October 24, 2011

Test Mast Switchover

At home, I usually have 4 antennas on two masts. One mast I use for day to day viewing. This setup is a winegard HD8800 pointed at South Coulton, New York, and a Delhi VHF antenna pointed at Camp Fortune. These antenna are combined with a good reliably CM7777 preamp. This gets me 21 DTV stations 24/7.

My other mast is simply used for DXing, testing and playing around. For the last year I have had a single cut 21 antenna and a big Channel master CM4242 antenna. The CM4242 is a very good long range combo antenna but I wanted to try a more specialized higher gain UHF only antenna for DXing and experimenting with WPTZ Plattsburg. At the same time I wanted to fix my kitztech preamp on the test mast so I decided to do an antenna switchover.

Test Antenna 1: For DXing I decided to try a Delhi CYD-1430. I had planned to use a Winegard 9032 for the test mast, but I traded for the Delhi from JimLum. Thanks Jim! The Delhi is very highly rated for reception between 14-30, the main range of stations that interest me. The gain is listed at a crazy 13-14 dBd. Unfortunately they are not available anymore for purchase. Hopefully it will be as good as the spec. indicates.

Test Antenna 2. Other than DXing, my main two quests are regular reception of WPTZ Plattsburg (14) and WNTI Watertown (21), so I decoded to continue my tests with my single cut channel 21, but with an upgraded preamp.

Pre-amps: Both antennas require a good quality pre-amp for my tests. For the CYD-1430, I decided to try the new Antennas Direct CPA19. The CPA19 has a lower noise ratio (1.7db) than the CM7777 (2 db) and is slightly cheaper. I regularly stock the CPA19. So far it looks good. I'll publish more later. For the single cut 21, I am going back to my Kitztech pre-amp. The Kitztech has a low noise figure of 0.5db but in the past it would only work for me with a FM trap before it. I decided to give it another try with a better low loss FM trap.

Rotor: I am always reluctant to incorporate a rotor in an antenna setup, typically only recommending it in cases where the user is rural and between opposing transmission sites. Another use is for DXing/hobbyists. Thus I decided to go with a rotor in my test setup this time. I chose the Antennas Direct rotor, primarily because it was cheaper than the Channel Master and I had no need to yet another IR remote in my family room. Both are comparable rotors.

For fun I decide to put two antennas on the rotor, Originally I was going to fix the channel 21 antenna below the rotor and point it directly to Watertown for WNTI (ABC) but the overall weight of the two antennas was less than I thought, and it would be fun to be able to move this around also. Both antennas have separate RG6 coax runs. No combining.

Pictures can be found below. The last picture shows my primary mast with my HD8800 and Delhi.

0 comments

September 28, 2011

by jeff

Another Aylmer Install

From a customer

"Pictures of my installation - I don't think I need the chimney straps anymore. Just used an old Bell Expressvu bracket (turned upside down) plus a another bracket to further stabilize it. Rock solid. 11 really good channels"

0 comments

September 22, 2011

by admin

CM7001 feedback

Since I started selling the CM7001 last week, I have received some good feedback on the unit.

Sounds like an info-mercial but some real comments are:

"The CM 7001 works great! It was the perfect solution for my situation. Thanks for your help."

"The CM7001 is a big improvement over my HVR-2250 tuner. It always picks up the 3 PBS stations (18.*), whereas the 2250 only gets them conditions are perfect. Last night on CM7001, I got 6 PBS channels plus FOX and CBS. The HVR-2250 only got the 3 PBS channels. The CM7001 managed to pick up 23 channels last night."

0 comments

September 19, 2011

by admin

Bigger than Steve Jobs

There was a very good story by VITO PILIECI of the Ottawa Citizen this weekend concerning the digital transition. For the first and only time in my life, my picture was front and center in the Ottawa Citizen. So you could say, sort of, that I was briefly bigger than Steve Jobs. I would trade it for one seconds worth of Steve Jobs profit. Anyway here is the article.

Tuning in to Digital

1 comment

September 13, 2011

by admin

Tropo Nights

In my WPTZ testing these nights, I have noticed some pretty regular tropospheric reception. Two nights ago I was receiving 38 digital stations from 10PM to after Midnight. Might be the most in one night for a while. I broke those stations down to my regular, occasional and tropo as follows (Virtual channels shown):

My Usual 24/7 stations - (21 of them)

