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BigSensFan
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join:2003-07-16
Belle River, ON

BigSensFan

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UHF Antenna and HDTV channels

Anyone know of a site that shows how many HDTV channels are available via a UHF antenna in a region?

Looking specifically for Essex county

Raptor
Not a Dumptruck
join:2001-10-21
London, ON

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»www.tvfool.com/?option=c ··· temid=29

Gone
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join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

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Essex County is one of the best places for OTA HD reception in the entire country. The American transmitters are very powerful and because Detroit was one of two ATSC test markets in the US the signals are exceptionally reliable.
HeadSpinning
MNSi Internet
join:2005-05-29
Windsor, ON

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said by Gone:

Essex County is one of the best places for OTA HD reception in the entire country. The American transmitters are very powerful and because Detroit was one of two ATSC test markets in the US the signals are exceptionally reliable.

And depending on where you are, you can also pick up Ohio stations.

I have Shaw Direct satellite, but honestly, I mostly watch OTA HD.

sm5w2
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join:2004-10-13
St Thomas, ON

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And explain this: CTV put their CHWI transmitter in Wheatley (sp?) - way outside Windsor city limits. And it transmits with only 3.2 kw. You want to watch local CTV evening newscasts in Windsor OTA? Better have a good, big UHF antenna on a rotor...
HeadSpinning
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join:2005-05-29
Windsor, ON

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CHWI is way less than 3.2kw. The transmitter was put in Wheatley to protect the U.S. stations. If you're in Windsor you can watch their signal on ch 26.

Bell owns them and would prefer you watching on satellite not OTA...
mr weather
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join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

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said by HeadSpinning:

And depending on where you are, you can also pick up Ohio stations.

I have Shaw Direct satellite, but honestly, I mostly watch OTA HD.

My parents have Shaw Direct as well and split their time between it and OTA. Their antenna is a 4-bay Channel Master about 20 feet above ground and it picks up all the Detroit stations (including WJBK which is VHF-hi) and local Canadian ones. Living in Forest Glade they watch CHWI on 16 as well as CTV (42) and Global (22 or 29). Toledo is hit or miss but I suspect if their antenna were higher they'd get those channels more consistently.

Back in the day they had a 40 foot tower and could get everything including Flint and occasionally Ann Arbor. Cleveland was almost impossible and I think it was due to the ridge on the southern edge of Essex County we affectionately call Mt. Ruthven.

Gone
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join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

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said by HeadSpinning:

CHWI is way less than 3.2kw. The transmitter was put in Wheatley to protect the U.S. stations. If you're in Windsor you can watch their signal on ch 26.

Bell owns them and would prefer you watching on satellite not OTA...

Bell put a CKVR HD retransmitter in Fonthill for no reason other than to be able to request mandatory simsub rights on CTV Two in the Niagara Region. They put another transmitter up in Hamilton to do the same for there and Halton Region. A market of nearly a million and a half between these two transmitters and we get news and content from a city less than one tenth the size several hours away as our "local" station. That's how Bell rolls.

BigSensFan
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join:2003-07-16
Belle River, ON

BigSensFan

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thanks everyone..

any recommendations on an antenna?
jam_bongo
join:2002-07-17
Toronto, ON

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Were you looking for an internal or external antenna? A good starting point is the site TVfool linked above on what the best types of antenna work well given the channels you're looking to pick up.
mr weather
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join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

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said by BigSensFan:

any recommendations on an antenna?

Like I mentioned upthread, my parents use a 4-bay Channel Master (CM 4221HD) and are happy with the performance. It is small enough to get up into an attic but ideally you want to mount it outside.

Another thing to consider is a rotator (or "rotor") so you can aim the antenna for strongest signal. For example, most Detroit channels are transmited from Southfield which is roughly NW of Windsor and CBC and TVO are almost due south in McGregor. Then there is CHWI in Wheatley and CTV and Global to the NE.
HeadSpinning
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join:2005-05-29
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said by mr weather:

Another thing to consider is a rotator (or "rotor") so you can aim the antenna for strongest signal.

Sadly, most TVs out there have to re-scan when you change the direction of the antenna. They end up losing all their existing channels, which means when you turn back to your original direction, you have to scan again... big pain in the ass.

Some TVs handle rotors better - they have a mode that simply adds channels to the list without deleting.
mr weather
Premium Member
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

mr weather

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Good point. Fortunately mine maintain their stored channels after rescanning but many sets don't.

One possible workaround would be to use an antenna with a lower front-to-back ratio and aim it at Detroit and rely on the backside for McGregor.

And if you're feeling particularly ambitious, aim high-gain antennas at Detroit, McGregor and Oil Springs, properly phase them and feed them to your tv.

milnoc
join:2001-03-05
Ottawa

1 recommendation

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said by BigSensFan:

thanks everyone..

any recommendations on an antenna?

I offered a few suggestions in this two minute video I did a few years ago.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· 4T1l2uGQ

BigSensFan
Premium Member
join:2003-07-16
Belle River, ON

BigSensFan

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Thanks for the advice on the 4221

Not sure I want an antenna on my roof, and I know that is the best way to get the most channels. Might consider putting one on my shed roof with a 10' pole

GreenEnvy22
join:2011-08-04
St Catharines, ON

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Member

I had an antenna on a 10ft piece of pipe on my garage and got about 6 channels. I moved it up onto our existing 30ft TV tower and now get about 15 channels.
I have 3 HD homerun tuners all feeding into windows media center. 1 is getting clearqam from our cable coax, 1 is hooked to an antenna pointed to Toronto, and 1 hooked to antenna pointed at buffalo.
Works well. I dobt remember the model of the antenna though, its small only a 2 ft square mesh behind a loop.
This is all in st. Catharines.

