wow that was very informative thanks for that

i tried a couple of cables which aren't new but i guess its possible they could be cracked..the balun is new
we have no cable box or satellite dish..

i do still have the nintendo wire if thats what you meant..the telephone wire idea sounds interesting i might give that a shot..

as far as the tv options go i spent too much time dingling through them..unfortunately no luck for me

if this all fails i'm going to give the hd shoebox antenna a shot

regardless i appreciate all the input..ii guess some people just were not cut out to make their own antennas..i'm starting to think location may be an issue

i read somewhere that cbc 5-1 gives out the strongest transmission signal from the cn tower so if i can't even detect that channel i might be out of luck

cheers