questions about Over-the-Air broadcasts

Broadcast TV channels (also known as over the air or OTA channels) were transmitted in analog prior to the laws changing in 2010. Those signals were received by a home antenna, demodulated by a tuner within the television, and displayed the signal in the form of a TV program on the TV screen. When broadcast towers sent an analog signal, televisions were equipped with an analog TV tuner. After 2010, those signals switched to a digital scheme, rendering those analog tuners useless. Thankfully, laws were put in place to ensure TVs manufactured after 2007 were equipped with a digital tuner to display the digital broadcast TV signals now sent by the broadcast towers. Many of us had affordable cable or satellite TV at the time, so didn’t notice and most likely didn’t care about broadcast TV channels switching from analog to digital.
Well times have changed. Cable/Satellite TV prices have skyrocketed, causing more people to want to learn how to watch TV without paying subscription fees. Luckily, those broadcast channels are not only still free, but have better picture quality than what you are used to seeing with a HD cable or satellite TV subscription. If you want to watch TRUE uncompressed High definition 1080i /720p , an off air antenna is the way to go.

FAQ

I live in Essex County, how many channels can I get ?

We have found that the average customer gets 65 channels, some more, some less.
It all depends on the type of antenna used, your exact location, and most importantly..... the height of the antenna above the ground and surrounding terrain. ...but a safe bet would be around 60 for most customers.

Do I need any extra boxes connected to my TV?

NO ! The antenna coax line is connected directly to the back of your TV's antenna jack, and then use your TV's remote to change channels like usual.

How much does a good outside TV antenna cost ?

Our lowest priced units start from $379 self install kit (coming soon) to $499 and going up to around $650 Installed for a very good premium TV Antenna system for the available channels in you area. The average system runs $500-$650 installed +Tx , 3 yr warr included for approx. 65+ channels with no subscription fees ever, to all TV”s in the house!
You purchase and pay this one time equipment charge and that's it, NO MORE cable/Satellite Tv bills!

My home is surrounded by tall trees, Can I still get a signal ?

In most cases YES, unless you home is surrounded by extremely dense trees, most homes can receive the majority of available channels.

We have options that allow homeowners to over come even the most challenging situations from very specialized Hi Gain Yagi style antennas to erecting a Tower to get above the tree canopy.

A Tower can be an wise investment as it can also double as your Internet Provided's antenna mounting location which will allow customers in rural areas not serviced by High-Speed DSL/Cable to get Broadband service delivered to the home via the new LTE towers in our area.

How many TV's can I hook up ?

You can hook up as many TV's as you like. If you plan on hooking up only 2 or 3 TV's and they are not too far away from each other, you may not need anything extra at all!

Can't I just use my old antenna ?

You can but if it's older than 7 years, or looks like THIS type, It's likley not “tuned” to the new frequencies being broadcast in HD and you will suffer dropouts & pixelation on humid/foggy/rainy days and an overall marginal signal.
The digital television transition in Canada and the United States a few years back saw spectrum on channels 52 to 69 being re-allocated for other purposes. Broadcast transmitters were upgraded to these new frequencies causing most existing v/uhf antennas made before 2010 to be out of tune. Most channels migrated to Uhf band thus drastically reducing the size of antenna elements needed. The United States government already auctioned most of this spectrum back in 2010 and Canada did it August 31, 2015. Rogers, Telus, Bell and others bid on this newly available space and that's why we now have self driving cars and LTE service to stream 4K video to our phones.

My landlord/ building manager/ homeowner's association wont let me install anything on the roof or overhang anything off my balcony, what are my options ?

We get this question a lot, but there are always options available.
The antenna doesn't always HAVE TO be mounted on the roof, you could always...

Option 1- We have WALL MOUNTS available that allows you to mount a 1.5 inch 8 foot mast on a wall like in this picture HERE or chimney straps mount like pictured HERE
Option 2- A J-arm mounted on a wall pictured HERE or eve pictured HERE
Option 3- (Popular with renters with a balcony on the 3rd floor or higher) many customers can use a simple Tri-pod mounted on the inside of the balcony on the concrete floor pictured HERE
A J-arm works well too without having anything overhanging the balcony in either case.
Option 4- a custom “floating” non-penetrating roof mount designed to not need any holes made in the roof for installation. See example pictured HERE

What kind of warranty/repair guarantee do I get ?