4.1 CBC

6.1 Global

9.1 CBC French

11.1 CHCH

13.1 CTV

14.1 Omni2

18.1,18.2,18.3 PBS - Messina

24.1 TVO

28.1,28.2 FOX, CBS - Messina

30.1 TQ

40.1 TVA

42.1 CTS

43.1 CTV2 (A-channel)

57.1,57.2,57.3 PBS - Mountain Lake

60.1 Omni1

65.1 CITY

Occasional evening - 9

5.1,5.2 NBC, This - Plattsburg

7.1,7.2 CBS, FOX - Watertown

16.1,16.2,16.3 PBS - Watertown

50.1,50.2 ABC, CW - Watertown

Tropo only - 8

10.1 TVA Montreal

12.1 CTV Montreal

17.1 CIVM Montreal

28.1 FOX - Watertown

33.1,33.2,33.3,33.4 PBS - Vermont

2 comments

September 12, 2011

by jeff

Antenna Mast Made Easy

Q. Why does an antenna store not sell antenna masts.

A. Because they sell them by truck loads in Home Depot

eh? Galvanized fence posts as sold in Home Depot/Lowes/Rona etc make very good cheap antenna masts. Normally people use the 10.5ft top rail sections. Not only are they nestable, they are also cheap at $12. Don't ask for an antenna mast, look for fence rails in the fencing department. By coincidence normally we recommend an antenna mast to be at most 10ft above your mounting device (chimney/eaves/tripod whatever) thus the fence posts are perfect.

2 comments

September 12, 2011

by admin

Article in Toronto Star

A nice article in the Toronto Star (Moneyville.ca) about OTA and us here:

As TV goes digital, antenna sales boom - moneyville.ca Blogs

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September 12, 2011

by admin

WPTZ NBC Plattsburg experiments

Since analog OMNI2 channel 14 went off the air and moved to digital 20.1 (it displaced SUN-TV), channel 14 became vacant in Ottawa. This opened up the possibility of receiving WPTZ from Plattsburg on 14.1. Plattsburg at 140 miles is a long way but it does broadcast at a high power (650KW) and a very high mountain (Mount Mansfield). They also do target the northern audience (Montreal). Since I started these experiments on Tuesday last week, I have managed to receive 5.1 every evening and morning so far. Problem is trying to distinguish between long range reception and tropospheric reception. I am trying to tweek an antenna such NBC that it will come in regularly every evening.

For the moment what seems to be working is a little strange. I dont have time to change any of my test antenna setups at the moment except for adjusting their direction. My single cut channel 21 antenna with a kitztech pre-amp seems to be the best for the moment. I had long given up on the kitztech due to the fact that it would only work with a FM trap inserted before it. At the time of that install, I did not sell low-loss FMtraps so I only had a unknown quality FMtrap from a UK cable system and I couldnt see the point of using a kitztech rated at .5db noise, if I was putting a FMtrap before it adding at least 3db loss (a guess). However the kitztech and this FM trap does seem to be pulling in WPTZ better than my big combo with no preamp.

My results are preliminary as I need much more long term observation. An issue this week was that I was also observing tropospheric reception for some parts of this week, receiving many other Montreal and Plattsburg stations at the same time. However using this morning as an example all else was quiet except my usual 21 DTV channels and NBC 5.1 & 5.2.

Ultimately I plan to test my reception with the kitztech and a channel master 7777; with the single cut antenna, my big combo, and both the winegard hd-8800 and winegard HD-9032. I cant do this until October, however I am expecting the final setup to be a low-loss FM trap and kitztech or CM7777 combined with a single (or stacked set of) HD-9032.

An interesting note about this experiment is that I ended up combining (with a std CM combiner) the amplified single cut antenna with my normal day to day setup (HD-8800/Delhi VHF/CM-7777) with no loss to WPTZ or my locals or my reception of CBS/FOX on the 8800 setup. Combining different UHF antenna setups, especially amplified, is not really a predicable science. In this case I had a few things going for me, mainly the antennas being 25ft apart.

When trying these extreme setups/experiment, there are some rules of thumb

Only make minor changes and observe the results for a while, in my case a couple of days or weeks, before you tweek something else.
Use only quality name brand components - it is amazing how badly a cheap splitter or a dollar store coax can screw up your experiments before you figure out the problem.
Be very very precise when pointing for long range reception (did I mention my iPhone app - OTAmap).
Use a top quality preamp from Channel Master or Winegard. In some cases specialty pre-amps from Kitztech or RC (from the UK) can work miracles.
Learn to distinguish between tropo and regular reception

0 comments

September 12, 2011

by admin

Another article

Another CBC news story with us and a couple of customers....

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/08/30/ottawa-digital-switch-.html

Also just did an interview with Marc Saltzman for the Toronto Star. I'll post a link when I find it.

