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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
 
#205 ·
There is probably not much difference between one UHF antenna and another if they have the same gain.
That goes against what I and many others have found over the years from real world experience ;) Gain is good, but reception patterns and other characteristics are very important. The Delhi CYD-1470 is a good antenna but I'd take a CM4228 for almost every situation. Have a look at these links to get a feel for what I've been recommending:
 
#206 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey guys, 2 days ago I decided I wanted to watch the playoffs in HD, so I ordered a Samsung 260 and a litte Terk HDTVa from J&R.

An hour ago UPS came and delivered the package (well done J&R, very fast!), and now I've got CBMT-HD coming in brilliantly! Can't wait until tonight!

All I get is SRC and CBC, none of the US stations even register a single "bar" on the signal strength meter, but that's all I wanted (and I wasn't sure the ZSS clone was even going to be able to pick those 2 up in a 3rd floor apt surrounded by tall buildings, but it fills up all the bars on the meter)

Next month I'm moving to just east of Parc ave. at Mont Royal, my living room window has direct LOS to the transmitter on the mountain, so hopefully the other stations get going with DTV soon, just from watching the morning CBC newscast I can tell I'm going to be addicted to HDTV. :)

Anyway, thanks for the forum, pretty much all my answers were found in here somewhere.
 
#208 ·
NDG 8 channels

Thanks! I have to admit that I'm pretty happy with getting all those channels.

I hope to have a spectrum analyzer one day. I did try a cheaper experiment, to try and get a better idea of what the signal quality is. I put a switchable attenuator on the Ch 13 antenna. I found out that my setup will tolerate about 10 dB of additional loss before the picture breaks up.
 
#211 ·
Montreal (st-jacques street and st-remi street)

roger1818, I am in south-west montreal (corner of st-jacques street and st-remi street) with a NEARLY direct view out my window to ALMOST see of the roof of the CBC building where their digital antenna is broadcasting about 5km away downtown, but this line of sight is blocked by other buildings along the way..

I am using an indoor Recoton amplified UHF/VHF antenna (currently unamplified but I can plug it in and get about the same results)... here is the actual antenna :

https://www.addison-electronique.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=200083

I will try to put the antenna up on the roof with an rg-6 extension cord and see if that gets a better signal..that will be a few days from now until I can get a rg-6 coaxial extension.

What antenna are you using ?? Where are you located ??

Any suggestions for a digital TV pci card first-timer like me ??
 
#212 ·
It turns out the problem WAS the antenna .........

I raised the antenna about 8 feet using a coax extension .. and I am getting more signal strength.. enough to lock onto the CBC with a measly 11-14 dB SNR..

TSReader is happy enough to be picking up the data in the TS stream...

And VLC is able to show SOME of the picture SOMETIMES... !! Need more signal to show steady solid.

Solution seems to be to mount this antenna on the roof !!!!

I will be back later with an update..
 
#213 ·
ccoleman, Good to hear that you have figured out what the problem is. I recommend using a different antenna. That antenna uses a loop for UHF, which is about the worst type of antenna. For indoor use I would suggest either a Silver Sensor (or clone) or a DB-2. If you are putting an antenna outdoors, I recommend using something bigger and better.

FYI, the an amplifier cannot just be "turned off" unless it has been designed with some sort of bypass (most don't), as without any power, the amplifier will block the signal. Amplifiers on indoor antennas typically don't do any good so I don't usually recommend them. There are some very informative threads on this forum with more information about this.
 
#214 ·
I put a very basic (3-foot piece of wire) antenna on the roof and got some WEIRD results...

It is totally UNABLE to get any montreal stations digital stations (neither cbc english and radio canada french are less than 10 dB signal-to-noise) BUT...

It pulls in 2 Vermont stations at about 17-19 dB rock solid signal : Vermont Public TV (VPT-HD) channel 32 and WPTZ Plattsburg NBC channel 14 !!
 
#216 ·
Thanks for the compliment ccoleman. :) You can get the Google Earth KMZ file at Eastern Ontario/Western Quebec OTA TV Stations.

