Hello folks! :)

I have an antenna situation at my place that we need help in. I've been getting abnormal and unreliable reception for alot of channels on DTV in Buffalo/Toronto.

We live in the extreme southwestern portion Mississauga near Oakville (Clarkson village area). We're not right by the lake, but we are quite close. Probably no less than a kilometer from the shore. (500-600m),

Recently my dad purchased an outdoor EagleStar 8-bay antenna Model 53-6305-2. (Basically 2 53-6305s combined). [Link: eaglestarpro.com]

I know nothing of this brand, but it's just a UHF antenna so I figured brand doesn't really entire matter. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not really into this TV stuff. We're really on a budget and we don't want any fancy gadgets or stuff. Just solid reliable free OTA DTV from Buffalo and Toronto. My dad said he got both the converter and antenna(s) from some place on Dixie and Matheson.

We also got a Artec digital converter box for our TV. [Link: artectv.com]

Seems our setup is working on the technical side of things. Let me describe the setup. (We initially bought the converter only so my dad could watch WNED but were surprised at the fact we recieved so many channels we never saw before!)

The antenna we have is classified as a rooftop antenna, but it isn't mounted on the roof. It's about 10 feet above the ground on an old tripod. Although the picture below might illustrate many obstructions, the only obstructions I can note are my house and few other houses nearby. The tallest part of our house runs around 25 feet. But the antenna itself is positioned 20 feet AWAY from the house, and is pointed at 70 degees away from it. It's propped against my neighbour's metal fence and backed by hedges.


The two cables running from the 2 four bay antennas are linked with a Phillips reverse converter about 25 feet from the antennas themselves.


The single coaxial cable then runs into our basement for another 50 feet before reaching the converter and our TV.
The antenna is pointed close (not exactly) towards Buffalo. I say if you took a pieslice of the angular distance between Buffalo and Toronto, it's pointed say 80% towards Buffalo, 20% towards Toronto.

This is a birds eye chart based off google earth.
The blue line is the avg. direction of the toronto transmitters (CN Tower + First Canadian Place/2).
The red line is the avg. direction of the Buffalo transmitters (Grand Island + Buffalo South/2)
The black line is the direction of my antenna.


These are the channels I can get reliably (90-100% of the time), no matter what conditions.

23-1 WNLO (avg 70-75% strength) This is not surprising provided the 1000kW in all directions.

These are the channels I can get somewhat reliably, but can fade out in cloudy, poor conditions (recieving it around 80% of the time).

4-1 WIVB (avg 50-60% strength)

These are the channels I can get reasonably well, but usually fade out in adverse conditions, uusally only visible on sunny days (around 60-70% of the time).

2-1, 2-2, 2-3 WGRZ (avg 40-50% strength, sometimes jumps to 70%, still somewhat on the reliable end of this category, but goes out randomly at times) Surprising because it is said this is one of the harder channels to pick up.
17-1, 17-2, 17-3 WNED (avg. 35-50% strength, chops in and out often on the low end of the signal strength)
49-1, 49-2 WYNO (avg. 35-50% strength, sometimes jumps to 60-70% in rare occasions)

These are the channels I can get well only on clear cloudless days, or nights. Sometimes even during bad conditions they come on but very weak. Their behaviour is unpredictable and can range form strong signal to no signal at all. (around 30-50% of the time). When I do get them they can go in and out randomly.

7-1 WKBW (avg. 28-33% strength normally, sometimes can jump to 50%-70% rarely) I used to get this quite reliably and would fit it in the 2nd category 2 months ago but I'm guessing something moved so slightly.

These are channels I get once in a blue moon (5-10% of the time).
29-1, 29-2 WUTV (I was surprised I got this once for 15 minutes at 33%. I never got it again and it usually skipped a little)

These are channels I never get. This is probably what really annoys me surprisingly. Oddly my recieve reports these usually at 16-20% strength. Remember my reciever needs at least 33% to get a constant signal. I think my reciever only displays signals in 16, 20, 25, 33, 40, 50, 66, 70, 85, and 100% increments. I live in Canada. Why am I not recieving my own TV stations?

5-1 CBLT (I do get this oddly on stormy nights, but very poorly at around 33% so chops in/out constantly.)
9-1 CFTO I want my CFTO news in lovely 16:9!
11-1 CHCH (actually I do get this once in a blue moon but very rarely and usually chops in/out after 5 minutes)
25-1 CBFLT
26-1 WNYB (I couldn't care less about this channel from what I heard of it)
36-1 CITS (Never got this one ever.)
41-1 CIII (Never got this one ever.)
44-1 (69) CJMT (OMNI.2)
51-1, 51-2, 51-3, 51-4 WPXJ (Never got this one ever, don't plan to but would be nice!)
52-1 CKXT (Never got this one ever.)
57-1 CITY
64-1 (47) CFMT (OMNI.1 Never got this one ever.)

SO basically I inexplicably recive zero Canadian channels, using an outdoor 8-bay antenna that is supposedly supposed to work within 70miles within transmitters. I'm actually surprised I can pull in South Buffalo channels better than this. And they are somewhat actually reliable. Perhaps the best explanation of this is that the antenna is pointed southeast rather than east and their higher powers, but still...even indoor antennas pick these channels better than my outdoor. Which again is inexplicable.

I have another indoor attic antenna that I use to pick up the analog signals of the Canadian TV stations really well. I'ved used this for over 15 years. When I hook that to my DTV converter, I pick up all Canadian DTV channels reliably except Global, OMNI1, SUN, and Crossroads. WNED and WNLO come in too at 50%. CITY at 33% and is choppy. This antenna is more directional and pointed east which could explain why.

But I don't want to have to change antennas constantly.

Sorry for the excruciatingly long post. I just wanted to describe my problem, setup, and reception as best as I can.
Which means all this boils down to one question.

What should I do if I want to recieve all these channels reliably without using a rotor and/or switching antennas?
(Well ION and FOX can be excused because they are naturally difficult to recieve anyways no matter what) I don't expect to get CKVR (3) either once it does go digital (obviously because the signal is opposite to the antenna). I do expect CICA (19) though.

Should I aim somewhere else? Or aim it higher? We might be getting our neigbour's old antenna tower which is about 2.5 times the height of our current one. I'll post more detailed info if I can find it!

Any help would be greatly appreciated! ;D