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Analog Reception |
Tired of hefty monthly payments to cable or
satellite companies that give you too much repetition and
little choice in the channels you can get? Why pay for
something that is mostly available for free and perfectly
legal?
There are a few advantages to having free TV, aside from
the huge cost savings that can amount to
several thousand dollars over a short
number of years.
One, you will be able to get some channels completely
unavailable by either cable or satellite service. These
are mostly US stations that the CRTC does not allow cable
companies to deliver to Canadians.
Two, you will be able to receive, full time, US signals
unadulterated by your supplier, as required by the CRTC.
This means uncensored and uncut. You may or not be aware
that if a Canadian channel is showing the same program as
on an US station, the Canadian channel is
substituted (censored) for the US one, usually without you
even being aware of it. This would be relatively OK,
except that the Canadian stations are allowed more
advertising time per hour than US ones, and they use it,
meaning they cut out some of the program to fit
in the extra ads. Ever feel you must have missed
something because you suddenly don't know what is going
on in the program? Well, now you know why.
With free TV, one may watch the US station, and follow
the program better and watch fewer ads.
If you are a satellite subscriber, you know that you can't
receive many or most of your local stations, and an
antenna (or cable) is needed for these stations. You can
and should have both, and this site will guide you.
If you are a PBS fan, you may appreciate having a
satellite carried PBS station (Detroit) plus Buffalo's
WNED available to you full-time, plus up to four others
during optimal reception periods. That gives you a total
of 6 PBS stations!
This site has been set up as a disservice to those
Canadian cable monopolies who have deliberately kept
Canadians in the dark as to how they could get a large
number of TV channels without subscribing to cable, and
who have gouged consumers for years with inflated prices
and such despicable practices as negative option billing.
We'll take you through a brief educational exercise so
that you can be soon watching up to 50 channels for a
small initial investment, with no monthly payments ever
again.
Off-Air Reception;
What you can get, and how it works:
The TV Dial:
There are two settings on your TV, "Cable" and "Antenna:"
The Channels are set up like this:
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2---13, |
14-------------------------------------------- 100+ cable
14--------------------------------69 antenna
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As you can see, channels 2 to 13 are shared by cable signals and
off-air, and channels 14 onward are totally different
parallel systems for each. You need to set the switch on your TV
set, or change the setting on your TV menu from "cable" to
"antenna," "broadcast," "off-air," or whatever isn't the
cable setting. This will allow you to receive off-air signals
above channel 13.
The Off-Air TV Band:
TV signals are broadcast thru the air from transmitters installed by each
station. In Toronto, most Toronto stations broadcast from the CN Tower. Other
cities will have privately owned tall transmission towers, usually one for
each station. These stations transmit on a designated channel (there are 67
available channels) in the radio spectrum as follows:
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"VHF"(very high frequency) |
"UHF"(ultra high frequency) |
1 |
2 to 6&FMRadio |
7 to 13 |
14 to 69 (37,&70 to 83 now gone) |
Long wavelength |
Medium wave length |
Short wave length |
(channel 1 was dropped 50+
years ago, just in case you were wondering.) |
As you can see, gaps appear in the spectrum between certain
channels. These gaps are used for other radio services unrelated
to broadcasting. A gap appears between channel 6 and 7, with the
first part of that gap being used for FM Radio. Hence FM Radio
starts right after channel 6. This is why you can receive the
sound portion of channel 6 (if you have it in your area) at the
beginning of your FM dial. Another larger gap appears between 13
and 14.
As the channel number and the frequency go up, the wavelength
shortens.
The Antenna:
Indoor:
Two main types of indoor antenna exist, unamplified and
amplified. The unamplified antenna usually consists of a pair of
'rabbit ears' either separate or attached to the set, for VHF,
and a circular or a bowtie shaped wire loop for UHF. This is a
good start, but will only get you 15 or so channels, most of them
local.
To use rabbit ears properly, you need them fully extended for the
low channels (2 to 6) and about half to one third length for
channels 7 to 13. (To more or less match the wavelength.) Move
them around of course to get the best picture.
The loop antenna connects either to one of the rabbit ears for
support, or directly to the UHF terminals on the back of the set.
The bowtie clips onto a rabbit ear. The bowtie generally gives
better reception, so if your loop is unsatisfactory, try a bowtie
or advance to a system as described following.
The amplified antenna is a box usually with rabbit ears and loops
or a dish on top of it. It plugs in the wall, and has knobs to
turn that either physically or electronically tunes the antenna
to suit. The amplification can usually be adjusted with another
knob. Good ones give much better reception than unamplified types,
but will still usually pull in only local channels.
