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Digital antenna answers here (Page 2)
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Topic:
Digital antenna answers here
This thread has 21 replies. Displaying posts 16 through 22.
OP | Post 16 made on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 12:30
DASK
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:		February 2009
8
On February 11, 2009 at 10:44, bliggy said...
I live just east of hamilton Ontario (43.07227359766744,
-79.5695972442627) and would like to pick up the Ham/Toronto
HD stations, do I need clear line of sight? What would
the compass heading be to point this antenna and pick
up these stations? Please help

I know I am going to get an argument on this one but here goes .....

antenna secret # 1 many times water does not count in distance ... that is Toronto may be 50 miles away from you but it will seem like 20 because you are looking across the bay at it .

antenna secret # 2 directional antennas are not truly directional but rather are 100% effective when pointed to station 60% when backwards and 30% when sideways to the station ..... mental picture for you point to Buffalo with antenna for best Buffalo signal get Toronto off the antenna left , London off the antenna right and Kitchener from the back of the antenna.
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OP | Post 17 made on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 12:41
DASK
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:		February 2009
8
On February 11, 2009 at 11:02, JCLW said...
Hey Dave,

I'm located in Toronto, at the top of the Davenport hill
- St Clair & Dufferin neighbourhood. Luckily for me (I
think), both the CN tower and Buffalo are roughly in the
same direction.

I've got an LG LCD TV, which seems to have a half decent
tuner.

I currently receive the following digital channels:
14 (29) Fox
20 (5) CBC-En
24 (25) CBC-Fr
32 (23) CW
33 (2) NBC - Comes and goes
38 (7) ABC
39 (4) CBS
40 (9) CTV
43 (17) PBS
44 (44) OMNI 2
53 (57) City - Once in a while has problems
64 (64) OMNI 1 - Once in a while has problems
65 (41) Global - Once in a while has problems
66 (66) Sun - Once in a while has problems

My current antenna setup is:
- 2m RG-59 (w/ferrite) from TV to wall jack
- 10m RG-6 from wall jack to attic
- 25yr old bunny ears with 1m of twin lead and matching
transformer in the (unfinished) attic

Picture of antenna:

Observations:
- Changing the coax makes no difference (ie: connecting
antenna directly to TV using the piece of RG-6 doesn't
help anything).
- Bunny ears work noticeably better in attic then on 2nd
floor of house (where the TV is located).
- antenna is highly directional

I have some other antennas (loops and bowties) kicking
around but none work half as well as the old bunny ears.
Hardly any of the other antennas will bring in any signals
at all. They are all indoor set-top antennae

Q1 - I thought the bunny ears worked better for VHF, and
the loops/bowties better for UHF. But my experience seems
to indicate the opposite - although I do seem to have
trouble at the upper end of the channel list. Any thoughts?

Q2 - Although I can't really complain about the channel
lineup I do get, I wouldn't mind getting rid of the problems
in the upper channels, and maybe picking up 34 (49) myTV
as well. I don't mind shelling out a bit of $ for something
like a Channel Master 4228 ([Link: hdtvprimer.com])
(to install in the attic) as long as there is a reasonable
chance that it will improve my reception. But I'm hesitant
because so far the best antenna I have tried seems to
be the simplest (and oldest). Any thoughts?
Reply
Post 18 made on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 19:33
rocket65
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:		February 2008
63
Dave in response to your comment in actual fact I do recieve buffalo when weather conditions are just right. wivb cbs 4.1 tends to be the most frequently received followed by wkbw abc 7.1 and wngs 7.2 the greatest challenge tends to be wnlo and wgrz and fox and 29.1 and me tv 49.1 have been fruitless. what I do tend to pick up is pbs wned buffalo and rochester wxxi again sporadically. when you picked up the cincinatti game on your mini-state was it perched insided or outside and how high up? did you see my post for terrestrial digital and their new antenna line? I also noticed that antennacraft is coming out with a new antenna model in the spring. have you known anybody who purchased that lava antenna looks kinda futuristic I was wondering if the larger elements on their own can improve reception.
Michael Robert Bennett
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Post 19 made on Monday January 4, 2010 at 11:46
cde
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:		January 2010
1
HI Dave,

We live in Cambridge and I was wondering what outdoor antenna you recommend and if there is someone you recommend in the area to do the installation on our roof and any cabling that may be required.

Thanks,

Christine
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Post 20 made on Monday January 4, 2010 at 22:35
Ernie Bornn-Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
Joined:
Posts:		December 2001
30,104
On February 12, 2009 at 11:58, DASK said...
Very good question ( and I wish I had an answer )

In short and old analog signal that you did get that were watchable before without trouble should be now perfect in digital

This is close, but needs some refinement.

Most of the new digital stations in the US are on UHF frequencies, so if you got good UHF reception before, you should be okay for a lot of digital stations.

Before I go on I have to explain something. When digital stations first appeared, their names, even their channel names, were made to look like their old names so we ignorant masses would not have to cope with too much change at once. However, their actual operating frequencies changed in many cases. For instance, here in Los Angeles, KCBS Channel 2 became KCBS Channel 2.1, but actually was broadcast on UHF Channel 36. To make things a bit less confusing, it's good to refer to channel numbers as, for instance, 2.1, but refer to frequencies by their real original channel number. www.antennaweb.org refers to this as the "RF Channel," which is accurate.

Moving on, some markets have channels in the range of 7 - 13. Before the transition, all digital channels here were on UHF RF frequencies, but now 7.1, 9.1, 11.1 and 13.1 are on their original RF Frequencies 7, 9, 11 and 13.

If that's the case where you live, you'll need an antenna that can get these channels, called High Band VHF.

I think there are even a few Low Band VHF stations around, on RF channels 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7. Again, you need to know the RF channel for your local stations.

In the US, this can be found at www.antennaweb.org, and www.tvfool.com has much more information.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
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Post 21 made on Tuesday January 5, 2010 at 11:17
donnyjaguar
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:		January 2008
352
I think its a mistake for stations to set up digital transmitters on VHF myself. Its very difficult to buy a decent VHF antenna off the shelf in this city and it complicates set up. I have a VHF-hi antenna, but in reality unless conditions to Rochester are favourable its just for DX, which falls into the personal amusement category.
Donny Jaguar
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Post 22 made on Monday March 1, 2010 at 16:38
yardbird
Active Member
Joined:
Posts:		July 2005
538
Someone mentioned ClearStream antennas. I'm using a ClearStream 4 in Sanborn, NY (about 7 miles east of Niagara Falls, US) and picking up all Buffalo stations, some from about 42 to 45 miles without a problem. This summer I may pick up a rotator as I noticed when I was setting it up that if I turned it north instead of south, I got a fair number of Canadian stations as well.
Panasonic TH42PX60U, Yamaha RX-V667, DirecTV HR24, Sony DVP-NC80V, URC MX-980, PSX-2
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