Digital Antennas?

[ashokia]

Hey, we've been slowly getting rid of our Rogers services one at a time. We switched our Internet and Home Phone to Teksavvy and have been saving more than $100/month. DH just bought a brand new 55" LED HDTV with a digital tuner built in and we are hoping to get rid of the cable next.

He bought a digital antenna from the source for $66 dollars and we've only managed to pick up Global and CTV. I'm just wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with these antennas and could recommend something that might pick up more channels? We don't mind spending a bit more to save later on, but we live in an apartment building and may be moving in the spring so we can't really get an outdoor one?

Any help/recommendations/etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

[smf008]

There are some good websites for it. It's important where you put the antenna and at what direction. Move it around and try different spots. Google "free digital over air tv" to get some tips and channel listing. We get global, city, CBC, ctv, NBC, abc, etc but not all at the same time. Some days some channel gets weak signal. We are in apartment too. If you have balcony may help too.

[Nicole013]

We get Global, CBC, CTV, CBCF, a couple of American stations, but it depends on the weather.

I'm not sure which antenna we have, but I can ask.

[kerrylj]

Run your postal code on this site and it will give you an idea of how to aim it.

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

this site has everything you could want to know about antennas and all kind of other stuff to do with TV's and other equipment.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=81

They also have people in the area who have set-ups and some others will help people with questions. Some even build their own antennas.

I have an antenna on a tower and I know that I was not happy with my reception so We went outside and started messing with it. It turned out it was as high as it could go and actually moving it down a few feet improved the reception quite a bit. It is not just about direction but also the height of the antenna because the signals can be in layers because of the topography of your area (how the signal bounces)

I have a channel master crosswire antenna that is almost 20 yrs old and it works great.

This time of year is worse for signals as well because of the weather conditions. Summer you can get some amazing signals if you get a really good day and the right bounce.

[kerrylj]

If you have a balcony you might be able to put the antenna out there but the building itself will cause you issues if you are on the wrong side of the building for aiming. The whole building can act like an antenna with all the metal.

I actually have 2 antennas and the one is too close to my metal woodstove chimney so it gets all messed up because of it.