Over The Air

What does OTA mean What does OTA mean? It stands for Over The Air television reception, as has been available free-of-charge in Canada since the early 1950s. It is not to be confused with FTA, which is a form of satellite TV reception. OTA is broadcast either in old-style Analog or in new Digital television (DTV, which includes HDTV). The quality improvement of DTV is huge. The Government of Canada has set the date by which OTA broadcasters must convert their old-style analogue transmitters to new digital OTA broadcasting: August 31, 2011. Canada uses the ATSC (8VSB) standard used in the U.S.A., Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan, with more Western Hemisphere nations expected. ATSC is not compatible with the DVB-T standard used in all other countries except Japan, which has its own ISDB-T standard.

2. Is OTA expensive? In an ongoing poll of DHC OTA users, the great majority have paid less than $500 Canadian for all the OTA gear they required. Less than 1% paid more than $1,000. Some have canceled some or all of their satellite or cable programming, so their OTA equipment will pay for itself in savings over time. There are no direct costs or fees to the consumer for OTA programming.

3. Are there OTA stations in my area? Before asking in the OTA Forum, you must first check the Results thread for your area and read through it from the beginning to see what DHCers have already reported.

Also check this very generalized map of possible U.S. DTV OTA reception opportunities in Canada, as of January 2007:

And here is a list of all Industry Canada present and future TV channel allotments:

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblan...a_TV_Stations/

4. Will I get stations from more than one city? TV antennas need to be pointed at the broadcast antenna, so if the cities are fairly well lined up in one direction, aim an antenna and enjoy. If you are fairly evenly between two locations there are antennas that receive front and back simultaneously. If the cities are wide apart, mount the antenna on a rotor. You can program the rotor's remote control to turn the antenna into proper position, which will usually take less than 30 seconds. Some DHCers have used 2 or more antennas aimed in different directions rather than a rotor, but such configurations can be difficult to properly align.

5. What if the stations are far away? TV signals typically start to drop off in strength as they travel about 120 to 180 km outwards from the broadcast antenna, so reception in those deep fringe and deepest fringe areas requires special antennas, gear, and installation techniques as you reach or exceed the higher distances.

6. Will my TV get the Digital stations? Check new HDTVs to see if they have an integrated ATSC Tuner. Older TVs and unfortunately some brand new HDTVs still have NTSC-only tuners, which will not receive DTV stations and will be obsolete after August 31, 2011. TV Tuners in Canada labeled "ATSC/QAM" are hybrids that receive digital OTA and digital Cable TV (QAM) signals, depending on which of them you connect. You may have one in your satellite or cable receiver, but this bonus feature is usually only found on higher end ExpressVU but not on Rogers Cable or Shaw Cable systems. The top StarChoice receiver can be fitted with an aftermarket ATSC tuner module. Without an ATSC Tuner you will need to purchase one as a Set Top Box (STB), and there are threads here that discuss different brands. The integrated ATSC tuners used in ExpressVu satellite receivers are not as capable as the newest STB. Computer users have a range of ATSC tuners available for their Apple, Windows, and Linux machines.

7. What do I need to know about antennas?

All OTA antennas are "digital ready" and "HDTV ready" (ignore those marketing words)
Mount antennas outdoors and as high as possible, free from obstructions
Attic or indoor mounting is not recommended due to reception problems
Most DTV stations are in the UHF band but some are in VHF
VHF and UHF antennas are different in size and shape because they receive different frequency bands
VHF has 2 bands: Low contains channels 2 through 6 (54 to 88 Megahertz) and High contains channels 7 through 13 (174 to 216 MHz)
FM Radio (88 to 108 MHz) is in between VHF Low and VHF High so many VHF TV antennas are also excellent FM Radio antennas, referred to as VHF/FM
UHF band contains channels 14 through 69 (470 to 806 MHz)
Combo antennas feature a UHF and a VHF on one spar
For consumers a Combo offers good performance with simpler installation and less room on the mast
Pros and OTA hobbyists prefer the performance of separate UHF and VHF/FM antennas rather than a Combo
Satellite Dishes cannot be used to receive OTA signals because they operate on totally different frequencies

8. Okay, which antenna do I need? The DHC OTA Forum contains detailed threads about different OTA antenna brands and models, and there is also a Downloadable Antenna Decision Chart (PDF) available there but you'll need to do some reading in the OTA Forum to understand the rankings and other criteria in it.

