ON - London, St. Thomas, Woodstock, Goderich - OTA

[jmartinix]

thank you so much for your help. so, if i were to pick up the 4228HD antenna, would i also need to pick up a rotor to be able to benefit from all of these channels? also, would the channels you've included in your list also include some hd channels?

[goforit]

Don't forget to do the hacks to the 4228HD.

[jmartinix]

what does that mean, do the hacks?

[jmartinix]

is there a better antenna that i should be using for my purposes, that i wouldn't need to hack?

[stampeder]

jmartinix, the CM4221HD hardware hack is in Post #3 of the OTA FAQ, and please see the Antenna Chart too:

[PanaMark]

@jmartinx
I live in north London and I am 100 miles (give or take 10 miles) from Detroit, Cleveland, Erie, and Buffalo. I my case I have two 4221 HD antenna's set up with one towards Erie and the other towards Cleveland. I would say if your looking for reliability probably not; but then again you are closer than I am towards Cleveland and Erie. You'll never know until you try. Check my homepage from the link on my name and you should see what I have picked up lately

I finally got one of my antenna's mounted on the roof today. I figured I have gained something like 12 ft in height and I'm out of the attic. Sweet.......

[jmartinix]

thanks Panamark. do you think mounting on the roof increased your reliability? do you pick up any London stations? also, how often would you say you actually get these channels in? i'm quite interested in trying this out, probably more as a hobby than anything else.

[PanaMark]

i'm quite interested in trying this out, probably more as a hobby than anything else.

I am treating this as a hobby as well.

Personally, I would recommend getting an authentic Channel Master 4221HD. I bought a clone 4221HD first because it was all I could get around here in London. Don't get me wrong the clone worked really well but I have noticed an improvement of 30% on signal strength from the original vs the clone. I had my set up in the attic for about 2 months and I really had nice results. As you get more into this hobby you can pin point exact transmitters and distances and point towards them. Reliability is an issue though. Yes it is nice to pick up all these channels but conditions play a major factor.
For example:
DTV channel 19-1 CKXT-DT SUN TV
this transmitter is near Glencoe, On. I receive this channel with 100% strength every day in any weather condition. It's distance from my house is not far; perhaps 20 miles
DTV channel 15 remaps to 5-1 on my PISP WEWS-DT Cleveland ABC
Is my second most reliable now with my new set up and it's signal strength is from 40% to 100% dependant on the winds and cloud cover. It's distance from my house is 117 miles

Now you asked about local Canadian channels and there are plenty of analog ones that are reliable everyday. If you go to the proper thread regarding these you will know exactly which ones.

Welcome aboard, your fever has started. I think you'll enjoyed the really good Dxing days.
Mark

[jmartinix]

from what i've read, the 4228hd is a better antenna for longer distances. just wondering why you've decided to go with the 4221, instead of the 4228. is it more reliable? also, are you using any type of pre-amp at all?

[PanaMark]

@jmartinix
I decided on the 4221HD vs the 4228HD for two reasons,
it is my understanding that the 4228HD is more directional than the 4221HD.
Secondly we are in what I would consider an interesting area relatively speaking. From every direction except north you can get reception from an Americian market. I opted for two 4221HD's because of the size factor, actually it was my intention to put both on the roof but when I got up there I was scared to mount a second one, so I have the one on the roof pointed towards Cleveland and the one in the attic which I can direct to whichever market I feel like on any evening as it is into the easier to just climb a ladder in the house to my attic.
I have run RG6 cable roughly 90 feet with a Winegaurd Coupler model CC-7870 (any decent splitter would do also just use it in reverse) joining the two antenna's down to one lead then feeding one HDTV. On account I am not splitting to other tv's and my close proximity to two towers here in London, I have opted to not use a pre amp. I feel (actually I've tested) that a pre amp in my senario is not needed. It just amplifies the noise more that anything else.
I hope this assists you when you make you choice to start.
There has been a lot of trial and error up to this point to where I am content with my set up.
Mark

[Emerald_Boar]

Actually,
I believe SunTv (42.5720 81.2119) broadcasts out of the Byron Tower. Which is just west of storybook gardens.

