QC - South Shore, Eastern Townships, Northern NY and VT

[Kraven]

Since the CBC analog towers are offline, has anyone noticed a signal improvement for ABC WVNY, or for those who were previously unable to get ABC, is it now coming in for you?

Cheers, K

[yipikyer]

From Greenfield Park near the hospital, my reception climb to 65-70% since the shutdown. It rarely lost its signal anymore.

Big improvement for me.

[mille]

Pas d'amélioration pour moi, que ce soit à Montréal, ou à Sainte-Marguerite-du-lac-Masson, dans les Laurentides.
Dans les deux endroits, je captais CBMT 13 , avec de la neige, mais regardable la plupart du temps.

[Loogeuil]

Hi all, in my quest for the best OTA reception possible, i've made a mclapp M4 as accurate as i could in order compare my DB4e with.
For testing purpose i've made it out of hard wood.
Specs: DB4e = stock. M4: 9" #8 copper whiskers with 8½" spaces between bays, #12 copper feed lines with short 2¼" twists and 1¼" spacing, soldered, 36" x 28" wide flat reflector made out of 1"x1" wire mesh modified into 1"x2" wide at 4 3/8" from whiskers, el-cheepo generic balun. Pictures in my profile will be viewable after being moderated.
Since i dismantled 3 delhi Golden Nugget towers in my naborhood, i decided to take one top section strapped to the patio rail and use a 10' mast (16½' AGL).
I used a 20' of RG6 from antennas to the Zinwell decoder and an other length of 15' RG6 to the tv, no amplifier.
I aimed both antennas in the middle of the best detection possible of channel 44 (RF43) at Mt-Mansfield Vt, there's about 15 minutes delay between the first antenna test and the second.
TVFool: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9900c70b5f36da
Here's my results: SI = Signal Intensity - SQ = Signal Quality in % including sub-channels.
CH/RF - M4 SI - M4 SQ - DB4e SI - DB4e SQ
2/19 100 100 100 100
3/22 72 100 70 100
5/14 100 100 100 100
6/21 100 100 100 100
10/10 100 100 100 100
12/12 100 100 100 100
15/15 100 100 100 100
17/26 100 100 100 100
22/13 46 5 0 0 (M4 perfect image and sound)
33/32 100 100 100 100
35/35 100 100 100 98
44/43 60 90 68 100
57/38 50 50 65 100

Aren't they close enough on UHF ? My surprise when i saw the ABC RF13 !
I may be able to make better with the M4 with some modifications and corrections, feel free to suggest or ask me questions.
My purpose for the moment is to get WLED 11 (RF48) Littleton NH (which i like alot) and Metro14 62 (RF49) riliably on my 3 TVs.
Presently, i use a attenuated CM7777 in about half power and i get WLED and Metro14 perfectly on the Zinwell and Zenith tuners but not on the Samsung DTV and i sometime lose the Mt-Lyon channel (57) because it is 67 degrees ouest of WLED signal, my antenna aimed a little ouest of Littlton toward Mt-Mansfield normaly which make ch. 57 about 63 degrees to the ouest of the center of my DB4e beam (quite amazing).
Maybe an M8 or a DBGH is my answer along with a less-powerfull high-tech pre-amp like a Tin Lee or a Kitztech (???).

[BOUVAL]

Loogeuil,

The DB4e is two 2 bay harnessed together, that's why the M4 is better. I know because me and Mclapp made that test before. If you look at my photo album you'll see my two builds, the DB4e clone and the M4 with the same bowties.

RF38 (57.1.2.3) from Mt-Lyon is on low power until the end of august.
.

[Loogeuil]

Thanks for your input BOUVAL, i went to see your DB4e/M4 pictures that i didn't notice before. Good to know about Mt-Lyon.

[rmurthy]

Hello Folks,

In my house there is a BELL satellite dish mounted on the roof. Can this be used to get OTA channels? If so, any links or advice to get it working is very much appreciated.

Please let me know the right forum to post in the event this is not the right place for this question.

Thanks,
Rajesh

[Kraven]

Welcome Raj,

Here is what my friend did: took down the dish itself (saucer) and replaced it with a Wineguard HD 8800 to the mass and used the existing cables. Since BEV is aimed at 82/91, its literally pointing towards the US towers (might be off by a degree or two).