Outdoor:
Many types of antennas exist; here we will discuss the
typical outdoor antenna comprised of aluminum rods.
An antenna's elements, or rods, are sized according to the
wavelength, so the lower the channel, the longer the rod. UHF
channels require very short rods in an antenna. If you have an
old antenna still attached to your house from pre-UHF and
pre-cable days it may look like this:
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If so, it is a VHF one especially designed to pick up channels 2,
4, and 7 (from Buffalo). It will still work well for those
channels, but won't pick up anything above 13. (You can probably
guess just by looking at it what rods pick up which of those 3
channels)
If you have one that looks like this:
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It is tuned to one single VHF channel. It could be one of
the earliest antenna's in the city, a channel 4, from way back in
1947-1950 when WBEN Buffalo was the only station in town.
However, look closely at it. If it has 6 or more rods instead
of 5, and two of those are looped instead of just one as in the
picture, it is almost certainly an FM radio antenna.
If it has more rods of differing lengths, it may be an all
TV channel / FM radio antenna, but unless it has a series of very
short bars (about as long as your fingers) at one end, it
probably doesn't pick up UHF (channels 14 to 69).
This is an older VHF-TV and FM-radio. (It will still work quite well if it
hasn't deteriorated where the lead connects to it):
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You still can use this or any VHF antenna, but you will need to
add a supplementary UHF antenna along with it. They come in a
huge variety of styles, and can look like one of these:
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This one uses a "bowtie." |
The left end is the station end. |
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More different styles. The left
"dish" is the most powerful. |
Most all-channel antennas look like this nowadays:
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Note the short UHF bars in the
front end of these antennas. If you have one without them, it's VHF/FM only.
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Note the short UHF bars in the front end of these antennas. If
you have one without them, it's VHF/FM only.
If you're starting fresh, one of these is usually best.
The higher your antenna is, the better. A roof-mount mast or a
house-side tower is preferred, but attic installations work
fairly well if you aren't in a low spot to begin with. Mount your
antenna away from metallic objects and electrical wires for
reception and safety reasons. Also, keep it far away from trees;
you would be surprised at how far a tree can bend in a strong
wind. If it reaches your antenna, it's toast.
Other outdoor antennas are partly electronic devices that are
housed in a plastic case and look like a flat plate, either
horizontal or vertical, or a long tube. Either of these may work
well for you, but we suspect not as well as the more ungainly
aluminum rod antennas. Some are now available that are compact
'hybrid' versions of both main types and are specially designed
to go alongside your satellite dish so that you can receive your
local stations too.
If you are in an apartment building however, these types are
preferred as one is less likely to lose an eye walking out onto
the balcony. Apartment balcony installations will work best if
you are already facing the direction of most or many stations. On
this subject, if you are an apartment dweller and want to receive
off-air signals, one alternative to reduce space taken up on the
balcony is to forgo the VHF channels (2 to 13) and install a
compact UHF antenna on a simple stand on the balcony, or even
indoors facing a window, again provided you are facing the right
direction.
Aiming:
Your antenna has to point more or less to the station. Always
have the short-rod end pointing to the station. The longest
bar is actually a reflector to send back any signal missed the
antenna first time 'round. Some UHF antennas look like an arrow
(see the above pictures), and some do-it yourselfers point this
"arrow" to the stations. Too bad, because they've got it
backwards. Remember the rule.
If you have a dish type or any UHF antenna with a large vertical back piece
like those in the pictures, that backing is the back, and is a large reflector.
The wirey stuff is in front, and should be pointing to your stations.
The Rotor:
The next thing you need, if you wish to receive all that is
available, is a rotor, to turn your antenna and point it to the
station you wish to watch. This is a little motor mounted on the
mast just below the antenna, with a control box down near your
TV. A second shorter mast leads from the rotational part of the
rotor and holds and turns the antenna. Obviously, this is most
necessary where two stations occupy the same channel number. They
will be coming generally from opposite directions. One signal
must be at its best to block out the other.
The Lead-in wire:
In pre-cable days, we used to use a flat 'ribbon' cable which
had a small copper wire running inside each edge. It works very
well, but it is finicky, it can't come near any metal or signal
strength is robbed from it.
Now, we all tend to use 'co-ax' cable just like in cable TV. It
has one wire running inside the other. Just try to keep your
length as short as possible. This is important, the electric
signals generated by your antenna are so weak that a long lead
will lose a lot of signal. Always locate your antenna so as to
keep the length of lead as short as possible.
