I would think the RS UHF Antenna would be fine, considering how close you are to Buffalo. I can pick up at least some of the channels with a much lesser antenna and I'm some 65miles to the North in Ajax, ON. I use a large CM4248 antenna to get all Buffalo channels except WB49-DT.

Check the map with transmitter tower locations on [Link: remotecentral.com] - As far as I can make out, several of the transmission towers are south of Depew, and the ones on Grand Island are North West.

Also consider your terrain - Are there any buildings / trees / mountains between you and the transmitters ?
Can you recieve the UHF analog channels clearly ?
Are you getting your Antenna up high enough ? - probably better up on your roof if possible - or you may even be OK with an attic mounted installtion depending on your local construction / terrain.

Cable : Are you using RG6 coax ? are the connections good? Is it a long run ? You should be able to recieve without an amplifier in your location - even I can get ch32 (psip23) with a small antenna and no amplifier - (Though I need an amp and large antenna for the others) You may need an amp if your run of coax is long (over 70' - 100')

Good luck, and let us know if you get it working.

Hey everybody,

I'm still playing with various combinations of antenna configuration. Thanks, Daniel, for your advice. I think I'm going to return the Radio Shack RCA ANT711 antenna and try something more directional and robust, like the CM4228, in an attic installation. I known this is not ideal, but I don't own the exterior of the townhouse so I really am limited in what I can do. For now I actually get better directional reception out the window with the desktop antenna included with the ATI HDTV Wonder with a 20db preamp! I've read the whole attic installation thread, and I will decide this weekend on my best plan of attack. Any local (ie. between Buffalo and Toronto) dealers carrying Channel Master gear? The closer to Niagara the better.

Just so I don't pull my hair out trying... is NBC (WGRZ) still having trouble (ie. off the air?) I saw it come up at one point today during an AutoScan, but when I went to view it the signal was less than 10%.

WGRZ has been fine for me for the last few days.(though who knows, I dont check too often....)
Last weekend they were down for a couple of days.

I seem to remember someone mentioning Lowes hardware in the US carry some CM Antennas, not sure what kind of selection they have though, as I've never personally been into on of their stores.

I ordered my CM Antenna over the internet from a place just outside of NY City. Dont remember the name, but I can dig it out if you need it.

This message was edited by ontariocraig on 02/11/05 16:34 ET.

Warren Electronics are good too - I ordered my CM preamp from there, before they stopped shipping to Canada. (I called them, they told me they'd stopped shipping due to customs hold ups)

[Link: warrenelectronics.com]

They have a good selection. May be worth calling them, see if they started shipping to Canada again. I know back when they did ship to Canada, they were pretty fast, despite the customs gauntlet.

This message was edited by ontariocraig on 02/11/05 16:37 ET.

Hi ontariocraig,

Thanks for the info. Warren Electronics looks good, and I'll check out the Lowe's idea as well. It looks like they are still just shipping to the U.S., but I'm only 10 minutes across the border, so that's not a problem. For $5 I can have the Lewiston, NY UPS depot accept a package for me, then just drive over to pick it up. Lately they only care about alcohol and tobacco at the border, so no duty or customs! Thanks for the info!

DeadAir is up,

I just fired up my Sharp HD receiver, mounted an old UHF Bowtie on a 12' pipe from the side wall of my chimney race. Pointed the antenna due south, vola HDTV is alive. I'm located in "The Upper Beaches" (Main & Kingston Rd.) of Toronto. My receiver has a built in signal strength meter so I've scanned all the HD channels that locked in; Fox-99%, CBC(E)-98%, CBC(F)-92%, UPN-98%, NBC-78%, ABC-91%, CBS-97%, PBS-82%, CityTV-10%, Toronto1-78%. I will adjust my antenna azmith clockwise a little to the west to increase the strength of City's signal since I need at least 40% signal strength to keep the picture locked.

I find the American channel use of sub channels a little wierd. What's this sub channel thing all about?

This message was edited by DeadAir on 02/12/05 12:21 ET.

Hmm, WKBW had difficulty with Boston Legal tonight... HD cut out at about 25 minutes and never came back.

I think you might have been lucky, as they normally hold my packages until I pick them up from their warehouse, and they can bill me up the wazoo in person... ;-)

Did you end up getting the pre-amp with the antenna? I've just sent off an email to antennasdirect, and hopefully I can get one from them.

The Terk TV32 is up and mounted, but I seem to be getting interference between NBC and UPN, as I have 70-80% signal strength between the 2 but keep getting broken-up and glitching video between those 2 stations.

Perhaps it's interference? I'm probably going to run a new cable line, and test that out first...but I think I might have to get another antenna...*shrug*

DB

Problem with the signal stregth meters built into recievers is they dont show multipath, or other electrical noise that may be there. You can have a strong signal with multipath, but unlike analog, it doesnt show as ghosting. much harder to figure out.

Use RG6 coax too.