So no, you can't use the dish itself, but can use the rest to attach and connect a decent antenna.

Also, check out tvfool.com to see which channels you can get

Cheers, K

[rmurthy]

Thank you K,

Few questions as I am not very familiar with antennas installation and troubleshooting. Apologize if some questions are trivial.

1. Guess I will need to purchase Winegaurd HD 8800 or similar. Any suggestions where I can get it in Montreal or surrounding areas? Prefer one that is economical.

2. How will I go about removing the saucer? I noticed there is two "bulbs" coming out of the saucer. Do I need to remove this also (assuming from your message it is not required to be removed)?

3. I checked tvfool.com. Thank you. There is a lot of information (some I made sense of while others not much). Here is the link to channels from my residence: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9900ccf835469a

Thanks,
Rajesh

[ChannelMaster]

Rajesh, the two things you can salvage from a satellite install are the mast section and the coaxial cable run to your aasatellite box so what you want to do is remove the saucer section. So get up there and stand behind the dish and observe how it is bolted onto the mast pipe. Notice there is one single horizontal bolt and two short ones securing a collar around the mast (also called a J-pole) simply because that mast pipe is bent at the top.

So remove the dish, unscrew the cable from the protruding part (called LNB) and secure an over-the-air antenna of your choice onto the mast section and that's it!

Don't forget to plug one end of that cable to that new antenna and the other end attached to the satellite receiver to the back of the TV.

Hope that helps a bit!

[Kraven]

Just to update everyone after I added a CM7777 to the set up.

CM4228HD (pointed at 150degrees, no clear line of sight: hedges, maple trees etc) and is 7 feet above the ground.

Results:

2.1 98%
3.1 95%
5.1 93%
6.1 98%
7.1 70%
9.1 72%
10.1 98%
12.1 84%
15.1 90%
17.1 90%
22.1 66%
33.1 90%
35.1 80%
44.1 77%
57.1 75% ---> freezes every 5 seconds
61.1 70%

I was surprised to receive some feeds from the townships. I'd still like to add a VHF-hi antenna to maximize the WVNY signal.

Cheers, K

[Steve_M]

57.1 75% ---> freezes every 5 seconds

You are only the 3rd person I'm aware of who has mentioned this.
Both myself & the other fellow have a Sony KDL40S3000.
Can you tell us what TV you have.
I get the problem on 57.1 and 57.2 but not on 57.3.

[Kraven]

The results were froma Sony Bravia KDL40 something (first black model...purchased in March 2007). I do recall 57.2 freezing as well.

The other Bravia (2011) seems to have a better tuner so i'll test there this weekend.

Cheers, K

[Kraven]

Regarding 22.1, anyone elase experiencing a significant jump after dusk? During the morning/day its barely lockable at 55%, but its at 78% in the evening/night.

CM4288 HD w/ cm7777 amp.

Cheers, K

[ChannelMaster]

Hi guys. Sometime last year I speculated in one of the threads that the coldest winter days would offer the best line-of-sight reception for UHF and as I observed on Friday morning, this could very well be true.

Indeed my morning scan (I perform a scan on the Samsung PN58C7000 just about once or twice a day!!!) revealed 48 DTV locks! A channel list that looks like this:

02-1
03-1-2
05-1-2
06-1
07-1
08 (analog still)
09-1
10-1
11-1
11-1-2-3-4
11-1-2-3-4
12-1
15-1-2
17-1
20-1-2-3-4
22-1-2
24-1
30-1
33-1-2-3-4
35-1
44-1-2
57-1-2 (now stable)
62-1

What's notable about this list is that for the first time, I find myself with two rebroadcasts of NHPTV on channel 11. I cannot tell what RF channel the second feed is on because the scan went by too fast. It is a supplement to RF48 which I get all the time. I'm not down to five (5) PBS feeds. Ain't life a b*tch.

Looks like all those scans are producing results after all! I wish I could point my antennas westward (instead of due South) and get more of this but Mount Royal is just messing up the spectrum.

By the way, for those wondering about signal fluctuations on UHF, look no further than Public Server band 14 tests (700 MHz) occurring between Ottawa, Montreal and New York State for compatibility purposes. These are not conducted with the highest power around but may bleed and impeed reception on what is left of the upper UHF.