ON - Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge, Bruce Peninsula

[pdougp]

Great website, you folks sure know alot about OTA and I hope you can help me out!

I've been lurking/studying DHC for about a year. My studies led me to invest in a Panasonic TH50PX60 and I have since developed a curiousity of taking advantage of my built-in ATSC tuner.

I live in Stratford, Ontario and I've searched the OTA forums and cannot find anybody else from Stratford that has posted results. The closest I can find any results for is Waterloo.

I scanned using a pair of rabbit-ears from an old TV, and not surprisingly gotten no results at all. As I travel around town, I see only about 20 houses that have any kind of antenna/mast - I assume these are HAM radio. I have seen a couple of those mini-multidirectional antennas that I assume are for AM/FM radio or local (CKCO,CFPL) television.

When I asked a couple of local electronics dealers about OTA, they say there is no such thing, "your only HD options are Rogers/ExpressVu/StarChoice, we have a special this week...". I mention DHC and leave.

I'd like to avoid having a 40' tower (with an 8' section of chain-link fence on top, hehehe) to get OTA though. Spending less than $300.00 for an OTA solution might just get approved by the budget department (wife).

Can anybody advise if I am wasting my time, or would OTA be a possibility here in the Festival City? I'd love to get OTA CBC-HD for Leafs hockey.

Thanks for any input, and keep up the fantastic work DHCers!

[026163]

well, I measured your location to the transmitters in the area, your a good 83 miles away from the CN Tower. CBC-HD is not impossible to get, but you will probably need CM4228, preamp, and decent height + a very good line of sight to Toronto.

The Buffalo stations are all a good 110+ miles, so those would be non-existent, or very spotty, but with a nice tower, they may still be a possibilty, it's certain happened before.

[peano]

Anyone here from Rockwood, east of Guelph? I have a 4228 and may be moving there. Wondering if Buffalo and Toronto OTA is possible with a roof mount.

[Tom.F.1]

i'm not from there but usually, once you're past the escarpment, its very hard to get toronto/buffalo stations. you'll get kitchener, maybe 11 from hamilton and city from woodstock

[rob50312]

Peano since your east of Guelph the Toronto stations will be easy.If your on high ground Buffalo will be okay.Check your reception of Buffalo FM radio in your car.If its clear then your okay.102.5,99.5,94.5,98.5 etc

[peano]

I'll try that, thanks.

[frubsen]

i'm having some trouble now with my antenna set up...using an hvr-950

all of a sudden this past week, my picture is breaking up on all channels and yet the signal strength is fine...this is mainly happening on ctv and cbc since those are the only two consistent channels i get.

the only thing i can think of is that i have my ufo antenna set up near my cm4228....but what i dont get is that its only starting to cause me problems now, since the both antennas have been up there since january

[026163]

perhaps the performance of your computer?
one thing I can tell you is that the reception your getting with an hvr-950 is not your actual reception. I bet if i picked up a 5th gen tuner or TV with built in tuner, you'd get a lock on Buffalo stations and probably SUNTV Hamilton too.

[frubsen]

really? how come you say the hvr-950 isnt the real reception?

is the hvr-1600 considered a 5th gen tuner?

and some nights i can pick up city, suntv toronto, abc, cbs and nbc

[stampeder]

frubsen, someone has posted in another thread that weather conditions in the Toronto-Buffalo area have lowered reception temporarily.

We won't discuss PC ATSC tuners in this thread, thanks. There is a specific thread for that in the HTPC forum.

[mvidberg]

Hello all, I am in the Chicopee/Centreville area of Kitchener and have a DTV/ATSC capable LCD TV. I was thinking about getting a CM4228 to get the OTA HD channels. From my location, what is the minimum height the antenna would need to be at get reception? I am not really interested in erecting a tower in my yard.

(also, any more updates on when Kitchener will get their digital transmitter tower running?)

[rvhoody]

Hi All,

Is anyone in Cambridge east side using an OTA antenna? Can anyone fill me on what channels I can pick up? What is a good antenna and where can I get one?

Thanks,
Rob

[hsplrguy]

Hi I am in the North end of Cambridge just started with OTA HDTV love it so far. I am getting all the Buffalo HD OTA and all the Toronto signals.

I am using a UHF arrow outside on a 48ft tower and an older 80's channel master amp with an old rotor. I have a new amp for sale I bought and did not need.

All my channels at night are in the 90's during the day mid 70's to 80.

[stampeder]

rvhoody, you'll see a tool called "Search this Thread" in the blue navbar above. You can input the term "Cambridge" into in and see quite a few related posts in this thread about your area.

I think hsplrguy's post bodes very well for you with a tower (if you need one where you are).

[hsplrguy]

Thanks Stampeder we get a little more inteference during the day but have not lost the OTA HD Buffalo feeds it just drops to around 75-80%. The last few nights I have even gotten some Rochester NY HDTV channels. I have a few that show up and not sure where they are also I get no channel id. The image on OTA is so crisp compared to my 6120 HD channels in the 800's. Hockey on CBC totally blew me away.