I'm definatly going to try that tonight...I use only RG6, but it's far from being a one-piece cable, as there are many breaks/splits in the cable, since it was a long cable that was required.

Since I still have the ladder in the backyard, I'll run up to the top, and run a single piece of cable to the receiver. I'll know right away on whether I still get the multi-path issues or not...

Thanks for the tip!

Dan

I'm not saying it's multipath issues for sure - just a possibility.

Having one clean run of RG6 cable will help signal integrity, but is unlikely to solve multipath issues if you have them. - Still, its an easy thing to try - especially since you say your existing cable has splits and breaks in it.

Yeah, it's probably easy enough to test out for kicks...I know the old cable is all RG-6, but there's in-line adapters connecting each of the cables, and I think there's at least 3 points where the in-line adapters are in place...

I can't say for sure what the deal is with the multipath issues are, but I'll have to resolve it for sure. I'm almost positive that's the issue!

It's odd, since I never had the issue a few weeks ago...seems to be happening as of recent, but of course with a different antenna, your results may vary... :-) Maybe I'll pop the RCA ANT711 back outside...

I'll play with the antenna once the rain stops...which looks like it will be awhile! :) It's been raining all day in brampton.

I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks again!

It should be noted that quite a few folks have difficulties with NBC (even before UPN started broadcasting).

Hey everybody,

I have yet to receive NBC at all, although UPN is one of the best channels I receive (88% tonight while watching CSI Miami). I do experience some drop-outs and hiccups, but this could be my hardware/software config, not necessarily the broadcast/reception itself. I am currently using the antenna that came with the ATI HDTV Wonder card, which seems to be an OEM knock-off of the Silver Sensor. This is an unpowered antenna, so I've been using a Provo 20dB amp with it and about 40ft of continuous RG-6 coax. The antenna is mounted just outside a second-storey window and pointed pretty much directly at the antenna cluster on Grand Island. UPN, FOX, and PBS are all very strong (upper 80's), but the other down-town Buffalo stations aren't so great. And, as mentioned, NBC doesn't even show up in an autoscan. For now the Silver Sensor seems much more directional than the more omni-directional RCA ANT711 that I bought at Radio Shack, which is going back.

I had hoped to buy two CM4228s, and set them up according to RTI Installer's instructions in the "attic installation" thread. However, the opening to my attic is 20" by 28", and 35" on the diagonal. Pretty tight squeeze for the 39.5" square CM4228! I think I will instead try this setup with two CM4221s, also known on solidsignal.com as the CM3021. At 20" wide, I think I can get them up there, and will have to live with the reduced range. Solidsignal.com has them at $22.49US each and $23.95US ground shipping to the U.S. I've heard that for $5 you can have items held at the Lewiston UPS depot and then drive across the border to pick them up. It's only a 20 minute drive for me across the border, so I figure I can wrap this all up for under $100Cdn, since they haven't been too tight lately at the border for duty when you're driving across, except for alcohol or tobacco.

I would appreciate some input on my plan before I go ahead with it. I would like to be able to receive all of the Buffalo and Grand Island stations (except WB49 of course), as well as CBC off the CN Tower when they start broadcasting next month. I picked up CBC's test programming (skating, fall scenery, etc.) pretty well with the RCA antenna, but not with the more directional Silver Sensor. I've calculated my range and bearing to each station as follows:

My location:
Latitude: 43° 11 Min.25 Sec.
Longitude: -79° 15 Min. 20 Sec.

47.82 Miles, 132.7 degrees - 240kW - WGRZ 2/33 - 42 43' 6"N, 78 33' 47"W
48.56 Miles, 138.8 degrees - 790 kW - WIVB 3/39 - 42 39' 33"N, 78 37' 33" W
49.9 Miles, 139.7 degrees - 358 kW - WKBW 7/38 - 42 38' 15"N, 78 37' 12"W
20.18 Miles, 123.1 degrees - 156 kW - WNED 17/43 - 43 1' 48"N, 78 55' 15"W
20.18 Miles, 123.1 degrees - 1000 kW - WNLO 23/32 - 43 1' 48"N, 78 55' 15"W
20.35 Miles, 125.8 degrees - 35kW - WUTV 29/14 - 43 1' 32"N, 78 55' 43"W
31.92 Miles, 348.1 degrees - 38 kW - CBLT 5/20 - 43 38' 33"N, 79 23' 15"W

I expect I will need both 4221s to pick up the Buffalo and Grand Island clusters. But what about CBC? Would a third antenna pointed north (348.1 degrees) help, or would this just increase multipath issues (as currently being discussed in this thread)? Any input from all of you is always appreciated. Thanks again!

Depending on how those antennas perform, you might be setting yourself up for a multipath nightmare (although the as-yet-to-come 5th generation LG chipsets might be able to deal with it).

You might want to look into a filter that will ONLY pass a single channel - so you'd add in 20 from that antenna and reject everything else it picks up. Only problem with that is you'd also reject 24, 53, 66 and any future CN Tower stations.

[Link: lindsayelec.com]