Choosing an Antenna???

[Danby]

Greetings to all

I am new to the forum and new to the discussion of antennas. I have been searching the internet to determine which sort of antenna would best suit my needs.
I am in a suburban area in Guelph, Ontario and will mount a mast to my chimney, giving me a height of roughly 20-25 feet.
The reading for Guelph is here:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d8d17810f16609e

Would a CM3000A do the job?

http://www.channelmasterstore.com/Se...earch=CM+3000A

I have been told that the omnidirectional antennas may not get the job done, and that I should be looking at a CM4228HD 8 bay bowtie with a CM9521A rotor kit.

http://www.xtek.ca/channel-master-cm...ice-p-309.html

http://www.xtek.ca/over-the-air-hdtv...r-c-31_26.html

I find this all confusing at times and was hoping that someone would be able to steer me a little.

Many thanks,

Danby

[John Candle]

The tvfool radar link is not working.

[Danby]

Thank you John.

I've replaced the link and it seems to be working now

[GroundUrMast]

Using the CM3000A, you will receive some signal, especially the stronger, local stations. However, it will offer virtually no multipath/ghost rejection. As stations in Canada transition to digital format, you will likely see stations that were heavily affected by ghosting problems become intermittent or even completely unwatchable with the CM3000A. It's simply not the best choice in your situation.

The CM4228HD is also not the best choice in you situation. When you click on the "Pending Applications" button on your TV Fool Report, there are quite a number of VHF channels that will be carrying DTV signals once the Canadian DTV transition occurs. This antenna and those like it, are UHF only antennas (real channel 14 - 69).

If you are willing to use a rotator, an Antennacraft HD1200, Channel Master CM3018 or Winegard HD7084P will provide coverage of all the available channels down into the red section of your TVFR.

Another option would be a two antenna system using an A/B switch.

[John Candle]

If you will like to reach out for the American Stations then I recommend a Winegard HD7698P antenna , http://www.techdepotcanada.com with a Channel Master rotor CM 9521A , http://www.saveandreplay.com , http://www.trentondistributors.com . If the antenna is connected to one tv then a rotor works well , if the antenna and rotor are connected to more then one tv then disagreements will happen about what tv stations the antenna is pointed at.

[John Candle]

Here is more information about Tv reception in Canada. http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/105462 , http://www.friends.ca / http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/home-accueil.htm , http://www.canada.com/entertainment/television/index.html , http://www.tvzap.com

[Danby]

Hi GroundUrMast

Thank you very much for the reply. All the antennas you provided are much bigger than I would like. I am living in suburbia and the sight of a gigantic antenna is likely to produce some sort of uprising amongst both the neighbours and my dear wife!

If I am willing to forgo the American stations and settle on the first 15 (or 15-20) on the list, is there something a little smaller that you might recommend?

Thanks, Dan

[GroundUrMast]

Consider the Channel Master CM2018 or CM3016

A CM9521A rotator kit would add the ability to aim the antenna at the desired stations.

If you have not already, check with http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/ They will have an even better read on the state of affairs in Canadian DTV.