I have good reception of the stations in the 'Golden Horseshoe'.

In Ajax near the lake - we get the full US stuff - even 26...
After looking at the DT signal - who wants analogue?
Our antenna is mounted in the wrong spot.
It is on the northside, below the roof line.
It was installed because we did not want cable when we bought the house.
The white plastic plate has been there for nearly nineteen years.
It got all of Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo ( as well Barrie, Peterborough & Rochester) then; and still does.
I will be moving the antenna in late June, so that it will be five feet above the roof line.
Unfortunately the old mounting hardware does not want to be moved - that is OK - it was going to be scrapped anyway...

Do not buy that all in one antenna, I did once, its TOTALLY useless, the director and reflectors are not connected to any thing, just a dipole with a preamp and small motor that does not work. Mounted on TV Mast outside.

Had a better signal indoors with very old rabbit ears!!!!

I installed an antenna I got from Radio Shack in 1990. Picked up the full US choice of stations; the full Canadaian choice; and is good for TVDXing too.

This sucker has a white plastic cover, an internal rotor and is outside the house.

In winter the full Toronto selection, the full Buffalo selection, and the two Hamilton stations; but I only watch one.
In summer, add to that: Rochester, Batavia, and Jamestown (their type of preaching is not my style - it is blanked).

Was the $126.00 worth it? yes!
Twenty years of NOT paying a cent to Rogers for starters ...

__________________________________________________

Antenna Update

Moved the white UFO higher using a ten foot pole, reception has become more solid.
But we need a longer mounting pole, as am about 30.cm above the peak of the roof; three to five more feet would be ideal...

Would using a piece of straight electrical tubing be a good suggestion?
There is an electrical supply place near me that has them to 20 feet long.
Is this type of tubing strong enough?

RSVP

Standard antenna mast will stand up the our occasional windy conditions. Shops that sell antennas should have that 'good stuff'..

Thanks BillFromGI.

i bought one ; it might work if you are closer than me, i did have buffalo working i will sell it to you if you want to try it , let m no

I can reply on that antenna link with 1 word CRAP! our business has removed more of those pieces of S--- that i care to talk about. they are a cheap flimsy piece of junk. they dont even pick up the locals (within 5 miles) very well. In whitby area alot of the guests on her are telling you 4 bays etc. Dont forget their are alot of hi vhf channels out there in Rochester / buffalo and after transition Hamilton/ Toronto and Barrie. SO to put up a 4 bay would work and they can work on hi band but not very well. I would suggest a winegard or antennacraft model like the HBU series antennas. Thats whatwe sell here in the states and they work good on Canadian and buff and rochester. Otherwise the bowties are ok if you dont want all the channels. ALso consider a preamp. We always install them!

I use a 21' pole from a fencing supply store up north at the lake. It's mounted on top of a 25' antenna mast with a "UFO" antenna on top-like yours. Were is your antenna? Batavia and Jamestown are seldom received at the Broadview subway with 8-bays at 290' above lake level.

Hey Guys,
I haven't posted in awhile but I am back.
I moved to Pickering from Toronto ( I hope it's okay that I posted in this thread) I am right beside the lake off westshore. I live in a bungalow and the 8 bay antenna ( 2 4 bays with joints to join them) is in the front of the house at the top of the skyline window. I tried it at the back of the house but the reception wasn't as good. It basically faces south but the house is facing east. It is surrounded by trees which I think are blocking my signal. (please correct me if I am wrong) I am getting roughly 10 channels and the antenna's are setup to face away from each other. I am having a lot of trouble aiming them.
My question(s) are what's the best way to aim them and how do I measure the degrees? What are my starting points. It's about 16 feet high inside the house. Putting the antenna on the roof is not an option. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks
rbq

A good place to start is http://www.tvfool.com Use the "Check your address for free" link. Key in your exact address, print out the handy chart, and have fun!

Thanks BillFromGI!
I put my address in at tvfool and aimed my antenna based on the chart. I have to say that I was very disappointed with my results. I got 5 channels at the most. Maybe it was a fluke I got 10 channels the other day. I get more channels with a 4 bay antenna but I have to rotate it to get different channels. I had figured that if I used two antennas I wouldn't have to rotate the antenna. I'm feeling stumped right now. Would being so close to the nuclear plant affect the signals coming in? Does anybody have any ideas?
rbq

Rbq, sometimes those "bendable" antenna's do not work as designed as one side of the antenna will "null" (zero out) signal being captured by the other side...

Hi BillFromGI,
Thanks for your reply. Do you think that it might work better if I separated the antennas? I was looking in the house and I have a window that is facing west and it's about 20 ft high. So my idea was to put one in the westerly window and keep one in the original location that is facing south and then run a longer rg6 cable to join them and combine the signal. Another question is the "combiner" it looks like a regular cable splitter that is being used in an inverted position. Is it really a splitter or is it something else?
Thanks for your input
rbq

When you use two antennas to receive signals from two different directions more than 90 degrees apart there are a few things you must do to make this work:

1 Use 2 Channel Master 4221 Antennas. Anything else is taking your chances.

2 Use two 5' mast poles so the two antennas are at least 3 feet apart

3 Use exactly the same amount of cable between each antenna and the combiner

4 Use a Winegard CC-7870 Combiner to combine the two signals into one downlead.

5 Fine-tune the directionality of each antenna using a compass and the chart generated by www.TVFool.com

This is how we do two-antenna installations from Western Mississauga to Oakville and Burlington, and from Eastern Scarborough and points east.
Someone had mentioned the high VHF situation from Rochester - I wouldn't worry about it - the stations are all repeats of Buffalo stations.

Geoff
The Antenna Guy
www.TheAntennaGuys.com
www.HDAntennaStore.com
416-654-HDTV