Reception Reports for the GTA

[Brad]

This thread can serve as a running list of various members' OTA reception results. Please post your approximate area in the city, elevation, direction your antenna faces, type of antenna, and anything else you feel might be relevant to other members.

I'll kick things off:

When I was living at Yonge and Wellesley last year I was on the 24th Floor, facing North, using an RCA indoor/outdoor antenna from The Source (about $139) and I received ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CBC, CTV, OMNI 1, OMNI 2, SUN TV, SRC (french CBC), and CITY TV

I also received a few sub-channels, but they were always very spotty and were not as reliable as the main ones listed above.

The moral of the story is, if you live in a high rise downtown, you might not need to to fork over $50+ a month to watch TV.

[Suave]

I use a Nippon UDF80 antenna (about $200) in a house in Bloor West Village (near Runnymede subway station) and it allows me to pick up a whopping 14 HD channels.

These include: CBC, ABC, CTV, The CW, Global, SUN TV, NBC, CBS, Radio-Canada (French), OMNI2, OMNI1, PBS, FOX and Citytv.

The antenna is mounted on the roof of the two-storey house and faces toward the CN tower.

I also own a Rogers HD box, but given the quality of the over-the-air channels, I watch most hockey games using the antenna reception.

[tkroeker]

Isn't there a website that lists all over the air HD feeds in Canadian cities? I'll look into it and report back.

EDIT: www.tvfool.com maps out all signals according to address in Canada and the US. May be of some help.

[Suave]

Thanks for sharing the website tkroeker - I'm sure that many will find this to be a very useful tool. It should however be noted that while the listed channels may be available in your area, whether you can pick them up or not will largely depend what type of antenna you use and where it is mounted (indoor or outdoors).

[tkroeker]

Good point. My brother-in-laws in-laws live behind a major TO building and can't get any of the US stations. I guess that is one plus to having a dish setup.

[audit13]

I use a Nippon UDF80 antenna (about $200) in a house in Bloor West Village (near Runnymede subway station) and it allows me to pick up a whopping 14 HD channels.

These include: CBC, ABC, CTV, The CW, Global, SUN TV, NBC, CBS, Radio-Canada (French), OMNI2, OMNI1, PBS, FOX and Citytv.

The antenna is mounted on the roof of the two-storey house and faces toward the CN tower.

I also own a Rogers HD box, but given the quality of the over-the-air channels, I watch most hockey games using the antenna reception.

I live near Runnymede / Bloor as well. I mounted a Channel Master 4221HD antenna on my chimney and I receive NBC (2.1), CBS (4.1), CBC (5.1), ABC (7.1), CFTO (9.1), PBS (17.1), WNLO (23.1), Fox (29.1), Omni I (44.1), Omni II (64.1), City TV (57.1), and Sun TV (66.1).

NBC is the weakest signal but my television has always managed to pull it in. Can't say the same for my Hauppauge hvr-1600 tuner card.

[Suave]

Sounds like Bloor West Village is a great spot for picking up a good number of channels. Thanks for sharing audio13!

[Mark Henschel]

For the GTA area

http://www.remotecentral.com/hdtv/

[HWP]

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Reception Report --- GTA, Toronto, East York, Greenwood & Mortimer
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I live in East York. With minimal effort and about $100 of equipment, I receive:

NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, The CW, My TV Buffalo, PBS, ION, TCT2 (All HD)

CBC, CTV, Global, City TV, Sun TV, CHCH, Omni 1, Omni 2, CTS, CBC French (All HD)

In digital Standard Definition I receive:
Universal Sports Network, Retro TV, TheCoolTV (music video station), The Country Network (all country videos), PBS Think Bright, TCT1, qubo, ION Life

The last channel in the GTA to go digital is TVOntario...months away. In the meantime, I receive it in analog.

Here is my TV Fool Reception Report:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...9fbe78b936194a

You can link from my TV Fool report to create a reception report for your own home if you wish to see what channels you can expect to receive.


Note that there will be more digital stations signing on in the near future. Currently in the US, TV stations are allowed to broadcast sub-channels in addition to their main HD channel (e.g. NBC Buffalo HD channel 2-1 also broadcasts 2-2 Universal Sports Network and 2-3 Retro TV).

Rumours are that ABC News Now!, ThisTV, Telemundo, and others are on the drawing board.

The CRTC may allow Canadian channels to broadcast sub-channels as well. This could lead to an explosion of choice. Currenly people can receive about thirty OTA channels in the GTA. If sub-channels come to Canada, the total could go way up.

In 2011, when A-Channel (Barrie CKVR) moves to Channel 10 and switches to digital it should be possible to receive this station, too. It will be a little inconvenient because for most people the Barrie transmitter is the only transmitter located opposite all of the others. If you really want the station it's out there, your antenna might pick it up. otherwise you'd need a rotator or else two antennas. You might be lucky and receive it off the back of your antenna - don't go to any extra effort without trying that.

Good luck!

[Suave]

It's great to have you join the CANADA HiFi forum HWP!

Thank you for sharing all the great info with us in your post. The TV Fool report to which you posted a link should prove to be a very useful tool for all the members of our forum. Do you run this website yourself?

By the way, the link HWP posted is to a report for Toronto, ON. If you would like to find out which channels you can expect to pick up in any other city (Canada and US), click on the link below.

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=29