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ON - Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa - OTA

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585K views 2K replies 332 participants last post by  patrickforbes 
#1 ·
OTA Results for Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and area. This is an open discussion forum, but keep your posts on topic.
 
#2 ·
Durham Region/Oshawa

Well, here you go. This is for anyone in the Durham Region who wants to know about OTA reception.

Here's my story. I've been researching this for some time now and decided one day to give it a whirl. I proceeded to Future Shop and decided to buy a Bell 6100 Receiver with the OTA function built in. I told the salesman that i already had a BEV setup and he said that it didn't matter, i had to sign up for the $10/month for HDTV.

As it turned out, once he entered the serial number into the system, that was it, it didn't ask to sign up for the $10/month contract. So i bought it for $299 and walked out the door. My next step was to buy an antenna. i decided to try the cheapest Radio Shack VHF/UHF antenna that they had, $69. By the way, this is the day of the Superbowl.

Anyway, came home, setup the antenna on a 4 foot pole and set it in a pile of snow in the back yard, about 3 feet off the ground. Now, the area i'm in is pretty high up, i can see the Lake from my roof. Anyway, i pointed the antenna in the general direction of Buffalo. Went inside and hooked up the 6100 to my existing bell dish (not HD) the 6100 must be hooked up to a Sat signal, doesn't matter which Sat.

Anyway, hooked up some RG-6 from the antenna and VOILA, FOX-HD 89% signal strength and a bunch of other stations as well. Couldn't believe it, i'm going to watch the Superbowl in HD....awsome... It worked perfectly, and i don't have the HD subscription for Bell either. Now, i have a 34 foot tower next to my house, i will be putting the antenna up there (once it gets a little warmer), it should be even better.

So, it works, i'm happy, i'll be watch the Daytona 500 this weekend on FOX-HD, just have to setup the antenna again. (i took it down temporarally). If anyone want's to know anything else, reply to this thread and i'll do my best to answer the questions.
 
#4 ·
wannna_be said:
trinitron27 how far north of the lake are you? Just wondering casue I have a good siteline of the lake from my roof as well, but I am up near Durham College
I'm over at Harmony and Taunton. Should work fine for you. Like i said, i just used the cheap Radio Shack antenna $69. and it works fine. All the houses that are south of me are down a hill a little bit. I don't have any sight line problems at all. No roofs in the way, especially from the top of my tower. Figure Buffalo is approx 72 miles line of sight.
 
#5 ·
Oshawa near the OC

I'm in Oshawa also (near the OC) and I'm getting 7 channels with a 4' antenna on my roof and diplexed thru my Hughes HD receiver. I'm still in the trees however at that height.
A friend of mine is near you Trinitron (Harmony & Taunton) and has the same antenna as me on his roof (2 story house) and is getting 17 HD channels thru the same receiver also.

I picked the Antenna up for $60 @ Able Antenna in Whitby.
Its an RCA UHF/VHF/FM antenna and comes with a 3 or 4 foot pole.

Once I get time I'll be putting a Channel Master 7778 amp on it which should improve it greatly.
 
#6 ·
Markn

My boss has been doing Antenna installations in the Durham area for over 30 years. I'm sure he has done some in Uxbridge before and may be familiar with what to expect in that area. However he is not familiar with the HD world so don't expect answers concerning HD reception experience. Most HD is UHF band so inquiring about UHF reception in your area would benefit you.

I'll PM you contact information so check your PM box.
 
#8 ·
OTA in Oshawa

Well, the radio shack $60 antenna is up on the tower now. I get NBC, ABC, CBS, CBC (english and french), Fox, PBS, Toronto1 and Citytv. I also get a 16-1, but there's nothing there though. All signals are a minimum of 85% up to about 95% strenght with my bell 6100. I love watching Nascar on Fox in HD, 24 in HD and House in HD all on Fox. by far, the best station for HD.

The Masters (golf) on CBS was awsome too, made me want to go out and mow the lawn on the TV. ha ha

If anyone in the Oshawa area wants to try this out, the're more than welcome to give me a shout for any advice.
 
