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Is it possible...? (OTA Digital Reception)

It all depends on if the station is broadcasting full digital facilities, or if they are just using temporary lower-power facilities until 2009. Many stations that are returning to their old analog channel have received permission from the FCC to go with lower power now, and then to full power when they build their ultimate digital facilities and shut off analog. From Brockport, your chances of getting Buffalo stations would be good; Syracuse, not so much. I can't really predict Canadian stations, as I don't know what their regulations are for DTV. A rule of thumb is that if you can get a decent signal from them in analog, you should be able to get their signal in digital, but if your analog signal is really snowy, then there's a good chance you won't be able to pick up the digital. Again, this is only for stations with on their final DTV assignments. I believe most of the Buffalo stations, certainly all of the VHFs, are staying with their UHF allocation for DTV and should be at their ultimate broadcasting power. The FCC has a good site to predict coverage from a station: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html - enter the call letters of the station you want, and click on the appropriate broadcast type. If they have no DS record or a DS record that is licensed (LIC), and a DT record that is licensed (LIC), select DT; they are on their ultimate facilities. If the DS record is licensed (LIC) and the DT record is on a construction permit (CP), select DS; they are on temporary facilties.
 
There's no such thing as a "digital" antenna - that's just marketing fluff! All you need right now is a good UHF antenna and a low-noise preamp. After 2009, when some of the DTV signals migrate back to VHF (like WHAM and WHEC here in Rochester), you may need a VHF antenna as well.

Right now in Brighton, with a rooftop antenna, I get very usable signals from Buffalo (WGRZ and WIVB) and Syracuse (WTVH, WSYT, WCNY and sometimes WSTM).

You'll do much better in Brockport - you have a cleaner line of sight to Toronto (CBLT and maybe CFTO), you won't have the overload issues that wipe out some distant signals for me near Pinnacle Hill, and you won't have some of the LPTV issues that block others for me (I can't see WKBW-DT from Buffalo on 38 because of WAWW-LP on the same channel). On the other hand, you'll be more distant from Syracuse, so those signals might be harder.

But you can probably expect to see most of Buffalo and a few Toronto signals.
 
dustintv said:
And please, no nasty "Grow up and get a life" or "you're either retarded or in the poorhouse" posts about OTA reception. I am just curious what a digital or any antenna for the matter could pick up!
Click to expand...

I'm surprised some people gave those kinds of replies to queries about OTA reception of digital TV. Sure, cable penetration may be high, but how well are cable companies relaying DTV signals? I've heard many people in Syracuse market with hi-def TV say they get much better pictures OTA than they do via cable -- simply because TimeWarner compresses the signals. Apparently it's some sort of a bandwidth issue with the cable system.

I'm guessing either the cable systems in those areas you referred to are much better at relaying HD signals... or the folks who made those snide comments don't know what they're missing, if only they would give OTA a shot.
 
For what it's worth, no station in western NY State is still on STA ("DS"). However, a couple are on relatively low "full" powers. (WCNY, WSYR, and WSTM Syracuse between 100 and 200kw; WNED, WNYO, and WNYB in Buffalo between 150-200kw) The two ION stations, WSPX Syracuse and WPXJ Batavia, didn't get a second channel and thus don't have any DTV signal at all yet.

The Canadian stations are listed at much lower powers. The most powerful is CBC's in Toronto - at only 38kw. (then again, being in the CN Tower is very helpful!)

For what it's worth, I only see three VHF channels in Western NY State in the permanent DTV assignments. Two are the ones Scott mentioned right there in Rochester (WHEC-10 and WHAM-13); the other is WNGS-67, (Springville/Buffalo) which takes over channel 7 from WKBW after transition.
 
Thanks everyone for the infomation!  :) :)

I wasn't sure about Syracuse, as I figured they would be too far out to pick up a signal. Just out of curiousity Mr. Fybush would other Canadian stations have the potential to come in? I've heard other posters remark that in various lakeshore towns they can pick up stations from Peterborough and Kingston!
 
There's no DTV on the air yet in Kingston or Peterborough, but you should have a good shot at analog signals from up that way, especially the Peterborough/Belleville/Deseronto ones (CJOH/CTV on 6, CHEX/CBC on 12, TVOntario on 18, Global on 27, Radio-Canada on 44 and 53). Kingston and Watertown will come in better in summer than in winter - expect to see CKWS from Kingston on 11, Radio-Canada on 15, TVO on 38, as well as Watertown's analog signals (WWNY/CBS on 7, WPBS/PBS on 16 if you can get past WXXI-DT, WWTI/ABC on 50) and its DTVs (WWNY on 35, WPBS on 41, and WWTI-DT on 21 if you can get past WXXI analog.)

When the tropospheric ducting really gets ripping on a hot summer day, reception sometimes opens up all the way up the St. Lawrence - it's not uncommon to see Ottawa, Montreal and Burlington here with even a modest setup.
 
The only issues are that the WWNY and WWTI-DT signals currently seem to be less powerful than their analog ones. CKWS is very powerful and should be an easy pickup (only 100 miles or so from Rochester). Any idea when they are going to offer a DTV signal?
 
I find that when the analog WWNY signal is in on 7, I can almost always see WWNY-DT and WPBS-DT as well here in Brighton.

As for CKWS going digital - probably not for a few years. Canada's DTV conversion deadline is a few years later than ours (2011 vs. 2009), and may yet be extended outside the biggest cities.
 
You are lucky about WWNY-DT..because the digital signal is currently not at full power. The coverage pattern of WPBS is about equal for DT and analog.

Rochester TV during tropo periods blasts through the 1000 Islands quite well. Particularly 8 and 10. Cant really see WHAM-13 due to CJOH though.
 
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