HIi Everybody!
I don't want to pay cable so I would like to know if I can get a decent indoor antenna to watch Free HDTV.
I live in North York near Toronto (Intersection of Eglinton & Don Mills). My apartment is on the 21st floor facing NORTH. I am 10 miles away from CN tower.

I went to "The Source" and a salesperson told me that i wouldn't be able to get any signal because I am not facing the CN tower (which is true). He says that in order to get free TV signal you have to face SOUTH.

Is there any hope that I can get a decent indoor antenna to get at least some free channels? If so, which one should I buy?

Thanks for the help, friends.

Any antenna will do to be honest. There is no such thing as a special HDTV antenna. You don't necessarily have to face south, especially since you're still quite close to the tower. It would HELP but it isn't a must.

Anyhow, if you already have an old set of analog rabbit ears just hook it up to a DTV converter box (or an actual HDTV already equipped with an ATSC tuner) and you should be able to pick up some of the local channels at the very least.

With rabbit ears from Mississauga I can grab a hold of CBC, CTV, CBLFT, and WNLO. Not very strong (30-40% each) You might have better luck though. I'm about 40km away from the tower with lots of obstructions.

Or even better than rabbit ears try making a coathanger antenna and hanging it in your closet or something. I hear those work wonders....but that's just me. Google it up there's tons.

Good luck :)

Thanks a lot. Your information is very helpful. I will try the rabbit ears as well as the coathanger antenna and see which one is better.

Have a nice day!

If you can, place the antenna as close to any window as possible. That will help a-lot. Good luck!

My experience is that you need an indoor amplified antenna. Just buy a reasonable one from a local supplier like Future Shop, etc (Costco at Billy Bishop Way had a good one for $30). Whatever you get, make sure its returnable if it does not work well. BillfromGI is correct when he says put it near a window. You may get reflections from nearby highrises. I have a friend that faces north but is still able to get reception. Actually the Buffalo stations are a bit south-south west so if you have a north-east corner apartment you may be ok if you can get the antenna outside. Be prepared for a lot of experimentation.

Try a Channel Master 4221 HD. I use one on the first floor of my apartment building and I get all the local stations in my area very well. With the height you have, you'll probably get a few out of town stations with this antenna even if it is indoors, provided that you have a clear path to the towers.

I live not too far from there (Bayview/Davisville, 3rd floor, facing west and a bunch of trees), and I have a homebrew "1-bay" that pulls in everything for Toronto pretty reliably:

- cut two 17" sections out of a metal coat hanger
- fold these into two 9.5" V's with the ends 4" apart
- get two wood screws and washers and mount them about 1" apart like this into any old piece of wood: > <
- hack the end off a dollar-store 6' coaxial cable and strip the coatings so the bare central wire and the outer foil are showing
- screw each V down on top of one of the conductors of the coax
- put the piece of wood in a window; I put it up on a little cross-piece so it sits on my windowsill
- enjoy all the local stations!

Thanks a lot Frisbee Pilot. Sounds terrific. I am not very handy but I will give it a try. Would you be able to post a picture of your hand made antenna so I can see how it must look like?

Sorry about the delay on this... I snapped a picture of my homebrew antenna:

I've played around with various homemade 2-bay and 4-bay antennas like this (this would be a "1-bay"), and the famous Gray-Hoverman... but to be honest, this little thing gives me the best and most reliable results. My guess is that, with those other designs, there's so much electrical resistance because of all the connections -- I suppose if I was to do those right, I'd have to solder the assorted wires together. But hey, this works in the meantime.

That's awesome! Haahaa.. . Simplicity at its finest!

I have 1 question.. I see that you striped the 75 ohm cable and attached it directly to the antenna elements. Have you tried using a balun instead, and if so did reception improve or fall off?

Juan, if you are close to the top floor try bribing your superintendent with a bottle of booze to get your antenna on the roof. Very easy to put a tripod up there attached to three patio slabs and drop the coax down a few floors. You'll need the above, a pack of Tapcons, 8mm wrench, percussion drill and extension cord and some electrical tape. I'm a ham radio operator and know of numerous hams whom have put various antennas on their apartment rooves. Including one who had a big C-band satellite dish on the roof. If there's a superintendent out there who doesn't like to drink I haven't met him yet. What's that saying about having friends in low places? Haha!

BillFromGI:

I've tried it with and without a balun, and I think I found this to work a little better. I might try it again with some higher-quality cable and a balun, too. Any way you make this connection, you're going to get a little signal-loss in there... I mean, I guess you could get fancy and calculate the impedance of the two V's and figure out how far apart they should be and all, but the difference that makes is pretty small.

For the record, I bought a Channel Master 4220 2-bay antenna and put it in my west-facing window in roughly the same spot, and if anything my little homemade piece-o'-junk outperformed it. By the way, would anyone want to buy a Channel Master 4220 antenna? Reasonable price, inquire within.