I am thinking of separating the Montreal/Vermont stations from the Ottawa/New York stations, but I don't really know enough about the stations available in Montreal (and I don't have time to do both). If anyone wants to take over responsibility for it, let me know.
 
#217 · (Edited)
Lasalle

I've been reading these threads for months, But yesterday...

I just installed a 4 bay UHF antenna (Delhi 4BT-1483) available at RayBel.
I mounted the antenna on a 10' pole on the roof and I use also a Rotor to switch betwwen Mt-Royal and Mt Mansfield channels.

See the photo in the Pimp My Gear thread.

And I'm happy to report that I'm able to receive all HD channels available on UHF. The reception results vary from 60% (CBC) to 98% (VPT)

They are:
SRC CFBT-HT (2-1)
CBS WCAX-HD (3-1)
NBC WPTZ-HD (5-1)
CBC CBMT-HD (6-1)
PBS VPT-HD (33-1)
FOX WFFF-HD (44-1)
PBS WCFE-HD (57-1)

I don't care too much for ABC on channel 13 because with this antenna I get the analog channel 22 lound and clear.
The image quality is just unbelieveable... Watching the Ottawa-New Jersey game last night was great and the Nascar race this afternoon on Fox is awesome! :eek:

Now, I'll be waiting for (and harassing ;) ) Tele-Quebec, TVA and TQS to move to digital transmission. With only one channel in French, I'm lacking some variety, but for now even TVA analog channel 10 reception is as clear as on cable. The other two are on UHF band, so I'm also getting perfect picture.

Finally, I'd like to thank all the fine members of this forum for providing so much quality information. Stampeder, foxfan, Kro and the others, you're great!
 
#218 ·
Congratulations tarantino! Keep in mind that ABC will be on VHF 13 after the analogue cutoff, so you could check the posts in the Montreal area threads about adding a single-channel antenna at that time. We have other posts from Lasalle in the City of Montreal thread - are you near any of them?
 
#219 ·
Thanks Stampeder,
As you could see on the picture, I left some room on top of the Delhi to mount a channel 13 antenna in the future.

I'm located near the St-Lawrence river, so I have a fairly unobstructed view to the south. But Montreal downtown seems to interfere with the reception of SRC/CBC.

In the last few months, I was trying in vain 2 ou 3 kind of indoor antennas but couldn't pick any HD station.

In these threads, everybody is praising th CM4228, but since they are almost impossible to find locally, I happy to report excellent results with a Delhi.
 
#220 ·
Keep in mind that ABC will be on VHF 13 after the analogue cutoff, so you could check the posts in the Montreal area threads about adding a single-channel antenna at that time.
I'd much prefer if we would put pressure on WVNY so they can file for a channel change after the transition (either move to channel 33 or 44, or swap with WETK once WCFE is back up).
 
#221 ·
Ahuntsic

so, what channels can we pick up in HD now?

SRC, CBC, CBS and PBS are known to be working well...

Are TQS and TVA working yet?

What about Fox and NBC? Can we get those channels now? And can we expect to ever have a lock on ABC with a normal antenna?

if ever we can get SRC, CBC, CBS, PBS, TQS, TVA, Fox and NBC for free in montreal, it's going to be worth it to go OTA for me.

I live in Ahuntsic and we could put an antenna on the roof, which is 2.5 stories high in height. I'm hoping to get SRC, CBC, CBS, PBS, TQS, TVA, Fox and NBC in HD. Especially CBS and Fox. I would like to watch Lost on ABC in HD too, but it's impossible since they're on vhf.
 
#224 ·
Also, I would like to know how good the reception is in Montreal on the fox channel?
There are lots of posts in this thread to tell you what will come in. Fox is received well in some places. People are having very good luck with the Delhi 4BT-1483 antenna or the CM4221. You will never get Channel 13 with either of those antennas, but you can read what other Montreal area people have done to solve that.
 
