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Topic:
Toronto & Buffalo HDTV reception...
This thread has 3494 replies. Displaying posts 91 through 105.
Post 91 made on Monday February 7, 2005 at 22:18
ontariocraig
Long Time Member
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162
CBC ch20 / Were broadcasting a widescreen HD test image tonight. Not sure what the resolution was, but not a bad picture.
OP | Post 92 made on Monday February 7, 2005 at 23:04
Daniel Tonks
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Looked a bit soft. Might have been shot with a HDV camera.
Post 93 made on Wednesday February 9, 2005 at 10:54
hdjunkie
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Hello everyone...

I'm new here, a few minutes new in fact.

I've been running an HDTV set-up ever since I got an HD capable projector & I'm lovin' it.

I'm using a Samsung SIR-T165 with a DVI cable to the projector, fed by a DB4 antenna from antennasdirect.com

I'm able to get all of the US stations (except for the WB of course), CITYTV, TOR1 and now CBC from my apartment in downtown Toronto. I have a direct line of sight to Buffalo, so I suppose that helps.

I only wish the Canadian stations weren't lagging so far behind...
Post 94 made on Wednesday February 9, 2005 at 13:04
nbmz
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Hi there!

I've been meaning to get one of antennadirect's antennas, but they mentioned that they did not ship to canada yet...

How's the antenna, and how did you get it shipped? Are you running a preamp/amp?

For some reason, I was picking up WGRZ with no problems for the past week, but now I get no picture/signal at all from them. (did they change their mapping from 2-1?)

Thanks!
DB
Yamaha RX-V1400
Toshiba 46H84C ISF calibrated
Toshiba DST-3000 OTA Surrounds/main are PSB century
Post 95 made on Wednesday February 9, 2005 at 14:20
bbuchana
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On 02/02/05 23:41 ET, Daniel Tonks said...
Yeah, I've just tried to map any and all TV transmitters
in the region. Only the ones with labels are broadcasting
(or planning to broadcast) HDTV. I show that channel
as CHEX, and I can't find any HDTV plans for them.

Ever since I discovered this site, i've been trying to find out if there were going to be any Digital signals coming off the tower waaaay up here in Peterborough. I did find something on the FCC site. There are currently some "digital" applications for different stations off the tower. Can someone tell me what they mean? There are currently 6 "applications" that look like this one (different stations though) ... Here's an example:

CHEX-TV ON PETERBOROUGH Canada (Digital)

Service Designation: DT Digital television station

Channel: 34 590 - 596 MHz Application
File No.: BPFS-20041022ABD Facility ID number: 163502
CDBS Application ID No.: 1021862

44° 19' 45.00" N Latitude
78° 18' 3.00 " W Longitude (NAD 27)

Polarization: Horizontal (H)
Effective Radiated Power (ERP):550.kW ERP
Antenna Height Above Average Terrain:300.meters HAAT
Antenna Height Above Mean Sea Level:540.meters AMSL
Antenna Height Above Ground Level:0.meters AGL

TV Zone: 2

Non-Directional Antenna ID No.: - Pattern Rotation: 0.00

Thanks,
Bruce
OP | Post 96 made on Wednesday February 9, 2005 at 18:49
Daniel Tonks
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I have found that the FCC's database for Canadian stations is often inaccurate or out of date. For instance, they still show CBLFT on 20 (actually 24) and CBLT on 64 (actually 20). They show City at 900w (now 1200w) and the still-to-come CFTO-DT at 550kw when the application was only for 17.4KW.

As far as I can find out from the CRTC, there is no application for CHEX-DT. HOWEVER, it's possible CHEX-DT has been assigned channel 34 if and when they decide to go digital.
Post 97 made on Wednesday February 9, 2005 at 19:47
ontariocraig
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Bruce:

Another thing you can try, something which I've often found to be useful (before I found this site - Thankyou Daniel !!) - Is to send a friendly email to your local stations. I've found CBC and Global in Toronto very helpful in this regard, thought it usually takes a few days to get a response, while they pass it around and find the relevant engineers. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from you and answer any questions you have, as it gives them some idea of public interest levels too.

Are the Rochester stations a possibility in Peterborough ? - I know when I was playing around / erecting my Antenna last summer, I manged to pull in some Rochester dtv stations from here in Ajax, which is about the same distance in a straight line. Could have been a good weather fluke though, I didn't spend too much time on it, as I was concentrating on Buffalo, which is where my Antenna has pointed to ever since. I get Toronto stations too.

Can you pick up the Rochester analog stations there ? If so you may be able to pick up the rochester digital stations, if any of them are at full power. check out http://www.rochesterhdtv.com for info. Just an idea, maybe nothing, but worth a look.









On 02/09/05 18:49 ET, Daniel Tonks said...
I have found that the FCC's database for Canadian
stations is often inaccurate or out of date. For
instance, they still show CBLFT on 20 (actually
24) and CBLT on 64 (actually 20). They show City
at 900w (now 1200w) and the still-to-come CFTO-DT
at 550kw when the application was only for 17.4KW.

As far as I can find out from the CRTC, there
is no application for CHEX-DT. HOWEVER, it's possible
CHEX-DT has been assigned channel 34 if and when
they decide to go digital.
Post 98 made on Wednesday February 9, 2005 at 23:28
Dundas
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331

I've been meaning to get one of antennadirect's
antennas, but they mentioned that they did not
ship to canada yet...

