Pros and Cons of Going OTA

[wilspin]

Ottawa is kind of closer (south) to the border than Calgary.

[downbeat]

I must admit Calgary OTA viewers are relatively disadvantaged.
For a city of our size, we have relatively few conventional OTA stations: Only six DTV OTA stations in English and one analog in French. (And our great distance from the U.S. border doesn't help. No U.S. nets is definitely a "con" for many.)
Winnipeg — with a little more than half our population — has five English and one French, all digital.
Quebec City — with about the same population as Winnipeg — has five French and two English, mostly digital.
Ottawa has extra choice because there are French channels thrown into the mix; Toronto because of its proximity to U.S. stations; Montreal for both those reasons.

[Jase88]

You can receive at least one American station in Ottawa. I'd say that gives it a consideration as a somewhat-border region.

[Wayne]

This is a bit OT but I thought the main reason that Ottawa was chosen as capital was that it was far away from the border so that it was more difficult for our capital to be overtaken by the Americans if there was ever a repeat of the War of 1812.

[Jase88]

Not true. Queen Victoria was given two options: Kingston or Ottawa. And for reasons that she kept to herself, she chose Ottawa.

[Wayne]

What - you can't trust what you read on the internet!

first, it was the only settlement of any significant size located right on the border of Canada East and Canada West (Quebec/Ontario border today), making it a compromise between the two colonies and their French and English populations; second, the War of 1812 had shown how vulnerable major Canadian cities were to American attack, since they were all located very close to the border while Ottawa was (then) surrounded by a dense forest far from the border;

[Jase88]

Okay...let's get back on topic and move away from this historical debate.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Jase88

You can receive at least one American station in Ottawa. I'd say that gives it a consideration as a somewhat-border region.

Most people in Ottawa don't have a hope of receiving any American broadcasts because central Ottawa is in a depression and a hill south of the city blocks LOS. My comments were base on the assumption it isn't receivable.

Calgary at least has more local stations as most broadcasts here are repeaters from Toronto or Montreal.

[poutanen]

I watched probably about 75% american networks when I lived in Grimsby. PBS for Nova and Nature, the major networks for football, simpsons, family guy, etc.

Girlfriend watched a lot of shows on the CW... Pretty much only watched CBC for Jeopardy, and Hockey night in Canada. It's so bad in Calgary we actually subscribe to cable/optical TV here!

[adriangabe]

i want to go ota. i am new to this and dont know what to get. i looked at the pdf chart and i guess i should get the Zenith silver sensor with vhf elements. i want something indoors and something that gets a lot of channels.

[downbeat]

@adriangabe: Welcome to the forum.
Please take a moment to review our welcome post.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=125161
Once you've gone through it, please consult one of our geographical reception threads so you can discuss with those near to you about what you'd like to do, or ask questions of them.
Cheers,
downbeat

[Billsmith]

I was recently in touch with a friend in Olds, AB. He has recently asked for help in switching to OTA (reception from Calgary) having heard from his brother about the improved quality of signal over satelite and cable in Edmonton. He complains about poor value for money of the paid services.

[stampeder]

Olds is a bit far for reliable OTA reception of Calgary or Edmonton except in the summer without mega-gear, so I hope he's being realistic about the OTA probabilities.

[vmpv]

OT but welcome back Stampeder! I hope you are truly feeling better and not just going behind Mrs. Stampeders back like you did during the holidays.

[Billsmith]

Yes - Stampeder - my friend will try firstly using a 40 foot mast and antenna with a 15-6 db gain directional UHF antenna with CM7777 Mast head preamp. We will see what this will do. The CTV Technical Director in Calgary says this as necessary equipment. I do hear that some folks have tried it (from as far as Red Deer) and achieved a picture. Do you think that a Gray Hoverman antenna may help?

Congrats on your recovery by the way!