#9 ·
OTA In Pickering

Hi Guys, great site, Great to have a local Canadian view and infobase.
I live in Pickering about 5km from the lake with some trees in the way.
I have a indoor HDTV Terk antenna. I was thinking about buying a OTA reciever, but am wondering if I will be able to recieve anything in HD or do I have to install an antenna on the roof?
Please comment before I go out and spend $300 on the reciever.
thx
 
#10 ·
scarborough

I too live in the GTA (scarborough), I have a tv tower 35 foot, no preamp, not even sure I have rg6,but I use a distribution amp, as I have 5 TVs, originally for regular ota reception, did not have to change a thing for my 2 sammy 451s, I get them all..the heading I am mostly facing is SW, 180-190 degrees.

You can expect to get all the buffalo stations except WB49(have not gone HD yet), as well as CBC on 5, CFTO on 40 city on 53 and toronto 1 on 66, but my favourite is PBS 43-1 an hdtv channel also there's 43-2 and 43-3, I know this may sound confusing, it did to me few days ago, but once you get it all connected it'll become much clearer.


sam
 
#11 ·
kwtoxman said:
Thx for the responses so far. Keep your comments coming if you have any. I also have some reading to do.

I bought the tuner off of ebay.

I live in South Brampton.

Anybody have any suggestions for installers in the area?

Does anyone know dealers for CM in the Brampton/Missisauga or close area that they would recommend? I will try the dealers listed on their website otherwise.

And the CM complete antenna rotator system, model 9521A. What do you guys think of this? Can I get this from a local CM dealer as well? I checked out Radioshack on line (now the source by cc), and they have no rotators on-line.



kw................
Here is a pic of my antenna, disregard the omni (round saucer) seen here, as I have not tested yet for digital reception, I bought my rotor from the home depot many years ago for a $100, the antenna is used from a tv serviceman for $50 along with the tower at $15/10' section) also some years ago...
when I was researching antennas a month ago, I was told the 8 bay type was a good choice, maybe someone here can elaborate further, since my current antenna works just fine, I did not research it.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/shak911/antenna1.jpg

I too have read that the 351 has audio drop-out issues, and apparently they were remedied with the 451.

I like the tower arrangement despite the eye-sore, but it gives me easy roof access, as well as service access to the antenna, my rotor once froze during the cold weather, I've since lubricated it to seal out moisture, no problems the last few winters.


cheers
sam
 
#12 ·
Wnyo Wnlo in Ajax, ON

agover said:
1) WNYO(The WB): I understand this channel is broadcasting at really low power, does anyone know when they will increase it to a more usable level?

2) WNLO(UPN): From remote centrals comments this channel seems to air CBS programs only. Does anyone know if they air UPN shows when the actual network seasons begin (ie will UPN shows be on this channel come September / October)?
I had the same questions about the same channels and didn't really get an answer.
From Ajax, I get the UPN station in SD, I asked if there is or will be UPN HD?
And when will we get more power on WB?
So far, my antenna is only sitting on my roof, i'll have it up on a mast this weekend, then post my results.
Thanx,
Tom
 
#13 ·
OTA DTV in Ajax

I live in Ajax (2 cities east of Toronto) at Hwy 2 & Harwood Rd.
This past weekend I finally got my 8 bay channel master antenna mounted on a mast 12 ft above my roof. I have an ATSC tuner built in to my Sanyo TV. No preamp, but i used RG11 cable. I had a bit of a hard time aligning it to get the buffalo stations and the CN Tower stations as well. I had to compromise a bit on signal strength between City and NBC. Both are still over half on the signal strength meter but I’m afraid I might lose one or the other with bad weather. All the other available stations come in about 80 to 90% on the signal strength. I really enjoyed the NASCAR in HD.
Has anybody had any success with combining 2 antennas pointed in different directions?
:D
 
#14 ·
Aiming Tip for CM4228s in eastern GTA areas

Yaamon said:
I a little puzzled why with your CM4228 you don't pull in City strong and steady compared the the little crap indoor that Iam currently using ?
I'm glad you asked him that because I was going to reply to that. :D

If Tom could levitate directly above his CM4228 and see its reception pattern he would see this:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/cm4228az.gif

Now, here's the problem that is probably happening. If you look at the minor lobes to the sides and rear its possible that one or more of the stations is falling into one of the low signal areas and not into a strong lobe. So, here's where aiming the antenna gets kind of funny - believe it or not he might need to aim his CM4228 to the EAST of Buffalo a shade in order to get a best-of-both-worlds signal with the CN Tower now on a good lobe. Also bear in mind that most of the Buffalo broadcast towers are indeed quite a bit east of Buffalo.

Tom mentioned he's not using a preamp, so if aiming doesn't solve this issue then a low gain preamp will. I would expect 100% on all channels with one, but just be careful about not getting too powerful a preamp in these circumstances.