I bought a DB8 and preamp from AntennasDirect in December. They were shipped separately via UPS. I was not charged duty, taxes or brokerage on either but that may have been just good luck.
OP | Post 99 made on Wednesday February 9, 2005 at 23:38
Daniel Tonks
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Rochester's digital stations are all broadcast from a single location. I've plotted it on my map, and unfortunantly Peterborough is about 90 miles away. While 90 miles is doable for Buffalo stations, Rochester's are all low power (except for PBS, which is "moderate").

16 PBS WXXI - 180 kw
28 FOX WUHF - 21.2 kw
45 CBS WROC - 1.74 kw (no HDTV yet either)
58 NBC WHEC - 38 kw
59 ABC WOKR - 8.7 kw

Buffalo's Grand Island is about the same distance away from you, the other Buffalo stations are up to 120 miles.
Post 100 made on Thursday February 10, 2005 at 00:26
c6242
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11
On 02/09/05 23:28 ET, Dundas said...
I bought a DB8 and preamp from AntennasDirect
in December. They were shipped separately via
UPS. I was not charged duty, taxes or brokerage
on either but that may have been just good luck.


Don't worry,UPS will send your big bill later unless it was sent as replacement parts or under 20.00 US value been there before ( the SLIMEBALLS will drop it at your door then send you the exorbitant bill later ,Always send US Postal service you just pay 5.00 plus tax)
Post 101 made on Thursday February 10, 2005 at 11:33
nbmz
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27
On 02/09/05 23:28 ET, Dundas said...
I bought a DB8 and preamp from AntennasDirect
in December. They were shipped separately via
UPS. I was not charged duty, taxes or brokerage
on either but that may have been just good luck.


I think they will send you a bill in the mail later...those guys are horrible for their customs charges!!! Always try and get either USPS or fedex at the very least, as they are somewhat reasonable in their charges, but UPS is just unreasonable...

(Go figure, they are the cheapest carrier to use in the US...)

D
Yamaha RX-V1400
Toshiba 46H84C ISF calibrated
Toshiba DST-3000 OTA Surrounds/main are PSB century
Post 102 made on Thursday February 10, 2005 at 16:59
whiplash2004
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7
Hey everybody,

Just thought I'd throw my hat in the mix as a new OTA HDTV viewer. I'm in St. Catharines, Ontario, and last weekend I bought the ATI HDTV Wonder across the river at CompUSA in Amherst, NY for $150US. All in all, it's a pretty cost-effective solution to add HD to an existing HTPC setup. The included software and drivers crashed repeately during the Superbowl :( so I replaced my NVidia MX440 with a Radeon 9600 knockoff, which fixed A LOT of problems.

I live in a 2-storey townhouse about 2 or 3 miles south of the lake. Using a RCA ANT711 from Radio Shack with its built-in 10db pre-amp, as well as another 20db preamp and about 40ft of good-quality coax, I can get PBS, CBS, ABC, UPN, and FOX in HD coming out of Buffalo and Grand Island. Also, I get the Toronto CBC-HD test channel not to badly as well, even though my antenna is currently sticking out the window on the south side of my house. City-HD is non-existent, and my local TV shop said that their HD signal drops off about half way across the lake. As for NBC, I really hope that I can pick it up when they sort themselves out, since I regularly watch both West Wing and ER, both of which should look great in HD.

I am not yet satisfied with my signal strength on all channels, so I'm interested in any tricks/tips for people like me who can't put up an antenna? My condo corporation won't let me mount even a Satellite dish outside, so right now I'm hoping no one notices me sticking the antenna out the window during the evening!

Let me know your experiences, and I would be happy to share my input from the ATI HDTV Wonder. Talk to you soon!

Bill
OP | Post 103 made on Thursday February 10, 2005 at 18:52
Daniel Tonks
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28,779
Hmm. I know it's illegal to prevent someone from putting up an antenna in the US (even on condos or apartments), but I guess that law might not cross over to Canada.

You MIGHT do better with a more "traditional" antenna with a separate higher quality / higher db preamp.

I'm pretty sure City's signal is shaped to send most of it to the north/east/west, so there might not be much hope of receiving it where you are - although SOME Buffalonians (with big antennas) have reported getting it.
Post 104 made on Friday February 11, 2005 at 03:21
Dundas
Founding Member
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331

I think they will send you a bill in the mail
later...those guys are horrible for their customs
charges!!! Always try and get either USPS or
fedex at the very least, as they are somewhat
reasonable in their charges, but UPS is just unreasonable...

(Go figure, they are the cheapest carrier to use
in the US...)

It's been over 60 days so I doubt that UPS will be. They are much more efficient than that in getting their money. I wonder if there is not an element of luck based on the whim of the Canada Customs person.
I buy a lot from the US and UPS has always come with a COD for duty, tax and brokerage. Fedex and Purolator send bills later with Fedex charges being about the same as UPS and Purolator similar to Canada Post (who own them).
I discussed the brokerage charges problem with Richard at Antennas Direct when I ordered and he promised to look into sending by mail. The problem for US merchants is that UPS provides tracking and proof of delivery but USPS (United States Postal Service), who they have to ship with for us to receive Canada Post, does not.
Post 105 made on Friday February 11, 2005 at 15:15
sloppyjohns
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1
I live in Depew, for those not knowing where it is, 3 miles east of the city of Buffalo. Anyone have any ideas of what type of antenna I should be using to pick up the local hdtv signals. I used a tv55 but couldnt get all of the channels. I just picked up an antenna from radioshack (see link below). Is this a good choice or bad, and should I be aiming it any specific direction and do i need a signal amplifier?? Please let me know. any help would be welcome. The back of my house faces directly west and is the side I would like to mount the antenna on. I am using a panasonic tu-dst50 receiver(and have been for a while with poor success).


[Link: radioshack.com]
The Rigas family ruined everytrhing!
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