All systems/products sold by Essex County Antenna come with the standard 1 year mfg's warranty. Items sold and INSTALLED BY US get a full 3 year bumper to bumper warranty that includes either swapping out the unit for a new sealed one- (if that product is still available) or a comparable model or loaner in rare special circumstances. We can usually get someone out in a day or two and have evening/weekend installation & warranty service appointments available.

What about my sports channels ?

You can still watch many local, National and International sports teams from the NFL, NHL, NBA, MBL, NASCAR using an off-air antenna.
Many NHL games are broadcast for free on ch 9 CBC, most of the Tigers games are broadcast on ch 4 WDIV, just about every NFL Lions game is broadcast on ch7 WXYZ, and for the NBA, ch 62 WWJ-Tv broadcasts many games. The same is also true for other sporting events like Soccer, Tennis, PGA, NASCAR & Olympics. Even the occasional MMA and WBA boxing fights can be seen for free using a off-air TV antenna

Can you put up my internet/camera/ham tower for me ?

We specialize in and have the experience to consult/sell & install all types of residential TV antenna/internet antenna/surveillance camera towers or any other application you may need.
We have the training and necessary equipment to erect towers from light 20-30 foot supported tubular towers to the deluxe 68 foot DMX self-supporting/poured concrete engineered base towers.

Can I get CNN, SportsNet, TSN, HBO... ?

Short answer NO, read on....
Those channels are “subscription only channels” and cannot be received free with an off-air TV antenna and are NOT broadcast “over-the-air”
But, if you must still have these channels, you are still in luck, a lot of our customers still managed to cancel their Cable TV or Satellite bill and use their new Off-Air TV antenna to watch the majority of their favorite shows and sports for FREE in HD on the major networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, CBC, PBS, iON, CTV, etc..
a small portion (around $10/month) of the money they saved by cutting cable tv or satellite (usually $50-$75/month) is put toward upgrading their home internet connection to unlimited GB and then they can stream these “subscription only” channels using the homes internet connection with apps when needed on a laptop or mobile device and on the newer “SMART TV's” or even using one of the newly available “all in one” boxes like the Channel Master StreamPlus Media Player with a built-in ATSC off air tuner soon in stock.

Digital Broadcast TV Quality vs Cable/Satellite

Satellite and cable TV companies have massive networks, carrying 100s of channels to millions of customers. To service these customers as efficiently as possible, satellite and cable TV companies use digital compression technologies to shrink the size of the TV channel. This allows more channels to fit on the signal being delivered to their customer.
When compressing the signal, not all of the original data representing the TV show is preserved. The higher the level of compression, the more data is lost. The result is the picture on your TV losing sharpness and detail.
While over the air broadcast TV rarely use digital compression, there are far less channels in the broadcast TV signal compared to cable/satellite TV. As a result, less data is lost, and the picture looks clean and sharp by comparison.
This is obvious when watching an NFL game received from an antenna, next to a one being watched on cable/satellite. Both are in HDTV, but the game being received from the TV antenna is in a completely different class when it comes to picture quality. You can even see the individual blades of grass !

Have a question not covered here ?

Whats up with Channel 16.1, 26.1 & 22.1 ?

Windsor is not directly served by Canada's major commercial networks. Any commercial stations operating in Windsor would be required to purchase program rights at Detroit market rates, which are higher than any market in Canada. Additionally, the commercial networks air a large amount of American programming, and would be forced to black most of it out in Windsor to protect the broadcast rights of the Detroit stations. The city is served only by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English network (CBC ch9.1) and the provincially owned public broadcaster TVOntario (19.1), both of which air almost entirely Canadian-produced programming, and by the smaller CTV 2 system.

Both CTV and Global put only marginal signals into Windsor itself. The next nearest CTV rebroadcaster is CKCO-DT's Sarnia-area repeater near Oil Springs, while the nearest Global transmitter is CIII-DT-22 between Leamington and Wheatley, near Point Pelee (though its city of license is Stevenson, northeast of Wheatley). CIII-DT-22 is highly directional, aimed towards Chatham-Kent to the northeast, and Leamington and Kingsville to the west, with a strong null towards Windsor and Detroit presumably to protect the Detroit stations.