I hope this helps come up with a solution.
 
#15 ·
DTV OTA in Ajax

Stampeader, Thank you for the diagram. Yes I did try aiming farther east and lost all the toronto stations. What i've got is Buffalo in the main lobe and Toronto on the side lobe. So, with Toronto being a lot closer, I get almost equal signal on all Toronto and Buffalo stations. If i point more to the east i lose the toronto stations.
I just looked up remotecentral again and it says WGRZ 2 (NBC 33-1) is still at low power, rumored to go to full july 1, 05. City is also low power. So, i'm really happy with what i got. ;) Now i need the new audio system, almost got my wife talked into it.

Yaaman, I think with you being in Markham, you may have better luck than I did. If you point straight at buffalo, you should still get the CN Tower. I work in Markham on 14th Ave. Going to try to talk my boss into buying an antenna and a tuner for the big tv he's got in the board room.

Has anybody combined 2 antennas facing different directions? I'd like to get WB & PAX some day and i think OMNI is going to go DTV from the north end of T.O. where thier ch.69 analog transmitter is.
 
#16 ·
Results from Ajax, ON

I promised i'd post results once i got my second antenna installed. I now have a CM 8-bay pointed at Buffalo, due south and a CM 4-bay pointed at toronto, west-southwest. I have a 30" Sanyo TV with with a built in ATSC tumer.
I get all the Buffalo stations, except WB, at 85-95% and all the Toronto stations at 85-95%. There was a small thunderstorm last night and I had a very brief signal dropout on ABC 7. Other than that, all were solid. I get Rochester FOX and PBS, but with dropouts. I deleted channels i don't want and the repaeted channels and now i have watchable TV. :p
I have some of my neighbours interested, others just think i'm crazy, standing on a ladder on top of the roof. :rolleyes:
 
#17 ·
Tom.F.1 said:
I promised i'd post results once i got my second antenna installed. I now have a CM 8-bay pointed at Buffalo, due south and a CM 4-bay pointed at toronto, west-southwest. I have a 30" Sanyo TV with with a built in ATSC tumer...
How much did it cost you to go with this solution and what is the model number of the CM 4-bay? I'll bet you can compare the cost favourably to your neighbours' cable and satellite bills. ;)
 
#18 ·
Tom, I may suggest that to a friend actually waiting for the 4 bay channel master to be in stock for him to try it as he gets only two local Toronto and all the Buffalo except WB.

Did you use a low loss combiner or regular tv splitter in reverse ?
 
#19 ·
Reception in Ajax, Details

To answer some questions, I'll add the whole story of how i got this far.
I bought the CM4228 from Hosick TV on Jane St. $120+tax, on a recomendation from RadioWorld.ca. I knew it was overpriced but didn't want to wait or hassle with shipping from the US. I bought a 12ft galvanized plumbing pipe, took some leftover supports from work and bought hardware and ground rod at home depot.
When i first installed it on my roof, it was obvious by panning the antenna that i could get best signal from Toronto, OR Bufflao, but not both at the same time. I compromised in the middle but had dropouts on WGRZ and/or CITY. Worse with thunderstorms. The recomendation of a rotor didn't sound good to me, and with some reading/research, i decided on the combining idea. I went back to Hosick and bought the CM4221 4-bay, $75 cash, figuring Toronto is a lot closer than Buffalo. It was a pain to install, my ladder wasn't tall enough. I'd put the first one on the mast on the ground, then put up the mast and my supports had to be shortend to fit both antennas on the same mast. Also, i should have mentioned sooner, the U-bolts with the CM's aren't big enough for 1-1/4" pipe. I bought 5/16 u-bolts and drilled out the mounting holes in the antennas. I used a regular splitter backwards as a combiner and made sure the transformers were in phase. So, now it works great. Yesterday, I split the signal, to go to the analog tuner as well, never tried it in the 5 weeks i've had the TV. It works better than i thought it would. I have an ExpressVu 5900 for LD TV, but its nice to have backup for when the sat signal dies. The only station i didn't get before, either DTV off-air or BEV, is WB49, which one of my girls really likes. I also split the ATSC input agian through a VHF/UHF tap, to take the VHF to the FM RX. I've never had great toronto reception on FM with my indoor antenna, but now its great and i get Buffalo FM and St.Caterines as well. I could still add an amp if i need to.
With everything in, I've got almost $400 in it and great pictures. ;)
Having had experience with Bell, I thought i'd better wait for the price to drop and the software to be fixed on the 9200. Next, I'm looking for a 7.1 system, but still trying to firgure out how to fit in 7 speakers and how to run speaker wires through floors or up walls. I see renovations coming...
 
