Hey editboy25, I'm also considering the ministate as well and have checked into its capabilities. It's range is stated as being 40 miles but because of our unique situation in toronto you may get even better than that. check out this website for more info

http://freetoronto.tv/

Hi all. If I'm going to be posting, I might as well put out some info about what signals I'm getting.

I'm in the High Park area of Toronto, midway up an apartment building, south-east facing with clear line of sight to downtown.

I use the Winegard SquareShooter amplified antenna indoors (no balcony).
Here's what I get. All signals are solid.

WIVB 4.1
CBC 5.1
WKBW 7.1
WNGS 7.2
WCSN 7.3
CTV 9.1
WLNO 23.1
RADIO-CANADA 25.1
WUTV 29.1
WUTV (SD) 29.2
CROSSROADS 35.1
WNED 43.1
WNED (SD) 43.2
WNED TH 43.3
OMNI 2 44.1 (when broadcasting)
MYTV 49.1 (occasionally)
CITYTV 57.1
OMNI 1 64.1 (when broadcasting)
SUNTV 66.1

The only sinal I have a problem with is WGRZ 2.1/2.2. I was getting it and then it stopped around november.

When I first used the antenna, in october, it was pointed in a south-western position, which is directly back into my apartment, away from a window. I was still getting solid signals even through walls.
Now it is pointed in a south-south-eastern direction, and the old positon doesn't work. Maybe something to do with the earth's rotation?

The only weather issue I've had was on a really windy day, and it only happened once. Signals have been solid through rain, snow and fog.

BTW does anyone know when/if GLOBAL is going HD?

| I use the Winegard SquareShooter amplified antenna indoors



I'm using the Silver Sensor clone that came with the ATI HDTV Wonder, mounted in my attic.

Interestingly, I was able to get WGRZ in the summer but like you, around November I wasn't able to get it anymore. There's still a weak signal, floating around 20%, but not enough for video or audio.

IIRC, things were fine until the weather became cold.

My guess would be that the Mini-State would perform exceptionally well in Toronto. even though it may be smaller in diameter(21 inches) than your Wineguard Square Shooter .. perhaps due to it's precision and being undirectional it will allow you to zone in on WGRZ. I suppose being broadcast from South Buffalo it's more of a hit and miss scenario.. and the weather factor having an impact.

I too only recieve WGRZ when the weather is on the warmer side and the jetstream. is from a southerly direction however as I stated before i'm on the fringe. ironically next to CBC HD my next strongest station is WIVB. It seems to correspond with weather patterns the jet stream is more likely to arc above spring and summer and by fall and winter it tends to ride below us. sixty miles appears to be the maximum distance a signal can travel reliably in multiple weather conditions.. apparently after this distance the earth's curvature seemingly distorts (intereferes) with signals.

Of the "far south" Buffalo stations, WIVB is the weakest for me... followed by WGRZ. WKBW is, oddly, super strong at all times.

I'm getting every station in Buffalo all the time. The "farthest three" Are 100 miles out for me. I guess what I'm pointing out is that I think there's some room for improvement in your system. My strongest channels are 5 & 25 DTV at 23 miles.

Hey Donnyjaguar, that's what I been needing to know before I buy an antenna. Which brand do you have and are you using a preamplifier as well. Any info would be appreciated.

Jon Pertwee Dr.Who introduced by Dan Dator at first, then that
mature gal sci-fi writer, Rick Green "Prisoners of Gravity"
etcetera

Hi there,

This is my first posting to Remotecentral. I work for WNED and am happy to answer any questions anyone may have concerning our stations. I've worked 5 years in our master control and the past two years in programming.

Our ThinkBright channel just started its first online forum ever and we would love to get some feedback about our station whether it be technical or programming. The link is [Link: discussions.pbs.org]

thanks!

To the newcomers, as I have said to Daniel, I have the opposite
problem with CFTO, I only get their HD signal during certain weather conditions and it is extremely low on the MyHD's on-screen strength meter and goes when it drops to 13%.

I have never received City-TV's HD signal(which is why i like calling them Shitty-tv) so I have to watch Ed's night party, the soft core porn and the other occasional movie through a lot of grain and static.

Regarding reception issues I posed a question at my other forum where we talkabout usage of the MyHD MDP-130(our favourite OTA
ATSC pc card) so this may be of interest to others using PCs for HD viewing. I wanted to know who else was using W2kPro as a preference over XP and this is one of the responses I received :

" I still run Win2kPro due to paranoia about Broadcast Flags, CPRM, and other content restriction methods. (I used Win98 until I discovered how much better 2k handles disk I/O) With a My-HD, two Hauppauge cards and a Hollywood Plus in the box, there should never be any reason to upgrade this PC. I might need something new for h264 playback or Component capture, but this one does everything else perfectly. (Analog TV, ATSC, Clear QAM, S-Video and Composite capture)
__________________
I Will Be DRM Free
WinXP Will Never Be
Found Upon My HTPC
Let Alone Vista or MCE
"
_______________________________________________________

Which I thought was interesting and I felt like sharing. :-\

My 18month old daughter loves PBS. especially Super Y and word world. which shows on both WNED-HD and thinkbright.

thanks for letting us know about the discussion, I'll check it out for sure.

I,m in Waterloo and once again at this point in time even though CTV HD is 17 kw my chances of picking it up at this time of year are next to nil. same with SUN -HD however CITY-HD will usually come in if the sky is clear and there is a southerly flow honestly the only one I can count on daily is CBC-HD for a mere 38 kw it's pretty stable. Bruce are you residing in the GTA?

Click on my profile.

While this is for OTA, anyone know what Clear QAM Cogeco carries?
Mr Tonks once listed or placed an U.R.L for Rogers but I'm just curious what Cogeco may have unscrambled (so one wouldn't need
any of their equipment) not that I'd ever go back to those price gouging B--t--ds, especially if one of the Buffalo stations or the CBC adds their networks' 24 hour news channels on a sub-ch!