Even the CTV 2 station, CHWI-DT 16.1, is officially licensed to Wheatley rather than Windsor. While the station's studios and operations are based in Windsor, CHWI only has a low-power UHF repeater in downtown Windsor itself, (ch 26.1) which broadcasts from a directional antenna specifically designed to minimize the station's reception area in Michigan.

Can I get Channel 16.1 26.1 or 22.1 ?

Most customers should be able to get CTV from either the transmit tower in Wheatley on Zion rd (ch16.1) or if you live close enough to downtown Windsor then you should be able to get CTV on 26.1 the low-power repeater located on the roof of the Bell building on Goyeau St in Windsor.
As far as Global TV (ch 22.1) is concerned, most customers living East of County rd 31 & South of County rd 8, should be able to receive good reception.
A rotor or multi antenna setup may be required to receive Global TV (22.1) for the rest of the County.

Please note : Customers living in Amherstburg, Harrow, Lasalle, Tecumseh, Windsor, and nearby may require extreme measures (tower & beam antenna) to get Global TV 22.1 reliably.

Why is 60 miles the limit of reliable TV reception?

The answer is quite simple, because the Earth is round!

Using a Smooth Earth Model (over water at 0 meters MSL) the TV broadcast viewable signal distance varies from about 10 miles for a 50 foot high broadcast tower to over 60 miles for a 2000 foot high tower.

Broadcast towers are usually located on the highest ground possible, increasing TV reception range.

How come I can get stations from farther away occasionally?

Occasionally yes, reliably - no.

Any channels your antenna receives from more than 60 miles away are signals that are being reflected by the atmosphere and vary in strength dramatically from a period lasting from a few hours up to a few days at a time.

Temperature, humidity & atmospheric pressure also affect TV signal reflections.

At these extreme distances, choosing the right antenna and installing & pointing it correctly by a skilled professional with the correct signal meter makes for the best & most reliable antenna TV viewing experience.

In order to get reliable TV reception, your home TV Antenna needs to see the TV signal transmitter tower's Antenna. That's why putting an antenna up as high as possible reduces the amount of obstructions between the two (transmit) & (receive) antennas, thus increasing the number of receivable TV channels.

ANY ANTENNA CLAIMING RECEPTION DISTANCES OF GREATER THAN 60 MILES IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE AND MISLEADING! It is simple marketing jargon to rate an antennas performance by distance rather than by gain.

This is especially true of the plastic $30 antennas being sold on e-bay & Amazon that claim impossible reception distances of 150 even 200 + miles.

DON'T get fooled by clever marketing jargon..... There is no such thing as a TV antenna that has a range of 100 miles.

Can I use my old antenna ?

If you have this type, consider replacing

This type of Yagi antenna worked OK in the past analog days, but with the new Digital transmission channels used in our area (Essex Cty) the longest 6 elements (VHF-LO band) on the above antenna are NO LONGER USED FOR TV by any major network broadcaster in our viewing area.

or this type, consider replacing

If you have this type, consider replacing

This type known as a Log-periodic was designed over 60 years ago. The VHF-LO band is no longer used. ALSO beware of buying this type of antenna as it will unfortunately pick up offending LTE cell phone tower interference.

Replacing these 2 types of old antenna with a new design tuned to the local channels being used now in 2022 will assure best trouble free TV reception & performance.

if you have this type...

Consider replacing immediately

These semi-omni directional antennas popular in the 90's worked OK on robust analog TV sets. But with today's sensitive smart TV's, they have been known to fail in the power supply sending 24V to the TV tuner, destroying the TV.

We have seen this happen first hand on 4 occasions, rendering 4 smart LED TV's inoperative.

STAY AWAY FROM THESE

Consider replacing immediately

This is the definition of garbage.... these antennas being sold on eBay and amazon claiming impossible reception distances of 150 even 200 miles have a failure rate of over 90% within 2 weeks. Also the build quality is so poor that they have no CSA sticker and are known for causing many expensive LCD TV's to be damaged along with melted plastic AC transformers.