Amplification:
Many antenna installations include an amplifier mounted at
the 'head end' as well as at the set. These work best in rural
situations, but in a big city with lots of local transmitters,
can simply cause signal overload and you're better off without
it.
Connection to TV:
Once you've completed your installation, you have to connect
it to your TV. You may have one or two terminals for connections.
If you have only one, it is always a 'co-ax' cable type terminal.
If you have a single co-ax lead from your antenna(s) you are all
set. If you have two terminals, one will be marked VHF, the other
UHF. One or both may be coax terminals or a pair of screws
intended for that ribbon lead. Unless you are using separate VHF
and UHF antennas with separate leads for each, you will need a splitter,
dividing your lead into the two separate terminals. Do not
connect to only one terminal and think that you will get all
available channels, you won't. If you are using co-ax lead and
have screw terminals, you will need a little transformer device
that fits on the end of your co-ax and has a ribbon lead end.
What You Can Get!
Toronto is fortunate to be sitting in a huge depression,
occupied by Lake Ontario in the middle. This creates a broadcast
'theatre' where signals from around the basin can be received,
owing to a high perimeter and a flat, wide open lake in the
middle. It is like an amphitheatre. The south is bordered by the
foot-hills of the Allegany's in New York and Pennsylvania, while
the east is flanked by the edge of the Adirondacks in New York
State. The north is bounded by the Oak Ridges Moraine, but this
is low enough to still let Barrie's CKVR into the city. The west
is bounded by gradually rising ground above the Niagara
Escarpment. The south-west is essentially wide open over the
Niagara Peninsula and Lake Erie, and occasionally, one can pick
up UHF channels from Cleveland Ohio.
With an outdoor antenna:
Most of the time, only those stations within about 100 km can
be received well, depending upon the height of your antenna, but
stations located up to 160 km away and sitting on the Allegany
foothills can be received well, notably several Buffalo stations
plus one from Jamestown NY. (ch's 2,4,7, 26,&49)
When atmospheric conditions permit, mostly during the summer,
reception includes stations from the entire basin, up to 300 km
away, and Watertown, Syracuse, Rochester & Batavia NY, plus
Erie PA stations become available. Any time the weather is warm
and clear, even in winter, look for any of these stations to
appear. If you are located in the high areas of Scarborough, you
may find that Rochester & Batavia stations are available to
you most of the time. Global's channel 6 as well as Erie's
channel 12 may also be commonly available to those in Etobicoke
or Mississauga, especially if on high ground or in a south facing
apartment bldg.
Here is the map of our
Lake Ontario "Theater:"
The stations available during differing conditions are as
listed below. Click on the Channel List. As with the map, we have given specific
transmitter locations so you will know what should be the best direction to
aim your antenna. Watertown NY may surprise you in that it's
almost due east.
Channel List
With an indoor antenna:
An indoor antenna will usually pull in only those local
channels as shown in bold on the channel list. During warm clear
weather, a few other channels may be pulled in, especially if
they are faint the rest of the time.
Reception:
If you are used to cable's signal, you will be impressed with
an outdoor antenna signal for Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo-Grand
Island stations. These will be far clearer and sharper than what
you've been paying for with cable. Generally, reception quality
will fade with distance from the transmitter, or due to
intervening hills or other obstructions. Depending where you are
located in Toronto, about 25 channels will give you excellent to
adequate reception throughout the year, with up to 25 more
channels varying from excellent to poor reception during warm
clear weather. Indoor antenna users will be limited to about 15
channels.
Make your own Rotor Map:
To make things easier once you have set up your home outdoor
antenna system, make your own rotor map to speed up aiming your
antenna:
Print out our map or use your own. Locate your position on it.
Draw a circle around it (use a compass), say 10 to 15cm in
diameter.
Mark North, East, West, South along the circle perimeter. (check
that you have that right. North does not quite follow our
"north-south" streets.)
Draw faint lines between each station or group of stations shown
on the map and your location, marking it more heavily where it
intercepts your circle.
Mark the channel number(s) and the city at this point around the
circle
Cut your map to size, keeping just the circle chart part. You may
want to copy it again without the background map to keep it
cleaner.
It is most critical to know which direction is true north and
mount the rotor and antenna accordingly; otherwise, all
directions will be off by some consistent number of degrees.
