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QC - City of Montréal - OTA (CLOSED - Please see FINAL POST)

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#1 ·
QC - City of Montréal - OTA (CLOSED - Please see FINAL POST)

I Just Have New Hdtv, and I Don't Know How Can I Get Hd Channel Ota. i Am In Montreal. Please Anyone Can Help Me?
Thanks
 
#2 ·
Some older Montreal posts

cyberchem

OTA between Montréal and Québec possible? Hi,
I'm wondering if it is possible to get any HD station (OTA) in cities located mid-distance between Montréal and Québec city.
Has anybody tried? Results?
TIA


foxfan

Re: OTA between Montréal and Québec possible?
Where area you located? Trois-Rivières?

The only current DTV station that's on is CDTV's test transmitter on channel 64 in Montreal.

CFJP-DT (TQS Montreal) has been granted a license for channel 42, but they do not expect to be on until late 2005.

WCFE-DT (MountainLake PBS) should be going up in the next week or so on channel 38. Do you currently get 57 analog?

As for the other U.S. ones, they will only be up in two years. Plus, you will likely have problems receiving WVNY (ABC) since they will be on channel 13 and will have to suppress their signal towards Trois-Rivières with a directional antenna to prevent interference with CKTM up there.


cyberchem

I'm effectively from Trois-Rivières.

I have tried with an indoor antenna (not amplified) and I'm not getting PBS (only TVA, Radio-can, TQS, téléQC, and CBC). If I get a chance I'll try to find a neighbor using an outdoor antenna to know the differences. If I can't get more than 1 HD-station I won't invest in a 8vsb until more is available.

Thanks



foxfan

Are you talking about the Montreal affiliates (of TVA, SRC, TQS, etc) or the Trois-Rivieres ones? If you're not getting Montreal OTA, you're out of luck for OTA HD.

Does Videotron's Illico service have HD up there? If not, go with Starchoice.

Bell might seem attractive at first glance but with CTV and Global going HD, you'll be bombarded with simultaneous signal substitution, which is why I wouldn't recommend it.


cyberchem

TVA and SRC are from Trois-Rivières.
TQS, not sure.
CBC must be from Montréal.

I don't know about videotron (think it's not available). I was planning on trying to get HD with a 8vsb upgrade but if it's only for TQS HD, it ain't worth spending over 100$ us.

Meanwhile, I hobe bell will be offering Global-HD when available. I know simsub ain't fun but if it is HD, it'll be fine with me.

Thank you for your help.


foxfan

What good would it bring to you if Global-HD is made available? The only thing they would show is U.S. shows that can already be seen in HD on CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox. The only real Canadian show they make that I know of is Train 48, which I seriously doubt would be made in HD.

Going back to your reception issues, I think think the CBC you're getting OTA is a Trois-Rivières repeater of CBC Montreal. What channel is it on? If it's on channel 6, it's from Montreal, but if it's on another channel, it's a repeater, meaning that you're not picking up Montreal. Keep in mind that TQS-HD's licence is currently for Montreal only. They have to apply for each transmitter and they likely won't apply for Trois-Rivières for a long time since there's no forced digital transition in Canada like in the U.S.

cyberchem

I get it on 28 and 79 (CBC). I get TQS on 16 and 67.
Guess that sat HD will be the best solution.


foxfan

All I'm using is a small indoor antenna at ground level! I only got home at 5:00pm so I wasn't able to call WCFE's engineer to tell him this and congratulate him on being the first HD station in the Burlington-Plattsburgh-Montreal area. I'll call him tomorrow. I also want to know more about the "test phase" someone mentioned. Will it be shut-off tomorrow? I hope not. I also think that he should leave the mapping to 38 and not re-map to 57. People who watch HD would already know that their digital channel is 38. Plus, after the transition is over, they will keep 38 and not go back to 57 since it is out of core.

About channel 64 Montreal, it still comes in fine for me in St. Hubert. What receiver are you using? I'm using a Samsung SIR-T151
 
#3 ·
Current status of Montreal?

Heya..

I've got an ATSC tuner now and I'm able to haul in Radio-Canada in HD with only about 40% signal strength. I suspect it's an antenna problem.

However.. since most of the posts have been deleted - what are the current available ones as of Nov 2005? Is it only CBC and PBS from the States?

Where do they broadcast from in Montreal? I live literally across the street from CFCF. Radio-Canada/CBC is just down the street on Rene Levesque..

I'm a bit surprised I'm only getting such a weak signal.. but it's just an amplified indoor antenna. I'll get a bigger one shortly as soon as my landlord lets me on the roof. I'm currently on the third floor of a logement with a pretty good west view and can easily point it south. My north view is also very very wide open.. but yesterday I only got a tiny signal .. 5% perhaps from the north.

Craig
 
#4 ·
Regarding the possible issues with Channel 12 affecting 13 in Montreal you can get notch filters and/or other gear to stop such problems. Check out the OTA Signal Gear thread for info. Greenfield Park... as an RCAF brat I know that place because we were based in St. Hubert a couple of times. Nice memories of that area. :)

Question for ypikiyer: can you post the stations you are getting today? Does your Sanyo give you signal strength or quality readings that you could post too?
 
