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

[digitalcable]

OTA Results for Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and area. This is an open discussion forum, but keep your posts on topic.

[trinitron27]

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.

[wannna_be]

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

[trinitron27]

Originally Posted by wannna_be

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.

[whatsup745]

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.

[Able]

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.

[stampeder]

Originally Posted by MaxxSteel

I'm doing it from Ajax Cable Guy...although it took some experimenting. I've got a stationary Channelmaster 4228 combined with a 4248 on a rotor. I'm getting all the Buffalo OTA except D49 (wnyo), but I think they're still at low power.

Copied and pasted from another post.

[trinitron27]

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.

[ziggman]

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

[shak911]

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

[shak911]

Originally Posted by kwtoxman

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/y10...1/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

[Tom.F.1]

Originally Posted by agover

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

[Tom.F.1]

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?

[stampeder]

Originally Posted by Yaamon

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.

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.

[Tom.F.1]

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.