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
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
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.