In fact,
CTS, TVO, Omni2, SUN, CBC, SRC & Omni1 are all broadcasted out of the byron tower. [=

@jmartinix
4221 is easier to setup.
Plus 4221 should have less wind restitance.
From the research section of comparing various Aerials. The 4221 vs 4228 was identical in gain. http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=100058. I think there some be some modeling error. As 4228 should be +3db across the board.

@fox.
The problem is WJW (from Cleveland) is also broadcasting on 31. I have noticed CityTV dying on me in the last few weeks. The interference should be fixed when WJW starts to broadcast its digital on 8 instead of 31. (BTW, i do have WJW in my channel log <
As for the null to the NE. I think it has to do with territorial issues with the Detroit market stations.


Read ya l8r,
Al

[Hiquin]

Hello all,
I just read through the previous few pages in this thread, and it got me quite excited about a potential new hobby.

Paramark, Emerald Boar, I'll be looking to you guys for advice as I move forward, as I'm also in London! (My wife and I just moved here in Sept from Markham and we love it!)

I'm moving to a little house in Wortley Village in July, so I won't be setting anything up until then. So I'd like to make sure I get all the proper equipment, and I can take my time in doing so.

I also have family back in Richmond Hill and Uxbridge, so I think I should be able to find the time to visit that store Paramark was talking about save and replay, and pick up all the gear I'll need from there.

I have yet to read the antenna chart and OTA FAQ, they're currently open in a couple of other browser windows, so I'll be getting to that next.

Paramark, Emerald Boar, I don't know if this is too forward, but let me know if I can come to either of your places and check out first hand what you guys have going on, if either of you have old equipment, perhaps we could do a temporary hook up of said equipment at my new place once we move in to see what kind of results I can expect.(we're renting the house, so any MAJOR alterations are probably a no go, but the odd hole here and there is fine I'm sure)

Just for funsies I took a cable wire, and basically cut it and touched a FM antenna wire from an old stereo to it and plugged that into the tuner of my HDTV just to see what I'd get at ground level where I am now, and 19-1 and 19-2 come in.. well 19-1 is mostly just blocks, but 19-2 will actually clean up a bit and is watchable, so I'm sure at the new place(the entertainment room will be up in the loft), I'll have some better options!

Sorry for the long first post, but I'm glad I found this place!
-Paul

[PanaMark]

Paramark, Emerald Boar, I'll be looking to you guys for advice as I move forward, as I'm also in London! (My wife and I just moved here in Sept from Markham and we love it!)

right on,
Building our base on person at a time I say. Boy have I raised quite a few eye brows in my neighborhood. It never ceases to amaze me that people don't understand television technology. I have had many people in my neighborhood inquire about my recent antenna setup. Most people did not realize that OTA is available to them. Many of my friends and family have been impressed to a point that most of them have been calling me and are interested in a set up for there place.
As London is about 100 miles from any Americian DTV station issues are reliability. In my case I do it as a hobby, Dxing, and for a few extra HD channels from different markets that I do not get with my cable provider. Honestly when I watch television I barely watch cable anymore. If it was up to me the cable would have been gone quite a while ago but the children and my wife like some specialty channels so thus it stays. I do realize there are a lot of shows available on the internet to watch but it will stay for now.

@Hiquin
I welcome you to this forum. It is a great resource.

[Hiquin]

well, the wife and I dropped Cable when we moved to London last Sept. We moved here, and never bothered to get anything hooked up. I just download TV shows, usually in HD, that we want to watch..

but, sometimes you just want to sit down, turn on the tube and just flip to see whats on, thats what I want this OTA set up for. That, and to catch some live London Knights games (I assume the A channel broadcasts in London right?), and other NHL games(thinking of next year as this year is almost done).

edit: I just noticed we have almost the same TV as well haha Panasonic 42PX60U here, slightly older model.

[RingtailedFox]

CFPL-TV's tower is located in a big field just SW of Wharncliffe and Commissioners' Drive, while the remainder of the london locals broadcast from Byron Tower near Lambeth. You should have no issue pulling them in.