Best GH For Cambridge & Kitchener, ON?

[peano]

Does TVfool still show analog? That may be why.

[stampeder]

See the recent posts in this thread about changes at TVFool (post your questions about TVFool in there):

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=103476

[embomer]

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...b7c8319b0fc7a8

What do I need to build in order to get the best....if any...reception?

Thanks.

[stampeder]

You forgot to say which city/town you are in, and the neighbourhood name or nearest major street corner.

[embomer]

Oops

Kitchener On

Warren Road and Forest Hill Drive

[epicDistortion]

ebomer: You look to be in better shape than me. I'm working on a dual bay gray hoverman that I intend to mount on my roof. I'll let you all know what I get from it.

[epicDistortion]

I've re run my report and I appear to have improved reception results? They look very similar to ebomers. I put my antenna at 30 feet which is close to the height of my roof.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...b7c84707e3b799

I've given up trying to find heavy guage wire for my antenna. I'm going to try and find some of the 1/8" copper tubing to use instead. I may even have it built this weekend. I'm not sure I'm ready to get on the roof and mount it even though it is a balmy +3 degrees this weekend.

[300ohm]

I've given up trying to find heavy guage wire for my antenna. I'm going to try and find some of the 1/8" copper tubing to use instead.

1/8" copper tubing is even rarer. It was used sometimes on old timey pressure switched shallow well systems that didnt have pre-pressured tanks. But, a 10ft roll of 1/4" copper tubing should be found at your local Home Depot that will do fine.

[epicDistortion]

Thanks for the advice 300ohm. Unfortunately I didn't read it in time. Because I couldn't find 1/8 copper tube I bought some 10 AWG wire for the elements. I got my DBGH put together roughly and did a test from my living room. I was able to pull in 3 more analogue channels than I could with the single bay, but no digital yet.

I still have work to do on it though and expect the results to be better when it's complete. I need a proper balun (ordered through our favorite forum sponsor), I built a quick coax-loop balun using a 3-way splitter I found in my bin of parts. I only attached this to the phase lines by wire-wrapping. I expect it to be quite lossy. I need to build some spacers to keep the phase lines a consistent 20mm apart (on the Y-axis) and add some stability. I also need a reflector.

Looking at the way this build went together I am wondering if it might be easier to use copper tube for the elements. I could drill a hole for attaching the phase lines which would make it easier to assemble and make it possible to solder the connection, which I wasn't able to do with the current build.

[300ohm]

I need to build some spacers to keep the phase lines a consistent 20mm apart (on the Y-axis) and add some stability.

An old Bic pen cut up and holes drilled in it the size of the wire works. Using cut up grey plastic gutter ferrules would be even better for outdoors.

[epicDistortion]

I tried making spacers by drilling holes in pieces of zip ties. worked pretty well, but I ended up going up to a 10ga pair of wires for the phase lines and have had better luck keeping them straight.

I put the DBGH with no reflector in my attic aimed roughly west and ended up getting about 12 analogue channels (about 2 were clear, some were fuzzy, and most were unwatchable) and I got 2 digital stations! CH 11.1 and 36.1, both from hamilton. 11.1 came in at about 82% and 36.1 came in at about 72% strength. Can't wait to get it on the roof.

[GT40]

Originally Posted by embomer

Oops

Kitchener On

Warren Road and Forest Hill Drive

You're not that far from me.
With a 4228 style antenna I was able to pull in about 15 HD channels and penty od analog channels - basically the stronger Toronto and Buffalo channels.
I'm going to try a DBGH later this spring to see if it does any better.
Have any of you tried an industial supplier for the copper rod (ie brafasco) I'm pretty sure they carry 1/8 copper rod.

[epicDistortion]

I saw on their website that metal supermarkets sells copper rod of different sizes and hardnesses, but I don't know enough about metals to know if it could be bent without breaking. There is a store here in town out at Victoria and Forwell road.

[Marbles_00]

There's also a metal supermarkets on Sheldon. I've almost gone there myself to order stuff, and pickup on the way home from work.

The C110 copper should be good for bending. They advertise different sizes (not sure if they have them in stock). Here is a datasheet on C110 copper:
http://www.husseycopper.com/Alloysheets/C11000.pdf

[GT40]

You aren't going to have any problems bending 1/8 copper unless it's an exotic like beryllium copper or tellerium copper.
Worst case scenerio, you can cut it and solder the joints together.