Spike5
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join:2008-05-16
Toronto, ON

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The Antennas Direct db8e is nice because you can aim each 4 bay element in a different direction. Defeats most of the purpose of a rotor with just a single antenna.

»overtheair.saveandreplay ··· DB8e.asp

Its 4 bay cousin, the DB4e also blows the channel master 4221HD away... its really that much better. My 4221 is collecting dust in the basement.
Spike5

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said by GreenEnvy22:

I had an antenna on a 10ft piece of pipe on my garage and got about 6 channels. I moved it up onto our existing 30ft TV tower and now get about 15 channels.
I have 3 HD homerun tuners all feeding into windows media center. 1 is getting clearqam from our cable coax, 1 is hooked to an antenna pointed to Toronto, and 1 hooked to antenna pointed at buffalo.
Works well. I dobt remember the model of the antenna though, its small only a 2 ft square mesh behind a loop.
This is all in st. Catharines.

You probably should have an on-mast amplifier if you have that many HDhomerun's. I run 2 dual tuner HDHR's and use a CM7778 Titan 2 mounted to the DB4e on a tripod pole as it helps overcome the downstream splitter loss.

Also a single db8e with an element pointed to buffalo and toronto with an amp would eliminate the need for running separate OTA systems.

rodjames
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join:2010-06-19

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I stripped a 12 inch piece of rg6 and stuck the core into my television rf input. if I bend it the right way, I get 9 channels here in Ottawa.

Styvas
Who are we? Forge FC!
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join:2004-09-15
Hamilton, ON

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said by BigSensFan:

Thanks for the advice on the 4221

Not sure I want an antenna on my roof, and I know that is the best way to get the most channels. Might consider putting one on my shed roof with a 10' pole

Further to that, I got this advice a while back from a user when I was considering a similar project.

"I have the CM-4221, which is a UHF-only flat (vertical) antenna for ATSC digital. It's one of the most popular ones, the other being the CM-4228. The 4228 is basically two 4221's ganged together side by side. Due to the way antennas work, the horizontal combo gives you more gain in combination with greater directional sensitivity -- it has to be aimed more accurately, but performs better with fringe signals."

BigSensFan
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join:2003-07-16
Belle River, ON

BigSensFan

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I tried putting Rabbit ears on the upstairs TV here in Whitby and pulled in 4 channels that were amazing quality CBC, CBC French, CTV and TVO...I also got City TV but it kept cutting out... I imagine if I would have bought even a cheap external antenna here I could have brought in several more

I called a guy in Windsor and he reccomended the Channel Master 5018 and said he could get me 35-40 channels with it from where I will be.. cost for antenna, signal booster, install and aiming is around 600
mr weather
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join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

mr weather

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What sort of mast? The antenna alone retails for about $120, a decent pre-amp will be about $100. Cable, bits and pieces are probably another $50. The rest is his labour.

I'm not so sure I agree with "35-40" channels.

BigSensFan
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join:2003-07-16
Belle River, ON

BigSensFan

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said by mr weather:

What sort of mast? The antenna alone retails for about $120, a decent pre-amp will be about $100. Cable, bits and pieces are probably another $50. The rest is his labour.

I'm not so sure I agree with "35-40" channels.

Tripod on the roof of the house actually (even though I dont really want it on the roof)

I am taking his word on the 35-40 channels.. however even if it is only the major US networks out of Detroit plus CTV, Global & CBC I am fine with that
BigSensFan

BigSensFan

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Here is the tvfool results for stations in my new location

»www.tvfool.com/?option=c ··· d4f223c8

Guspaz
Guspaz
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join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

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tvfool is very incomplete. Results for my address don't list either City Montreal or CBC Montreal. And I don't mean they show it far down the list as won't-receive, I mean they don't show up on the list at all.
mr weather
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join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

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With that setup you'll get Detroit networks for sure and CBC. CTV and Global will be more of a challenge.
HeadSpinning
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Windsor, ON

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said by mr weather:

I'm not so sure I agree with "35-40" channels.

35-40 channels including sub-channels (7.1, 7.2, 7.3 count as 3 channels). The number is probably accurate, although some of the sub channels don't really have anything anyone would want to watch.
HeadSpinning

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said by mr weather:

With that setup you'll get Detroit networks for sure and CBC. CTV and Global will be more of a challenge.

CBC broadcasts out of McGregor, ON and is sometimes a bit iffy unless you have a rotor. CTV2 has 2 transmitters - one in Wheatley, and one on top of VPP in Windsor. You should be able to get at least one of them.

Global might be iffy.
mr weather
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join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

mr weather

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The OP mentioned just CTV and not CTV2. The former transmits from near Oil Springs (channel 42) so unless you have a decent antenna pointed that way it won't be receivable.
HeadSpinning
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join:2005-05-29
Windsor, ON

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said by mr weather:

The OP mentioned just CTV and not CTV2. The former transmits from near Oil Springs (channel 42) so unless you have a decent antenna pointed that way it won't be receivable.

CTV 42 is analogue. It comes in pretty fuzzy in Windsor.