Getting the Outdoor Antenna Job Done:
If you want your TV free and you're fairly handy, and you
have some basic concept of electronics, you can buy the stuff you
need and do it yourself. Many hardware or electronics stores
stock antenna supplies. Check websites under TV antennas to find
other sources, as well as more detailed installation info or tips
if you need it. If not, call up a local installer and tell them
you want Free TV. Then call up your cable or satellite
company and tell them you don't need them anymore.
Having it All:
Perhaps you like the idea of getting everything available,
and that means off-air and say satellite service, or you
just can't give up TSN or A&E. In this case, in addition to
your chosen antenna set-up, buy an A/B switch, available almost
anywhere. You connect your antenna set-up to say the "A" side of
the switch, and your satellite (or cable) service to the "B"
side, and a mere push of a button switches you between your
television signal supply sources. Remember however
that you will also have to reset your TV set from "antenna" to
"cable" and vice versa. Some TV remote controls have a button for this.
Channel Listings:
Our local newspaper source printed listings only cover those
channels carried by cable, sometimes with one or two exceptions
i.e. channels 23 and 49 Buffalo. TV Guide's non- Rogers edition
(if you can find it) includes Rochester, Peterborough, and
Kingston channels.
The most complete source is on-line, and
tvlistings.zap2it.com
can give you complete listings. Just enter your postal code or
sign up for customized listings, and you will see listings for
all indoor antenna and normal conditions. However, if you enter a
Toronto postal code as your address, you won't get the complete,
outdoor antenna, warm-clear-weather listings. Instead use postal
codes like N0A1S0 (including Erie channels 24,35,54 & 66) or
K0K1P0 (including Watertown and Syracuse channels 16,24,43,50,56
& 68).
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Yes, there is FREE HDTV in Toronto and elsewhere. HDTV signals offers
far superior viewing and is really spectacular. FREE HDTV provides a better
picture quality than offered by cable or satellite. While choice is more
limited, the price is right.
Currently, there are 12 to 16 channels available or in the works. These are
simply the HDTV versions of the analog channels listed for conventional TV.
Those from Buffalo are normally strong enough to penetrate the GTA,
unfortunately, the same can’t be said of our local Toronto stations. A little
farther afield, Hamilton and Barrie have nothing as of yet, although Hamilton
does have a Sun TV transmitter repeating Toronto’s station.
With HDTV you either get it perfectly, or you don’t get it at all.
So, those faraway Buffalo signals are just as clear as those local stations.
HDTV programming today is often just the same programs and picture quality as
the analog versions, but free from ghosting or static interference. Many offer
at least periods of true HD programming and PBS for example, has extensive
specific HDTV programming, and the picture quality really enhances those
informative experiences.
Click this for the
current channel line-up. Note that a few stations are in test mode
and may not be operating full time, and more stations will show up over time.
What do you need to get it?
An HDTV complete with built-in tuner, or a separate tuner and an antenna.
HDTV antennas are exactly the same as the antennas described earlier. You do not
need any special antenna. However, HDTV exclusively utilizes the UHF band, so
all you need is a UHF antenna. (If you want FM radio capability, you will need a
specific FM antenna or a VHF antenna).
All the new HDTV signals have changed the analog channel line-up to some
extent. Due to the need to cram in the new HDTV transmitters, many channels that
were available for warm-weather reception may be restricted by an HD signal.
So, those channels seen on the HDTV list may no longer be available for analog
reception in some areas.
This means that between analog and HDTV transmitters, the 68-channel TV dial
is now mostly filled with stations.
If you’re handy, you can even make your own UHF antenna that will pick up
HDTV. Check out this site
http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com for the how-to.
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Cottage country, that is in this case, the area away from the lower Great
Lakes but within a 3 hour drive of Toronto, has a number of Free TV
channels, enough to get most people through the summer season, when most of your
time is spent outdoors anyway. Most regions will find anywhere from 6 to 10
different stations, although some may duplicate network affiliations. The
‘Big Six’ found almost everywhere in cottage country, are CBC, CTV, A Channel,
Global, TVO and CH, although CH is lacking a transmitter for central cottage
country, i.e. the Kawarthas. And there is usually RC, i.e. CBC French.
Generally, one will get any of the following stations, listed more or less
from west to east. Refer to the map to see what channels can be found in your
area. Remember that much of cottage country consists of rocky hills, so some
signals may be blocked, depending on your specific location.
