8Bay or 4bay on waterfront
 

Hi,
I live on an island 30 miles off Vancouver and near Nanaimo, BC. I am not familiar with antenna technology but I did do a map details here: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...14f3a835b504b3 and am wondering if I need an 8Bay bowtie-style or if I can get by with a 4bay? I wouldn't mind picking up signals from Seattle in addition to Vancouver ones. Does living on the waterfront facing SE help or hinder?
Thanks for your thoughts.

There has been a great deal of change in the Canadian markets recently. The TV Fool database is being edited but the work is still in progress. The result is that I have to assume many analog stations shown on your TVFR are no longer on the air and many digital stations shown as pending may already be live.

To answer your question of 8 vs. 4, I'd opt for the 8-bay antenna if that were the only available choice. The only US stations available to you are KVOS and KBCB which are broadcast from Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island. There is no reasonable hope of seeing the Seattle stations from the location used for your TVFR.

To be on the safe side, I would suggest you check with the forum at http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/ I think you may want to consider an all channel antenna option, not just UHF. A bit more research would help you understand if there will be stations of interest on one or more VHF channels in your area.

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

Do have an antenna now ?? Are receiving some Canada digital stations now?? , the direction of 56 degree magnetic compass?? If so I recommend wait for the tvfool up date of the Canada digital stations. Then we can know what antenna or antennas to use.

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

If need an antenna for now then I suggest a ChannelMaster CM4228HD aimed at 56 degree magnetic compass. For now. http://www.saveandreplay.com.

Thanks for that. I didn't realize those two stations broadcast from Orcas. That will help.

Hi,
My neighbour has an old analog-style antenna and is picking up at least 6 digital channels now. I could get an old antenna like his (another neighbour is giving one away) but I thought an 8bay might help pick up a few more channels.

I am still learning how to read the signal analysis, so I am wondering how you know it should be facing 56degrees?

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

Free is good , hook up the antenna and receive what the antenna will receive. The two directions to point a antenna at your location are 56 degree for the Canada stations and 107 degree magnetic compass for the American stations. A Channel Master antenna rotor CM9521A will make it easy to turn the antenna to the two directions. Here are some tv guides , http://www.canada.com/entertainment/...sion/index.htm , http://www.z2it.com , http://www.tv.yahoo.com , http://www.tvzap.com , http://www.tv.entertainment.excite.com , http://www.television.aol.com , http://www.titantv.com. You can also go to , http://www.digitalhome.ca , forum for your location for more information about the Canada DTV transition.

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

How to know the direction to aim the antenna.The tvfool station and channel list , right hand side , the word Azimuth at the top and below the word azimuth are the words , True and Magn. . Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html. The closest to what your current station and channel list is , is the ''pending applications included' list. Tvfool is being updated so the list will likley show some changes in the future. ( magn is short for magnetic )

The question back to you is do you want K24IC-D? It is an LPTV station with PBS programming. The best reception of K24IC would suggest an 8 bay antenna. A 4 bay may work, but there could be dropouts.

Reception of stations weaker than K24IC will be possible only on days when a combination of the air temperature and water temperature cause the signals to refract to your house.

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

Can I use this 4 bay antenna and not the 8 bay antenna. Many question askers now days are doing A Lot Of Wiggling , wiggle this way , wiggle that way , and wiggle around the other way. Any way , the left hand side of the station and channel list shows the REAL and Virtual channels. Read and understand about the , REAL Digital Broadcast Tv Channels , Virtual Digital Broadcast Tv Channels , Analog Broadcast Tv Channels , http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=695. Some tv guides are listed in answers that I provided earlier , Most tv guides list the channels as the Virtual channels.

Read the Signal Analysis FAQ that's linked to on your report.

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

There is No such thing as a analog style antenna. A antenna that receives analog will also receive digital. And a antenna that receives digital will also receive analog. A wire coat hanger used as a antenna will receive both analog and digital. A plain indoor antenna , sometimes called rabbit ears antenna will receive analog and digital. There is No Such Thing as a analog antenna. There is No Such Thing as a digital antenna. Why am I making such a big deal , The answer is the amount of Misinformation out there is Truly Stagering.

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

Here is how to find more information about tv stations. In the google search box type in --> k24ic tv <-- , here are two of several information I found , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBTC-TV , http://www.rabbitears.info/market.ph...allsign=167292. I also typed in the google search box--> cbut tv <-- and found several information sites , this one of them , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBUT-DT

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

LPTV is short for , Low Power Tv , station.

Tv Antennas and Reception
 

Finding the actual location of tv transmitters is easy , go to the >Start MAPS< part of tvfool located on the home page of tvfool.