#225 ·
I've been reading this thread ever since we started to receive the signals from vermont and honestly, we need to recap all the information somewhere. It's a mess to find the information we want in this thread and I still don't really know what to expect from fox where I live.
 
#226 ·
Lasalle: Can't get CBS HD

Hi all, being newbie in the field of OTA, I was wondering if someone may have clue about this. I installed a Delhi 4BT-1483 about 15 feet off the ground pointed south, on the side of my building in Lasalle. I believe I have a clear view and I can get the following HD channels:

Radio-Canada (SRC)
NBC
FOX
PBS (33.1, 33.2, 33.3)

But I can't get CBS at all. My signal is about 0 - 31%.

My antenna is mounted about 4 inches from the brick wall and is blocked to the east and south (Brick wall behind it). Should I try putting the antenna higher?

Thanks in advance!
 
#227 ·
Downtown Montreal

Hi,

I just moved to Downtown Montreal. 6th floor in a concrete highrise.

I've got an HDTV, an LG 37LC2D, which has a built in ATSC tuner. I think that's what I need for OTA HD.

Because I'm a student in an apartment, I can't afford cable TV or satellite.

Today, I went out and bought a cheap VHF/UHF antenna for $10 at the dollar store, a Philips Magnavox SCP030

So far, reception is horrible. Actually plugging the included cable into the antenna only provides slightly better reception than holding JUST the cable and putting my thumb over the end. So this antenna is obviously completely uselessly crap. I expected crap considering it was $10, but I expected it to at least make more difference than just it's own cable :p

My TV reception is as follows:

03 (where Global should be?): Absolutely nothing. Static.
06 (CBC): Very bad reception. Strong double image, some static
10: (TVA): Pretty bad, static, double image, bad sound, etc. Watchable with some tweaking, unpleasant
12: (CTV): With tweaking, reasonably clean with a light double image
14: (Unknown, should be UHF?): I once got a vague static image with some sound, SOMETHING was there, but haven't been able to get anything since.

As for DTV reception, all channels give minimum signal strength (as in, none) except for 19, which gives slightly over minimum reception. From what I can tell, the only English language HD OTA in Montreal is CBC (with others like CTV coming eventually), and that'd be great...

So, what should I do? Obviously my atenna is useless. At least it came with a 6 foot long coax cable that by itself lets me watch the news on CTV :p

I was looking at the "antenna-chart-ver4.1.pdf" file, and I think what I need is a VHF/UHF indoor antenna (to put on a small table, or my computer desk next to the TV).

I think I need VHF, because that's where all the analog stuff is, and UHF because that's where all the digital stuff is. I don't want two antennas.

I see that the highest rated one there for indoors is the Zenith Silver Sensor. It's quite affordable, but seems to only do UHF. The next is the Winegard Sharp Shooter, which some people seem to rank higher than the Silver Sensor.

This seems to be a good option, but a lot more expensive.

So, have I made any big mistakes in what I said above (which is most of what I know on the subject)? Should I be buying the Winegard? Where can I find one in Montreal or online on the cheap?

Or, based on my location, am I never going to get any OTA HD reception? I am rather close to the mountain, after all.
 
#228 ·
This will probably get moved to the Montreal thread. But i read the whole thing and didn't see any mention of direction.

What direction do your windows and balcony face? Do they face the transmitters the signals come from, or are you on the wrong side of the building?

TV signals are VERY directional.

The other thing working against you id you are in a Concrete building. Indoor antennas were designed to work in a wood house. TV Signals were never meant to penetrate reinforced concrete.
Get the antenna on the balcony or pointing out a window; pointing directly at the transmit tower and you might get a picture.
 
#230 ·
The double image is also called ghosting. It is caused by reflected signals.

Your analogue tuner is receiving two signals, one of which is slightly delayed because it is taking a longer path to you antenna. Likely the stronger image is from the direct signal coming straight from the transmitter, and the second is a slightly delayed signal reflecting off a hill, building, or other reflective surface.

Try adjusting the antenna position angle as this may help weaken the reflected signal.

But first, try what Tom.F.1 and dsspredator have suggested.

good luck
 
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