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September 4, 2011

by jeff

Customer installs

A couple of pictures from some customer installs. Both customers used a fence post extensions on a j-pole. One used a normal size dish j-pole, the other a specialty 38" j-pole

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September 9, 2011

by admin

IRC CRC Test Channel

The Canadian government (IRC/CRC) operates and runs some test transmissions in Ottawa. I never get them in the east end, but the other day I was getting it on 46.1 on my store basement CM4220 2 bay antenna. If you want to know what it looks like here it is:

Plot is a little hard to follow, but I believe it is a spy story. No real star though you might recognise that famous canadian actor - "the littlest hobo"

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August 31, 2011

by jeff

Ottawa's almost complete

I'll wait till the transition to summarize, but there were some key changes last night

Now digital

4.1 CBC English

9.1 CBC French

13.1 CTV

14.1 Omni 1

24.1 TVO

42.1 CTS

43.1 A-Channel

60.1 Omni 1

65.1 CITY

More coming on line tonight

0 comments

August 31, 2011

by jeff

Montreal Transition Summary

While I generally only deal with the Ottawa transition happenings, I do keep an eye on my old home town of Montreal. An excellent summary on the state of affairs in Montreal can be found on Fagstein

0 comments

August 27, 2011

by jeff

Ottawa Citizen mention of OTACanada

Full article available here

Digital in / Analog out

If you have cable or satellite television, you won't notice a difference on Sept. 1. But if you use an antenna, you'll probably need to make some changes, writes Vito Pilieci

Whether you are ready or not, the transition to digital television is about to happen. As of Sept. 1, a majority of Canadians will be able to receive TV signals in crystal clear digital and high definition through antennas that look much like those oldschool rabbit ears.

BY VITO PILIECI, OTTAWA CITIZEN AUGUST 25, 2011

Of course, if you're among the vast majority of Canadians who get their television via cable or satellite, the switch to digital from analog broadcast signals won't affect you.

But if you do use an antenna, you could be wondering what you need to pluck the new, high-quality TV signals from the air. Here are some tips to help you in the right direction:

1. Determine what kind of tele-vision set you own. Older cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions are unlikely to be ready to receive digital transmissions. For these, you will need to buy a digital converter box that will translate the new signal into an analog signal that the TV can display. These boxes typically cost around $50 range and are available from a number of manufacturers. Two examples: Access Digital's TV Converter and the Coby Digital Converter box, both of which are available through mainstream electronics retailers. Newer flat panel televisions have digital tuners in them already, which means they can flip through the new digital channels. But those new TVs still require an antenna to pull in the digital signal being broadcast over the air (more on that below).

2. Go to an online website such as otacanada.com and determine which stations are available in your area and what channels they are broadcast on.

3. You'll need a new antenna. Set-top digital antennas sell for $50 to $100, but may not offer the same reception or range as a rooftop antenna, which can cost up to $150. Some of the more readily available models are made by Channel Master.

4. Keep in mind that Canada is following the United States, which converted its TV signals to digital in 2009. That means numerous antennas and converter boxes are available.

Not sure about your situation? Here are a few more things to know:

If you watch TV on cable or satellite, nothing will change - after Aug. 31 you will still be able to watch television as you normally would. But if you have one TV in the house with a satellite or cable connection and another that pulls TV from an overthe-air source, you will need to take some action. That means buying a digital antenna (and possibly a set top converter) for that second set, or connecting it to your cable or satellite to piggyback on your existing subscription.

Some people are wondering what will be carried over the air. All of the national broadcasters have been ordered to change their signals to digital in every major Canadian city (the CBC has received an extension in certain areas). This means digital signals from CTV, Global, Omni, Citytv, A Channel, CBC and others will all be available over the air. Some already broadcast in digital (as do all U.S. stations).

Using an antenna means mis-sing many live sports events, which have been largely locked down by specialty channels available only through cable or satellite. NFL Football is carried by TSN, for example, and Blue Jays baseball games are almost exclusively aired on Sportsnet. But there are options for people who want to get their TV over the air and still be able to see non-sports content from specialty channels. Netflix is now available to Canadians. The service, which costs $8 per month, serves up some of the hottest TV series and movies in an on-demand, allyou-can-watch format via your Internet connection. Apple TV provides almost all of today's most watched TV shows and movies on a pay-asyou-watch basis. Shows range from 99 cents to $3.99, and movies are 99 cents to $5.99. Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. offer similar services over their Xbox 360 and PS3 gaming consoles. And there's YouTube, which is steadily beefing up on network content to position itself as a rival to Netflix. Many newer TVs come with a built-in YouTube widget, giving owners with an Internet connection instant access to the service.

