[watersoilair]

Hello All,

I'd just like to point out that I'm from Smiths Falls and my aunt and uncle live in Montague Twp.

Ok. I am living in the city and would like to save some money on my cable bill. I was excited to run a scan on my new tv (thinking there would be a few digital signals, but no). I was wondering if someone could recommend an antenna for me - something indoors and/or something that could be run just outside my window...on the first floor of a house. Also, what channels are available in Ottawa? I couldn't seem to find an up-to-date website.

Well, that's it for now. I look forward to hearing from some of you! I am excited to say goodbye to the cable company.

 

[tvlurker]

Check out this post.

Depending on where you are, and which you you face, you may get up to 3 stations from Camp Fortune and/or 2 stations from Herberts Corners near Osgoode.

With an outdoor antenna and a lot of luck, you may get PBS from upstate New York.

I'm assuming if you did a scan and got nothing at all (not even CBC), then you wither didn't have an antenna connected at all, or you're deep inside a concrete building.

 

[stampeder]

watersoilair, here are the steps you need to take to help us to help you:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1076613&postcount=72

cheers

 

[Werryner]

I was excited to run a scan on my new tv (thinking there would be a few digital signals, but no).

also would be good to check that your new TV has a built-in ATSC tuner (check the manual in time to take it back to the store if it doesn't!)

 

[watersoilair]

Wow! I didn't think I'd get any responses...this fast anyway. Thanks for your input. My tv is a hi-def and I thought that I'd be able to pick up something with an internal antenna. I guess it doesn't work that way anymore - which brought me to searching on the net and finding this lovely website. I'm a Toyota Yaris owner and there's a website for all of us Yaris owners built exactly the same!

I will take the advice and read up on the FAQ's and the home-made stuff. I'm not in a concrete box, haha...but my tv did not pick anything up on the scan. I would be able to house something indoors and run a wire/small installation outside just outside my window. I rent and I don't have a ladder. I would position it in a west/south facing manner...but I do have a house right beside me separated by a laneway. (if that helps)

Ok, on to the reading.

 

[tlamothe]

My buddy just north of Brockville put up a CM4228HD with a CM titan pre-amp and rotor. Pointed towards Ottawa, he is getting all 5 of the Ottawa HD channels (CBC, SRC, Omni1, Omni2 and SUN) plus he is getting all the Watertown channels off the backside of the antenna.

I am surprised he is getting the Omni channels as I see from this forum, they are quite hard to receive in Ottawa.

 

[MK3]

ON - Kingston, Smiths Falls, Brockville - OTA

Ok, I managed to fix my problem. It turns out that the ATSC tuner on my FTA receiver (Sonicview SV-HD8000) wasn't working. When I bought a digital converter box and an Mini-State HDMS9100 I was picking up 20 digital channels.

Moving the antenna around with the rotor inside my home, I was able to pick up these digital channels at one point:
3-1 WSTM
3-2 WSTQ
3-3 Weather
5-1 WTVH-DT
7-1 WWNY-HD
7-2 WNYF-SD
8-1 WROC-TV
9-1 WSYR-HD
9-2 WSYR-2
16-1 WPBS-1
16-2 WPBS-2
16-3 WPBS-HD
24-1 WCNY-1
24-2 WCNY-2
24-3 WCNY-3
24-4 WCNY-HD
31-1 WUHF-DT
43-1 WNYS-DT
50-1 WWTI-DT
50-2 WWTI-1

Definitely was very pleasantly surprised with my results, and this is just with the Mini-State Antenna in my room. I'm looking forward to taking the antenna outside to see what results I can get.

One thing I do notice though, is that I can only ever get 1 good analog channel in and that's CKWS. The other ones (CICO, CBLFT) are basically unwatchable. Even CKWS isn't perfect but I'm not sure if that's because analog isn't that great or I'm not picking it up well enough.

Have any of you been able to pull in CBC in digital (ie. CBOT-DT)? I would love to be able to watch the World Cup in better picture quality.

Edit - One last question also, are there any good HD converter boxes? The current one I have is SD but I would love to be able to watch in HD. It's too bad the TVs don't have ATSC tuners themselves...

 

[rlongfield]

Great channel line up MK3, that is basically my lineup with my el'cheape antennao
As for CBOT-DT I strongly doubt you will get it in Kingston, I've heard some people in Ottawa can't get it yet. I believe they are still running at testing power which means their range is limited. I can only get their analog signal on very very rare occasions and it's poor quality, of course I'm not really trying to get that channel. CKWS offers the same coverage as CBOT. But I know you were looking for HD coverage of the World Cup.
Yes there are HD boxes, off hand I know the nfusion HD FTA box has a ATSC tuner in it as I currently have a borrowed one sitting on my work bench that I have to return.
As far as TV's with ATSC tuners built in, they do make them especially the newer models.

 

[rlongfield]

tlamothe, Global 41? I've never seen that channel, ever..... but that would explain the loss of WPBS for a short while yesterday. I got the stations back sometime in the afternoon.

Is anyone running a pre-amp in Kingston and if so how much does it improve your signal quality? Do you experience any drop-outs? And are you getting any extra channels ie. ION?

 

[tlamothe]

41 is the toronto analog for Global. Skip days it comes in. I can also get CBC, CTV and TVO from Toronto on those days with decent quality too.

I have a pre-amp at the house but its killing me as I am over amplifying the SRC and TVO which are close to the house.