#5 ·
Make sure to leave the VHF antenna pointed for its best reception and then point your UHF bowtie in its own direction for its best reception. They will not affect each other.

Your UHF antenna is a bowtie corner reflector but I cannot identify it so I'm guessing its fairly old. As far as I know none of the big manufacturers or distributors sell a model like yours anymore except for one Winegard model, the PR-9016, and it is for local UHF reception with fairly low gain (between 5 and 12 dB depending on the channel).

If you are happy with your present results then that's great. If you want to have a better chance at the stations that are farther or that will be coming up in the future you should think about a more capable UHF antenna.
 
#6 ·
Montreal Urban antenna configuration

I'm at a lost at deciding what antenna configuration to set up to receive DTV. I live in Montreal, pretty much in the center of the city (Rosemont). From my home, I can line up all broadcasting antennas down to Platsburg and Burlington. I woul dlike to have a UHF antenna that would allow me to pick up the Montreal to Burlington DTV braodcasts and would like to pick up the locak VHV stations. Would I be better with something like the CM4228 combined with a VHF Antenna or is there a better configuration. Is the CM4228 overkill, would a directionnal antenna offer best results? Is the local broadcast going to overpower the weaker signals?

Thanks
 
#8 ·
Recommended Antennas for Montreal and Local Area

VINAMA said:
My location is LASALLE on SW of montreal.
Hi VINA,

If you just want the local Montreal stations you will do fine by mounting one of these antennas outdoors facing the broadcast towers. They will have almost equal performance from your distance, so just pick the one that you can get the cheapest from a local dealer:
  • Channel Master 4221
  • Winegard PR4400
  • Wade 4BT-1483
If you want to get only the U.S. stations but not the Montreal stations, they are far enough away that a person in Rosemont, St. Bruno, Greenfield, LaSalle, or anywhere in Metro Montreal would use the same deep fringe antenna and gear to get them. I would recommend one of these:
  • Winegard PR9032
  • Wade CYD1470
  • Channel Master 4248
  • you might need to buy an antenna preamp too - try without first, then buy one if you need
If you want to get Montreal and U.S. stations you will need an antenna mounted on a rotor so that it can point in either direction. I would recommend one of these:
  • Channel Master 4228
  • Winegard PR-8800
  • Channel Master 9251a Rotor
  • you might need to buy an antenna preamp too - try without first, then buy one if you need
 
#11 ·
Newbie needs help in Montreal (Lasalle)

Hello everyone. First I must say that I am really impressed with the quality of the posts here on this board, so far this place has been my best ressource.

That being said, being the newbie that I am, I still need some clarifications :

I have a PC (A64 4000, 2 gig ram) and an Infocus X1 projector hooked up to it permenantly. I currently watch my TV on a crappy Sanyo 27", not HD ready.

I would like to watch TV on my projector, through my PC with a DivCo Fusion5 HDTV ATSC tuner card. I live in Montreal (Lasalle)

My 2 questions are :

1) For analog TV, would this card + decent indoor antenna (I live on the second floor and could install the antenna right in front of a window) improve the PQ over the pretty bad Sanyo 27" (with cheap antenna) ?

2) For HDTV OTA, without getting in complicated setups (big outdoor etc..) which channel can I expect to be able to tune in (both local and US) ? Is it worth it right now ?

I am not much into TV watching (I mostly watch DVDs/download HDTV rips) but I certainly care a lot about PQ and sound quality. My current TV setup is pretty bad and I think its a real shame to have a really nice HT on which I cannot watch any TV right now.

What do you guys think ? What are your suggestions ?

Thanks a lot !!
 
#12 ·
Astralmind said:
1) For analog TV, would this card + decent indoor antenna (I live on the second floor and could install the antenna right in front of a window) improve the PQ over the pretty bad Sanyo 27" (with cheap antenna)?
Hello, analog TV broadcasts in what we now call 480i, which tends to look pretty fuzzy as you show it on bigger and bigger screens. OTA delivers analog TV as clean as can be, especially if you compare the picture quality to Satellite companies, who are known to compress their signals to the point that they look horrible on big screens.

I don't know if your PC tuner card upconverts the 480i to 480p, 720p, or 1080i, but if it does it might be possible that the picture is cleaned up a bit. For discussing your PC card go to the Home Theatre PC Forum here at DHC.
Astralmind said:
2) For HDTV OTA, without getting in complicated setups (big outdoor etc..) which channel can I expect to be able to tune in (both local and US) ? Is it worth it right now?
Fortunately we have some good info for the Montreal area already in this thread, including another person from Lasalle, so that should help to give you an idea of what to expect. We are still in the early days of DTV so your input and results will be helping many others in the near future too.
 
#13 ·
Astralmind: From Repentigny (east of Montreal), I get CBC and SRC with typical cheap rabbit ears antenna. If you enjoy hockey, you will like the fact that CBC broadcasts Leafs games every saturday in stunning HD (past saturday was Montreal vs Toronto, great game, great HD showcase).