CHANNELS AVAILABLE IN OTTAWA

CIII-TV-6, Global Toronto, channel 6

CBOFT, Radio-Canada, channel 9

CJOH-TV, CTV Ottawa, channel 13

CITY-TV-3, City TV Toronto, channel 17

CJMT-TV-2, OMNI, channel 20

CHCH-TV-1, CHCH, channel 22

CICO-TV-24, TVO, channel 24

CBOT-TV, CBC Ottawa, channel 25

CFMT-TV-2, OMNI, channel 27

CIVO-TV, Télé-Québec, channel 30

CFGS-TV, V, channel 34

CHOT-TV, TVA, channel 40

CITS-TV-1, CTS Ontario, channel 42

CHRO-TV-43, A-Channel Ottawa (soon to be CTV 2), channel 43

Source: CRTC

Note: Some areas may also be able to pick up U.S. broadcasts

1 comment

August 24, 2011

by jeff

Global so far is a hit or miss station

Global seems to be hit or miss with most. Not clear why. Overall view it is due to being at a crappy frequency (vhf-lo) and a measly 3.5kw output. Some are getting it with 4 bay UHF antennas some aren't with proper VHF antennas in attic. You will get it will a roof mounted VHF antenna pointed to Camp Fortune, but every other scenario is like rolling dice. I like some others get Global strongly.

An interesting blog about someones attempt to get Global can be found here.

1 comment

August 16, 2011

by admin

Global & TVO

Both Global and TVO are now broadcasting in digital. Global on 6.1 and TVO on 24.1 . TVO should be no issue for most antenna purchasers in Ottawa, Global on the other hand being problematic. Not only is Global on the worst possible band (VHF-lo), it is broadcasting at a ridiculously low power of 3.3 KW. It is actually laughable. A cynic might even believe that they are broadcasting at the lowest possible power and most difficult frequency so that they can get automatic carriage on cable systems but not good enough that people have to get them on cable. Hmmmm makes you wonder.

I have no issue in the east end having a VHF antenna aimed at Camp Fortune. It fact I get Global very strongly. Hopefully the are just tweaking their signal and will raise the transmitting power, as many people are having reception issues. We had hoped that the signal would be so strong from CF that it would overcome the low band issue and most UHF antennas would pick it up regardless, but that may be unlikely at 3KW. I am looking for a cheap add-solution for Ottawa people.

TVO received on my basement CM4220 antenna in the store window

0 comments

June 21, 2011

by admin

OTAMap

Yup finally finished my first iPhone App. It was accepted into the App store last week. So far I am happy with the results and the app itself. I have a list of 5 or 6 improvements/new features which I will get in a month or so. The OTAMap support page is available here. I also finished my second app TTCfetch last week and am just waiting for App store approval.

OTAMap will help you find and aim your antenna at any station within range of your current GPS position. Tons of fun for antenna hobbyists or installers.

1 comment

June 21, 2011

by admin

Aiming for WWNY

A week ago there was a decent wind store that whipped through the east-end of Ottawa. For the first time in years, I actually lost a tree, a tall 60ft plus Maple. I have so many trees in my back yard, it actually took me 2 days to notice. Another strange thing I notice that my reception of CBS/Fox was occasionally lost. Upon inspection I noticed that my antenna had shift 15 degrees or so to the east. On Sunday I wasn't able to get CBS/Fox all day, so I went on the roof, and using my new IPhone app OTAmap, I aimed the antenna towards the front corner of my neighbours house. Went downstairs and presto CBS/Fox was 24/7 again. Although the aiming of an antenna is not so crital for the reception of local digital signal, it is SO important when DX'ing.

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May 6, 2011

by jeff

Latest Antenna Swap

For the last year I have had 4 antennas on my roof for testing.

A Winegard HD-8800, pointed at South Colton New York, and a Winegard YA-1713 pointed at Watertown, on one mast.

A channel master combo CM-4242 pointed south, and a single cut channel 21 pointed at Watertown on another mast.

Now that it is spring, I may change my experimental setup. This week I swapped the YA-1713 for a unknown old Delphi 6 element VHF antenna. The YA-1713 was an experiment to receive 7.1 from Watertown, as a backup to 18.1 & 18.2 Messina. However I rarely ever lose CBS, FOX from Messina/South Colton, so it wasn't really necessary. I was simply going to flip the YA-1713 towards Camp Fortune to use until CTV and CHCH go digital but someone wanted to buy it, thus my new experiments with the Delphi VHF. I would have popped a new Delphi VIP-302 up (and still may) but I figured it would be overkill.

Still trying to figure what the mystery Delphi 6 element VHF antenna was designed for. It seems to be an older undocumented model. It is pulling in Pembroke and Bancroft (2&5) and Global (6) easily, however 11 and 13 are strong but with lots of ghosting on 2 of my 3 sets. Not a big deal, as we are close to the final transition and there is always that vip-302......

0 comments

April 26, 2011

by jeff

Interview in The Wire Report website

A write up about OTA in The Wire Report with a little mention of us.

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Blog

Digital in / Analog out

If you have cable or satellite television, you won't notice a difference on Sept. 1. But if you use an antenna, you'll probably need to make some changes, writes Vito Pilieci

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