CTV 9 - steady 3 bars of 10 on a uhf/vhf combo with amp.
19, (20), 25 10 bars with 10 ft. higher, highgain uhf (famous flimsy one whose name escapes me) with amp.
47 9-10
CITY (44) 4-7 bars since the move - 0-3 before the move (usually 0!) Analog 44 Peterborough doesn't help!
69 (51?) 5-6
Occasionally get ctv 35 near Peterborough, but very weak and sporatic.
I am on a hill, which helps.
And, yes, we are addicted to Coronation Street, but Rick Mercer, for some reason, makes our skin crawl!
I can watch most Rochester and Buffalo stations without changing the antenna's Toronto orientation - it only gets 10 +13 Rochester when aimed 180 degrees wrong, so it works out great!

You don't get CIII on 41?? Global

OOPS! Forgot 41 - usually 10 bars now. Months ago, rarely did even CBC 20 come in if the antenna was not aimed right at Toronto - now, 20, 25, and 41 are often there when aimed at Buffalo or Rochester.
It will be nice if CBC ever gets their programing guide functioning again - nice that CITY has it now.

Somebody told me that they were watching CP24 and they said something about Q1 2012 to Q2 2012 the CRTC is planning on pulling the plug on OTA transmission due to Rogers and BELL's constant bitching and complaining that it's not fair for people to get free content.

Take this with a grain of salt because I’ve checked and checked, but could not find anything about this. Personally I think its complete nonsense. Screw Rogers and BELL’s monopolizing practices. O.K. it was my sister that told me this, perhaps she misunderstood what was really being said, I mean she also had her 4 year old driving her nuts at the same time she heard it.

I haven't heard anything about that, but I can't see all these stations and parent companies spending all this time and money on going through the transition, and then walking away from it less than a year later?

Nah, must have been a misunderstanding. In the St. Catharines area I'm still seeing more and more antennas going up. Someone is installing a single 4 bay facing Buffalo with half the reflector removed to catch T.O. with a pre-amp too.

Rogers is planning on pulling the plug on analog cable (old customers will be given a digital converter box to decode only their old tier cable package)) this 2012 year in the GTA so it could have been that. It has nothging to do with Bell though.

Looks like chn 2 Buffalo now is transmitting their new oldies on 2-2, activated just after midnight last night.

Or perhaps she got confused with the controversy of people ditching pay-tv
for OTA and just getting high speed internet and downloading like I do, thereby eliminating 50 bucks or so from their telcom bills.

Yeah, but I got stuck working on the weekend [no parties for poor Brucie!:-( ] .
Had to get to bed early on the 31st after pulling an all-day at a TD bank, though I did wake up in time to see Global's/ETs broadcast from Niagara Falls. Which was superior to CityHD's. Global had real rockers as guest musicians, Our Lady Peace, The Sheepdogs etc. versus City's (c)rap singers, some hip-hop bimbos and the Backstreet Boys. In other words the City party was lame, Global had it by leaps and bounds, worth waking up for.
Of course no CFTO/CTV because they're too weak to me to receive now.
After which I grabbed more shuteye for a 12 hour shift in Bolton.

So I missed the flippin' Three Stooges marathon I was looking forward to on
2.2(33.2)!!

:-(

Too bad, it was good! Maybe they'll do it again next New year's Day.

Very recently we dumped FIOS and right now I am not sure what would be the best option and am looking for some advice. I am in Hamburg and have an indoor Turk FDTV1a. We are getting the following stations with pretty good signals unless it's real windy:

2-1
2-2
4-1
7-1
15-1
15-2
15-3
15-4
17-1
17-2
17-3
23-1
29-1
29-2
49-1
49-2

We are considering a rooftop to solidify what we have and to try to get other somewhat local channels like WNGS, WPXJ, WBBZ and Canadian channels. Most notably CBC for obvious reason (HNIC). I am not sure if I should go with a CM4228, a DB8 or a Yagi such as a CM3020 with a rotator. It seems like people complain about rotators so I am hesitant. There are some obstructions (ie. trees other houses), we have a single story and are about an eighth of a mile from the lake. Does anyone have any recommendations such as antennas &/ pre-amps? Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

Hey newbie2012:

I'd recommend an antenna like Channel Master's 3020 or even a 3671 (It's very similar to what I have) pointed stationary towards Toronto, for the Canadian stations because they're fartehr away and these antennas are stonger than 4 or 8 bays, and something like a 4228 or even the Terk you already have to get your Buffalo stations.

Use two pieces of co-ax, the same length and combine them into a splitter and then run one cable into your house, this eliminates the need for a rotor and allows you to get more distant stations reliably with the larger antenna.

Mount these antennas on a mast on a tower, or on your roof, for best results.


I'm in St. Catharines and I can get CKCO with my larger antenna pointed towards Kitchener, but by 8 bay can't. I can't get WBBZ all the time with my big antenna (yeah, it's on a rotor, but their signal's weak and I'm near the escarpment).

A pre-amp or signal booster probably wouldn't hurt; then you can connect up to 4 tv's to this one set up.

A set up like this shouldn't need to be adjusted with later on..set it and forget it :)

Hope this info helps you out.

First thing you should do is check to see what you can get at your exact location in Hamburg. You can do that for free here:

http://www.tvfool.com

Note that antenna height matters at TV Fool.. try to be realistic... within 5 feet.

Then, post the "Share your results with others" link here so we can give you a better idea of what to do.. .

Thank you both for your help. Here are the results from tvfool.com at 24feet (16 ft. peak).

[Link: tvfool.com]

Studying your TV Fool chart there.. you have 2 choices: rotor or no rotor.

If you go rotorless, I'd pick the Antennas Direct DB-8. Attach a good preamp, like a CM7777, to the UHF/VHF input. Aim it between Hamilton & Toronto. You'll be able to amplify the weak Toronto stations (5, 19, 25, 41) and get 2, 4, 7, etc.. off the backside. The good thing about this type of setup is the ability to receive most everything without turning the antenna. This is key if your TV or converter box doesn't offer the "add to channel list" scan option like my 4-year old Dynex. Caveat here will be the lack of 9 and 11. You should be able to get 67 (physical 7) off the backside no problem.

If you go with a rotor setup, choose the Antennacraft HBU55 and attach a GOOD preamp like the CM7777 to the UHF/VHF input. Pro to this setup is a better then 50% chance of getting CFTO (9) and CHCH (11) as this antenna has VHF-HI capability to 100 miles and those stations are 67 and 55 miles away respectively. All the UHF channels should be no problem providing you use RG6U quad shield for the feed. Also, keep the feed as (reasonably) short as possible. Cons to this setup would be having to turn the antenna between Colden and Toronto/Grand Island... then again, you might get the Buffalo stations off the back of this monster (12 foot) antenna without having to use the rotor. Also, if your TV doesn't have "add to scanned channels" option you'll need to rescan all channels every time you rotate the antenna.

With either option, install the antenna as hi as reasonably possible. Good luck!