#21 ·
Frostman said:
I live in Newcastle and was wondering with a 4228 If I would pick up Buffalo? Sounds like I would get Rochester being you guys fron ajax and Markham are getting it? How many channels from Rochester do you guys get?
Welcome here! You should find that info in this thread, and please look through this thread as well:

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27994

cheers,
stampeder
 
#22 ·
Frostman said:
I live in Newcastle and was wondering with a 4228 If I would pick up Buffalo?Sounds like I would get Rochester being you guys fron ajax and Markham are getting it?How many channels from Rochester do you guys get? Thanks
I get strong signal from buffalo, so you being a little bit further, you'd get good signal, but may have problems with bad weather. If you are close to the lake, or if you're on high ground you should be fine for buffalo stations.
From Rochester, you should get FOX, PBS & CBS. And you'd get Toronto stations If you have a Rotor. I didn't like the rotor idea because i like to flip thru all the channels to see whats on. I went with 2 antennas in different directions.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out
 
#23 ·
Stationary Antenna possible for Rochester and Buffalo from Newcastle ON?

I have a couple of Questions. If you guys could help that would be great. I'm getting a bev 9200 and want to try out the ota on it. I live in Newcastle"east Toronto". I'm 60 miles right over the lake to Buffalo and Rochester. Their both the same distance in a triangler postion. Which Antenna would work to pick both up without haveing to move it .4228? And I want to start running the cable.What type of cable should I run for the Antenna?Thanks alot
 
#24 ·
Frostman said:
I live in Newcastle"east Toronto". I'm 60 miles right over the lake to Buffalo and Rochester. Their both the same distance in a triangler postion. Which Antenna would work to pick both up without haveing to move it .4228?
From where you are (south of Peterborough near lake?) I'm roughly guessing that the delta in azimuth between those cities from Newcastle ON is about 45 degrees unless someone wants to get out a map and actually check it. This means that you could experiment with aiming the 4228 degree by degree in a sweep between them to see if you can find a sweet spot that brings in both. Unfortunately antennas have "nulls" outside their main beam patterns so this could be tricky or even futile. I'd be interested in what others from that area have to say but I think a rotator is in order, simply because you will positively get the best aim/signals and also because you'll not only be getting all the Canadian analog stations around you but also be ready as more and more stations come up in digital in the future, including Canadian stations.
Frostman said:
And I want to start running the cable.What type of cable should I run for the Antenna?Thanks alot
Use RG-6 and only RG-6 unless you are expecting the cable distance to be over 30 metres, in which case the pros use RG-11 but its expensive. Best of luck and let us know how things go.
 
#25 ·
I'll agree with Stampeder that you won't get Rochester and Buffalo with a stationary antenna. But you might be able to point at Buffalo and get Toronto on the west side-lobe of the 4228. That's what i was trying for but the angles didn't work from Ajax, but look better for Newcastle.
You'll get a better choice of stations (and programming?) in Buffalo than Rochester. You don't really need both.
You could put up a 4228 and find out. If not satisfied, add another antenna or rotator. I haven't looked up prices, but my guess is you could by 2 extra antennas and a combiner cheaper than a good rotator. I added a second antenna and I’m quite satisfied. :cool:
Cable type depends on length. If you have over 50 ft run, you need RG-11 or a line amp. I used RG-11.
If you haven't read all the other instructions here on DHC, the antenna mount Must be Grounded and use a ground block on the coax line. Preferably to a ground rod.
Good Luck.
 
#26 ·
Inconsistent signal in GTA/Pickering

Hi
I continue to have a problem with my OTA HD. I can be watching TV one day, say City-TV or NBC buffalo have 100% signal and the next day have no signal for these same channels. The only consistency I get, is channel 25 french, 29 fox buffalo and CTV Toronto. My antenna is mounted correctly and very tightly to the outside of my house, approx 15 feet in the air faceing south west. Additionally I live about 500 meters from a train track and as soon as the train comes along I loose my signal (any channel)
Any ideas. I use a Motorola HD reciever and a Wineguard 4 bay antenna.

Any Ideas?
thx
 
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