At your location I would consider one which will amp UHF and leave VHF alone. Syracuse is all UHF and 7 from Watertown should be okay, SRC and TVO are at the rear of the antenna and CKWS won't be amplified. Other considerations supporting amplifying VHF would be if Global moves to 8 on digital, Ottawa and Rochester digitals.

 

[Humpty Dumpty]

A pre-amp made a huge difference for me, but I'm further away than you are. I think I could get ION if it wasn't for that darn french channel (which I seem to get 2 or 3 copies of), they are both 15 so it is probably overpowering ION.

 

[rlongfield]

ION came in the other night when I did my first scan. I don't see it during the day which is not a huge surprise given the antenna I am using.
I think that I might try and get an pre-amp and see what happens after I get a proper antenna

 

[x4mer]

That being said, I picked up a new channel last night, Religion channel 52-1 on RF 20.

That's WNYI from Ithaca,NY. They just went live a week ago. I see you mentioned you'd get CBC HD from Toronto now and then. That may be a thing of the past now that WNYI has gone live.

 

[tlamothe]

Yep, I think I am hosed on CBC Toronto. Come on CKWS, cut over to HD....

 

[mrvanwinkles]

Is anyone running a pre-amp in Kingston and if so how much does it improve your signal quality?

Yes, I'm running a UHF only preamp from Research Communications at top of tower on my UHF only antenna. (it's an ultra low noise pre-amp ... and they claim it only adds about half a db or so of signal noise ... only 0.5 db added noise ! )

and YES ! it helps.

I am able to make some comparison of the difference - with/without preamplification - because the pre-amp has a power injector box with a switch on it to shut off power to the pre-amp - in which case the pre-amp DOES still feed UHF signals through with no pre-amplification.

Relatively nearby WPBS digital from Watertown goes from maybe 75% to 91% signal when the pre-amp is powered.

The digitals from Syracuse - 90 miles plus away - under good conditions / when they are coming in good - the pre-amp makes a HUGE difference.

Let's say from 40% without ... to 80% or even 90% BEST when pre-amp power on. (from barely watchable under best reception conditions - to solid and watchable with no dropouts)

But keep in mind - Syracuse from Kingston is relatively FAR for reliable OTA. 90 miles plus is FAR.

Even with Great UHF antenna and pre-amp, up on tower outside, Syracuse digitals come and go based on reception conditions.

I am amazed I'm getting them at all - if and when they do come in good.
Usually at night and early in the morning the ones from Syracuse are stable and watchable.

There *IS* signal to be received in Kingston. I think many of us have shown it.

Awsome to see how things have progressed. Good stuff everyone!

 

[PrinceLH]

Yep, I think I am hosed on CBC Toronto. Come on CKWS, cut over to HD....

I wonder when they plan on changing their main transmitter to digital. I also wonder if their repeaters are going digital at the same time.

 

[MK3]

Update

I moved my Mini-State HDMS9100 into the attic yesterday evening and picked up these digital channels:

2-1 WGRZ-HD
2-2 WGRZ-US
2-3 WGRZ-RT
3-1 WSTM
3-2 WSTQ
3-3 Weather
4-1 WIVB-HD
5-1 WTVH-DT
7-1 WWNY-HD
7-1 WKBW-HD
7-2 WNYF-SD
8-1 WROC-TV
9-1 WSYR-HD
9-2 WSYR-2
16-1 WPBS-1
16-2 WPBS-2
16-3 WPBS-HD
21-1 WXXI-HD
21-2 WXXI-W
21-3 WXXI-C
24-1 WCNY-1
24-2 WCNY-2
24-3 WCNY-3
24-4 WCNY-HD
26-1 WNYB-SD
26-2 WNYB-HD
31-1 WUHF-DT
43-1 WNYS-DT
49-1 WNYO-HD
50-1 WWTI-DT
50-2 WWTI-2
51-1 ION
51-2 qubo
51-3 IONLife
68-1 WSYT-DT
68-2 68-2 W

I'm very happy with the channel selection so I don't see a need to move it outside really. I like the fact the you can rotate the antenna and save the location of all the channels you pick up.

In terms of analog channels, I pick up:

11 CKWS-TV
38 CICO-TV
32 CBLFT-14
15 CBLFT-13

The first three are great, the last one is a bit fuzzy.

 

[tlamothe]

Awesome results.

Another channel you should be able to get is RF 35 which is 28.1.
It is the HD version of 7.2. There are some odd days that 68.1 doesn't come in so I use it as my backup. Another two that you aren't getting are the Rochester VHF stations, 10 and 13. Not a big loss though, you get pretty much the same thing with 3.1 and 3.2.

 

[MK3]

Thanks a lot tlamothe

I tried to rotate the antenna to see if I could pick up the channels you suggested but didn't have any luck. Maybe if I took the anntenna outside it would be better. At this point though I'm not sure if it's worth it, especially to pick up affiliate stations for networks I already have like you said.

I wish the situation was better with Canadian channels (CBC, CTV, Global etc.) but it's not too big of a deal with the amount of American channels available. I'm sure things will improve when they all go digital.

 

[tlamothe]

The Rochester and Buffalo channels aren't reliable come winter, so leave it as it is for now.

Once the tropo activity slows, you should have a better idea of how the setup is working for you.

As an FYI, my friend in Brockville has a CM4228HD on his tower and can get all the Ottawa digitals, plus the digitals from Watertown on the backside of the antenna.

It is quite the feat, some people in Ottawa can't get all the Ottawa digitals.