Okay I promised more later, so here it is:

I'm going to go to Home Despot and pick up some copper wire and a length of 1x4 lumber,  probably about 4'  then I will cut that to fit the space I have, and make a new antenna using the copper wire, I will also get some new screws and washers, and build the antenna on the board, I'll then out of the left over lumber make a backer board to hold the reflector the proper distance from the antenna itself.  I think I will go with the bowties 8 1/2" long, even though currently the highest channel is 66-1, it looks like the final alignment will be similar to the US, nothing above 51,  so I want an Antenna that is going to peak somewhere between 30 and 40, which kinda splits the difference. 

I am wondering what you would need to do to weatherproof one of these things, other then paint the wood.  Baluns should be weatherproof, you could wrap plastic electrical tape around the Balun/cable connection, or wrap a short length of Bicycle tubing around the whole Balun and seal it with waterproof glue.....

You are right, it's called DHL. I've ordered stuff from the USA many times and used DHL, and never did I have to pay big money out of my pocket.

Just t give you an example, I purchased the CM 7777 for $48.99usd + $22.75usd for S&H. They only offered UPS and they had the best price at the time.

When shipped to my door, I had to pay another $39cad. That is a WOPPING $115+ for something I thought I was saving money on, in other words, I should have just bought it here in Toronto which costs less than half what I paid. I will NEVER use UPS again. And to ship it back would have costs me another leg and maybe an eye.

DHL on the other hand charged me $14 for buying a heavy digital 7.1 TrueHD receiver which costs $349usd + $27.50 for S&H. (Same receiver costs $750cad here in Canada). Talk about Canadian retailers ripping us off everyday lol

I don't think it's just retailers though, the whole supply chain is still set up as if the CA$ is worth about 50 cents USD.  An item is made in China with $20 worth of materials, and $2 worth of labour, the factory needs to cover their other costs and make a profit, so they sell it out the door for $44, to the international comglomertate they made it for, who turn around and sell it to a distributor, I think this is where a lot of the pricing comes into it, they sell it to the US distributor who buys 10,000 units for $88 (a 75% discount), the Canadian distributor who only buys 100 units has to pay the full $352 price, they turn around and sell it to the dealer for $600, as they need to cover their expenses and make a profit.    The dealer puts it on the shelf for $749, they should by rights sell for about $1200, but can't because people will buy from the US, if the price is too high.

More later.

To my knowledge there's no duty on receiving equipment. Some of the customs broker houses are owned by the carriers. Hence, regular mail is generally the best way to go.

Thanks for the info guys. Ya, its really not fair, we always seem to get ripped off one way or another. I am now very careful with who I deal with and there perfered shipping companies.

Try Sayal Electronics, Victoria Park and Steeles area. $100 for the 7777 amp.

US companies generally fall into 4 groups:

Those that maintain a Canadian warehouse and division, they ship stuff in vast quantities and typically broker stuff by the ship load.  Although typically from the US these quantities will be more accurately by the train load.  YOu don't need to worry about customs.

Those who ship large amounts to Canadia, and use logistics that make the brokerage cheap enough that they can bury it in the cost.  These days you often can't tell the difference between these first two, as companies that do this may have a small office here for payment clearing.   About the only way to tell sometimes is when you get stuff from several different companies that are unrelated and in unrelated businesses that have the same return address. 

Next down the list are US companies that the United States, they typically know how to do the paperwork properly and use the post office for international shipping.  Some that find they are doing a lot of shipping to Canada will switch to using logistics at some point.

Last are US companies who are unaware that there is actually a world outside the United States and ship goods the same way whether going to the US or elsewhere.  Nothing makes brokerage fees grow faster and delay shipments longer then incomplete or missing paperwork.  Each countriy has different requirements although generally a customs declaration known as a commercial invoice is sufficient.  It details what is in the shipment and it's value, which is all that Customs is interested in, so they can collect the proper amount of tax.  

Thanks again for the info. Good to know what's really going on with S&H.

Been following this thread, but didn't feel the need to comment as I didn't have anything to add until now.

I too was looking for a Channel Master 7777 at a reasonable price and found the best prices were online at US etailers. I took a chance and order one from CyberEstore. I choose the cheapest shipping option to Canada, which for me was, UPS Standard to Canada at a cost of $14.98 USD. So between the pre-amp price and shipping I was looking at a total of $67.93 USD.

I placed the order, making sure to contact the vendor and ask that they ship the item via USPS. I got a email response from a person by the name of Faith and was kindly told they could ship the order via USPS Intl First Class.

The package arrived via Canada Post and was only $10.78 CDN. All totaled everything cost me about $80 CDN. The cheapest place locally had it for $95 CDN +tax, not a huge savings but a savings none the less.

Hope this is useful for those considering ordering from US site.

Wow, you only paid $10.78 with Canada Post. Not bad at all. And a lot better than UPS charging me $39 when I only paid about $44.95 for the 7777.

I hadn't expected to be charged by Canada Post, but honestly the amount was so small that I didn't make much of it.

The breakdown on the $10.78 is $2.22 GST, $3.56 PST and a $5 handling charge.
The Canadian value of the package is listed at $44.49.

The Canadian value of the package is listed at $44.49 ?
That was nice of the company to list it so low for you. You would have had to pay more I assume if it was listed for it's original price NO?

It's not that low, GST and PST can not, by law, be charged on shipping fees on international shipments, since shipping and handling are often bundled, they can't charge GST/PST on handling either.  The most it could be listed for is US$48.99, which is CA$51.54 so GST would be $2.57 and PST would be $4.12 add on the $5 handling fee and it's still only $11.69, not a huge difference.  The US company could be using old currency values for their declarations, few of them really care if the declarations are 100% accurate, so they probably update the tables when they get around to it, which could be a couple of years.  Remember they charge your CC in US$ so it doesn't really matter to them.

The company listed the item at a value of $42 USD, on the USPS shipping label. The CBSA (Canada Border Service Agency), used a exchange rate of 1.0594 to get a value in CDN currency. Which is the $44.49 figure I previously gave.

On Mathieson there's some fierce competition going on with OTA antennas and accessories.