Areas within about 100 km of Toronto will usually be able to get many of
those stations listed from Toronto as well.Cottagers along Lake Erie are blessed
with dozens of channels from Ontario and all those US cities along the lake’s
south shore. Those along Lake Ontario’s eastern shores, the St Lawrence or in
the Rideau Lakes area will be able to get channels from Kingston and /or Ottawa,
as well as those from Watertown (see Watertown list) or repeaters to the east.
Those near the Ottawa River will find several French language stations from
Quebec.
Summertime reception often means that you will get other stations such as
Toronto’s or US signals, especially in heat waves. When the weather breaks into
cooler conditions, they usually disappear. Not infrequently, unfortunately,
another signal may compete for your usual signal on a given channel, and then
neither is watchable. This most often occurs with those channels that make the
list below twice.
Note that in the list below, the location is given for the
community closest to the transmitter, to aid in where to aim an antenna. It is
either the only location given for the station, or that in the round brackets (
), with the unbracketted locale being the nominallocation. A location in
square brackets [ ] indicates the city of program origin.
Some are shown as ‘low power’, these stations are usually only receivable
within a few kilometers of the transmitter. CBC and TVO have many such
transmitters, and many transmitters not indicated as low power may be
fairly low power.
‘A’ Channel:
3 CKVR (the New’VR) Barrie
12 CKVR (the New’VR) [Barrie] Parry Sound (low power)
8 CKNX (the New‘NX) Wingham (Walkerton)
5 CHRO (the New‘RO) Pembroke
43 CHRO (the New’RO) Ottawa (Greely)
CBC:
45 [London] Teeswater
20 [London)]Wiarton (Big Bay)
18 [Toronto] Parry Sound (low power)
16 [Toronto] Barrie
8 [Toronto] Huntsville (Melissa) (low power to north, high to south)
4 MCTV [Sudbury] North Bay (Powassan)
12 CHEX Peterborough
4 CHEX Bancroft (low power)
9 [Ottawa] Whitney (low power)
51 [Ottawa] Maynooth
33 [Ottawa] McArthurs Mills
59 [Ottawa] Foymount
19 [Ottawa] Barrys Bay
11 CKWS Kingston (Wolfe Island)
66 CKWS Brighton
36 CKWS Smiths Falls (Beckwith)
3 [Ottawa] Deep River
4 Ottawa (Chelsea Que.)
CTV:
2 CKCO [Kitchener] Cape Dundas
11 MCTV [Sudbury] Huntsville (Dwight)
10 MCTV [North Bay] Powassan (low power to south, high to north)
21 CFTO [Toronto] Severn Falls
54 CFTO [Toronto] Bobcaygeon (Dunsford)
6 CJOH [Ottawa] Deseronto
47 CJOH [Ottawa] Pembroke
13 CJOH Ottawa (Chelsea Que.)
CHCH:
67 Honey Harbour (Gibson IR)
32 North Bay
11 Ottawa (Greely)
Global:
4 Owen Sound (Keady)
7 Honey Harbour (Gibson IR)
2 North Bay
27 Cobourg (Baltimore)
2 Bon Echo P.P. (Denbigh)
6 Ottawa (Chelsea Que.)
TVO:
49 Tobermory (low power)
12 Owen Sound (Keady)
51 Penetanguishene
6 Powassan
15 Britt (low power)
23 Pointe au Baril (low power)
42 Parry Sound
13 Huntsville (Utterson)
18 Cobourg (Harwood)
42 McArthurs Mills
55 Cloyne (Bon Echo P.P.)
53 Belleville (Plainfield)
21 Whitney (low power)
16 Madawaska (low power)
38 Kingston
29 Pembroke
24 Ottawa (Chelsea Que.)
RC (CBC French):
34 [Toronto] Penetanguishene (low power)
55 [Toronto] Barrie (low power)
44 [Toronto] Cobourg (Harwood)
26 [Toronto] Mattawa
15 [Toronto] Belleville( Plainfield)
32 [Toronto] Kingston
9 Ottawa (Chelsea Que.)
Others:
TVA -30 Hull
TVQ -40 Hull
CFMT -60 Ottawa (Greely)
CJMT -14 Ottawa (Greely)
CITS -32 Ottawa (Greely)
CITY -65 Ottawa (Greely)
Ontario Legislative Assembly -36 Pointe au Baril (low power)
TVO French -17 Pembroke
Happy viewing.
Stay tuned for upcoming info on the phenomenal amount of FM
Radio stations that you will be able to get with your
antenna. You will never again consider cable for FM.
Any questions? Contact us at through our
Webmail
and we will do our best to answer.
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This web site is hosted by:
Community broadcasting
for Toronto |
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