Some people have been able to get PBS-HD from Burlington within the Montreal area, I'm not able to get the signal. I heard great things about CM 4228 antenna, i'll wait until more US network channels are available in VT before committing 200$ for this antenna.
 
#14 ·
astralmind said:
2) For HDTV OTA, without getting in complicated setups (big outdoor etc..) which channel can I expect to be able to tune in (both local and US) ? Is it worth it right now ?
I live in Montreal (Lasalle) too. I got an indoor antenna from canadian tire 20$ and I can get 2 channel in DTV (2.1 and 6.1 CBC and SRC ) no channel from US
 
#15 ·
Jackmicro said:
Astralmind: From Repentigny (east of Montreal), I get CBC and SRC with typical cheap rabbit ears antenna. If you enjoy hockey, you will like the fact that CBC broadcasts Leafs games every saturday in stunning HD (past saturday was Montreal vs Toronto, great game, great HD showcase).

Some people have been able to get PBS-HD from Burlington within the Montreal area, I'm not able to get the signal. I heard great things about CM 4228 antenna, i'll wait until more US network channels are available in VT before committing 200$ for this antenna.
The PBS-HD we currently receive is from Plattsburgh, not Burlington. It is possible that you might not receive it in Repentigny since Mt. Royal might be blocking the view to Lyon Mountain (where WCFE broadcasts from). However, I think you should be fine for the other Burlington HD channels since they will be from Mt. Mansfield, directly south-east of you with a clear line-of-sight. You will need an outdoor antenna though.
 
#17 ·
Hi FoxFan, just want to let you know that I am now able to get the PBS-HD signal using an indoor Philips antenna installed on the second floor of my cottage. The Phillips antenna is from Wall mart and costs 25$. It has a built-in amp.

It took me almost an hour before being finally able to get the signal. I had to run on the second floor to move the antenna, run to the basement, see if the signal was locked, then go up again move the antenna, etc.

The signal is not always steady, I get some errors sometimes. The signal strength is only 56 though.

Conclusion of that: If I'm able to pick PBS-HD with an indoor antenna, I guess I’ll be easily able to receive Fox with a Channel Master once Fox goes live on Mansfield. I'm quite happy!
 
#18 ·
Verdun

I live in Verdun facing south, and I get:

2
6
7
10
12
17
22
24
33
35
44
46
57
62

with a CM4228 facing south. It blew down a week ago and I still get most of those channels with the rabbit ears, just not as clear. 22, 33 and 44 are HD (or at least they say they are ex, Fox NFL etc..). CBC is supposed to be too. I don't have a decoder for HD yet but the analogue reception is great.
 
#19 ·
kungfu said:
22, 33 and 44 are HD (or at least they say they are ex, Fox NFL etc..). CBC is supposed to be too. I don't have a decoder for HD yet but the analogue reception is great.
1. Those channels are regular SD channels
2. It's not because it says that a certain program is HD that the local station broadcasts it in HD (as it is the case with those channels).
3. If channels broadcast in HD, that would be on new frequencies/channels (like 38 for WCFE/57).

-gmd
 
#21 ·
KungFu:

If you want to know how well you'll get Mt. Mansfield, look at channels 22 and 33 in analog (they are currently being broadcast from there). If you get them clearly, you should be fine. However, I'm not sure if indoor antennas will be sufficient to get ABC, which will only be broadcasting at 10kw on channel 13 (VHF requires larger antennas too).
 
#22 ·
Iles-des-Soeurs - local DTV?

VINAMA said:
I live in Montreal (Lasalle) too. I got an indoor antenna from canadian tire 20$ and I can get 2 channel in DTV (2.1 and 6.1 CBC and SRC ) no channel from US
I am in Iles-des-Soeurs and just want to know if your indoor antenna has the ability to amplify the signal. I don't care about US channels...I only need SRC and CBS.
 
#24 ·
pat said:
I am in Iles-des-Soeurs and just want to know if your indoor antenna has the ability to amplify the signal. I don't care about US channels...I only need SRC and CBS.
From Ile-des-Sœurs, you don’t need an amplified antenna for SRC or CBC. Just plain rabbit ears. I suggest a model with a rotary knob at 7 or 12 positions. Radio-Scrap (The Source) or Canadian Tire have those models.
 
#25 ·
Cote-Des-Neiges... am I screwed for getting U.S. OTA?

Hi folks,

Before I invest in the equipment, I wonder if anyone knows whether my placement in Cote-Des-Neiges will prevent me from receiving the OTA broadcasts from the US? I'm kinda behind Mt Royal. :-(

If you use google earth's terrain feature it implies no line of sight when you face my house and have mt mansfield behind you.

Check it out:
http://perso.b2b2c.ca/kanfi/tv/flat.jpg (house is visible)
http://perso.b2b2c.ca/kanfi/tv/terrain.jpg (terrain is simulated and my house disappears!!)

If anyone has tried it, I'd be interested in your experiences!

-Joe
 
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