]

Arrow just run a new RG6 and have it point it at Toronto and Buffalo should be fine.Replace the balum matching transformer connecting thing too

[gygeneral]

I bought two CM4228's , one to point to Buffalo and the other Toronto. I also installed a CM7777. Well not sure if this pre amp works at all because I've seen no noticeable difference in signal strenght. The other thing I noticed is that my reception is as good with one antenna (pointing to TO) than it is with both. So I was thinking of pointing both antenna's towards Toronto. Do you think it would help as 9-1 and 41-1 are weak ( around 50-55%)??

[stampeder]

OTA_Canuck already gave you great advice on that in Post #1337. As he says, ganging and/or stacking antennas is quite an involved subject, so before we advise can you let us know if you've read Post #15 of the OTA FAQ and also looked through the Stacking, Ganging, Combining TV Antennas thread?

[Porshaah]

Has anyuone noticed a difference in the reception of CH 41 this past week?
Did something change with Global's signal (i.e. transmit antenna realignment or did they turned on the power boost switch)? In the last week I can't not get the channel provided my antenna is pointed in its' relative direction, whereas up until then it was nearly impossible to receive. How often does TVFool update their data on such things as transmitter power? I don't remember Global's transmitter power being as high as it is listed now at 100kW.

[oldtimer2]

I installed a 8 bay channel master antenna HD, just hooked it up and aimed it at buffalo ,since those are the channels i wanted, i recieve 18 channels from Buff. and Channel 11 from Hamilton and Channel 9 from Toronto on a daily basis and all crystal clear. Should i be happy with what i am receiving, or is there a positioning tool for max. from Buffalo, i do not receive Channel 49,Cool TV but i should be happy with what i am receiving? I do appreciate your input!

[AJB_01]

@oldtimer2, Channels 49.1, 49.2 and the 67.x are all rather peculiar entities. All other Buffalo channels come in at my location virtually no matter where the antenna is pointed but the ones I mention are special cases. The 67's need my antenna pointed at about 185° while 49 demands about 175° (North being 0°, directions are + or - 3°). These stations are finicky and if you have the antenna set for one, you won't get the other.

Cheers,
Aj

[oldtimer2]

thanks for the info, i do receive crystal clear,,all the 67.s and even This Tv here in Welland. I pick up others somtimes at night like Rochester, Erie but only occasionally. Channel 9 from Toronto comes in crystal clear but i do not know why i cannot receive other stations from the Toronto area like Channel 9?

[AJB_01]

I'm in St. Catharines and while we receive all Toronto stations, some are a bit picky as to where the antenna is pointed. With the antenna rotated to get Buffalo we can also receive 9.1, 11.1 and most times 5.1. For the other Toronto stations we need to point it at least NE. The only exception is 57.1 that demands the antenna at 0° to 15° to be strong and reliable. I can occasionally pick up Erie and a few others but they aren't reliable and probably due to Tropo effect. Rochester is a no starter as there are a couple of buildings in the line of sight that are taller than our tower.

[dsspredator]

Originally Posted by oldtimer2

i do not know why i cannot receive other stations from the Toronto area like Channel 9?

CFTO is VHF and the signal may travel farther towards your location.

All the other Toronto channels are UHF. You will need a good antenna pointed
directly at the CN Tower to pick up CBLT, CFMT, CIII, CITY and CJMT (which is on RF 40 now).

So, I would point in that direction and try to add RF 20,40,41,44 and 47.

[rob50312]

Oldtimer the reason you can get CFTO,CHCH while your 4228 is pointing at Buffalo but not the UHF stationsToronto stations is that in the VHF band the 4228 will be up stations from behind while in the UHF band it will block signals from behind with its rear screen mesh.

[dsspredator]

CTV2 CKVP-DT RF 42-2 is on.

Rescan your channels!