This website is a collection of links and information you need to get started with this wonderful and amazing hobby.
This site is based on my own experience in the summer of 2010, and updated with new information until the death of analog TV in August 2011. I wish I had a one-stop site like this to get me started! The individual pages listed above next to the "Welcome!" tab have information specific to the equipment you might need, my story to help motivate you, and I'll give you a list and pictures of the essential equipment I'm using.
This guide is most relevant to people living in and around the greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada. If you live outside this area, keep looking through the links on the pages mentioned because the instructions for generating the best OTA reception apply regardless of your geographic location.
This guide is not intended to be complete. This is because;
Every Antenna Installation is Different.
Entire websites are devoted to antenna's themselves, and some topics are so specific to one type of installation they are way beyond the scope of this website. The aim here is to give you a good understanding of the basics of over the air high definition TV in the area where you live, some options to get you started, information to help you ask good questions, and a basic understanding of the equipment and cost involved. I also try to include tips at the bottom of each page listed above from my experiments. Believe me, OTA can become quite an enjoyable and profitable hobby by SAVING you money in the long run!
Good luck to all of you, and may all your OTA dreams come true!
Continue reading next page - My Story
Update June 2011:
It is getting very close to the August 2011 deadline for all Canadian broadcasters to become fully digital. I've contacted TVOntario and have not received a definite date for their conversion plans. People, why wait to do this? Get in early and get the public used to your channel being in their personal "rotation" of favorite channels when they sit down after a hard day's work and just want to relax. Every day you DO NOT broadcast in HD you are losing the opportunity to gain a viewer looking for HD content!
Update June 2011:
I've now personally performed 4 installations with 2 more scheduled for Summer 2011. It is amazing what you learn by perfoming an installation. "Every Antenna Installation is Different." Everyone I've helped has cut their cable bill to ZERO, so that means I've cost Rogers, (no Bell converts, yet!) $1000s of dollars over the long term in cable subscription fees.
You know what the number one reason I hear from people that want this antenna installation; "I hate paying for channels I don't watch." Rogers, the people are speaking, bring on a-la-carte pricing and selection options, stop your bundling nonsense, it is the 21st century and the people demand the freedom of 21st century technology!!