Here are the most highly regarded consumer antennas:

UHF-Only: Channel Master 4221 or 4228. UHF TV signals tend to subtly scatter beyond about 80km from the broadcast antenna. The CM4221/4228 is a Bowtie Reflector design, which allows it to gather scattered UHF signals and perform on a rotor generally better than a Corner Reflector Yagi (rhymes with "soggy") antenna such as a Winegard 9032, which is itself excellent for line-of-sight aiming at a visible or easily locatable broadcast antenna site from a stationary mount.

Some DHCers in the Toronto area report that the CM4221 does better than the CM4228 for them. Some in the Montreal area are finding the same thing with the Delhi 4BT-1483, which is very similar to the CM4221. The CM4228 is actually two CM4221s joined side-by-side at the factory by crossbar mounts and conductors. Due to a quirk of its design the CM4228 (but not CM4221 or Delhi 4BT-1483) is also a good VHF High band (channels 7 through 13) and FM Radio antenna, which is very rare in UHF-only antennas.
VHF/FM-Only: Delhi VIP 305 (Suburban to Near Fringe), VIP 306 (Near Fringe to Deep Fringe), or VIP 307 (Deepest Fringe). Professionals across Canada and the U.S.A. rate the Canadian-made Delhis as the leaders of the VHF pack. With our climate and so much geography between stations, antennas up here have to be excellent and solidly built!
VHF/FM/UHF: Near Fringe to Deep Fringe: Go with a CM4228 UHF and a Delhi VIP 306 VHF/FM in the Near Fringe to Fringe, but at the Deep Fringe feed them both into an all-channel preamp.
VHF/FM/UHF: Deepest Fringe: It is best to leave this category to pros or experienced OTA hobbyists. Mount 2 CM4228 UHFs in stacked configuration (touching top to bottom, aimed identically) with a Delhi VIP 307 VHF/FM, feeding them into a high-gain all channel preamp like a Winegard AP8275 or Channel Master 7777 atop a minimum 20 foot tower or similar elevation with unimpeded signal from the target. A heavy duty rotor and/or mount is advised due to the weight and wind load. NOTE: A Deepest Fringe setup is NOT suitable for closer use because its great reception power can overload and/or damage amps, TVs, and receivers if proper safeguards are not in place.
Combo VHF/FM/UHF: Delhi VU935SR (Suburban to Near Fringe), or VU936SR (Near Fringe to Deep Fringe). For most consumers a VU935 or VU936 is fine but should be ordered with the VU-8PZ Power Zoom kit that enhances the UHF gain by 2 to 4 db across the band. I do not recommended a Combo antenna for Deepest Fringe reception, although there is a VU937SR with VU-8PZ model.
Metro/Suburban, Condo, RV, or Apartment:
- Outdoor antenna products like the Winegard Square Shooter, the Super Delhi, the pricey Terrestrial Digital Lacrosse, or the Channel Master 3010A-Stealth antennas have been introduced to be esthetically suitable (smaller) although they are often no match for mainstream antenna gear for anything but local stations.
- UFO-style omnidirectional antennas like the Antennacraft 5MS9000 Mini-State, Winegard MetroStar, or Channel Master SmartTenna are still on the market, although they are prone to suffer from multipath signal interference more than standard antennas.
- Clip-on satellite dish OTA antennas rarely offer anything but extremely local performance.
Indoor and Unconventional Antennas: These pose a myriad of reception problems so they should be considered last or only if an outdoor antenna is not a possibility. Zenith ZHDTV1 Silver Sensor (and clone) indoor antennas seem to do well very locally, but more money has probably been wasted on Indoor Antennas over the years than on any other type of OTA equipment. In fact, the Consumer Electronics Association, which provides general ratings of all standard antennas, continues to refuse to rate indoor antennas. As a last resort try cheap rabbit ears, which are still available in many stores just as they were 50 years ago in brown bakelite, and still just as lousy.
Wacky/Tacky Antennas: Avoid gimmic antennas such as the ill-concieved Terk 55, the fraudulent Xium Air, or the ones that promise to turn your household AC wiring or aluminum eaves troughs into a TV antenna. A fool and his money are soon parted.

9. Why do antennas still look the same as my grandfather's after all these years? Aren't they old fashioned? No, TV antenna technology is essentially the same as it has been for several decades because the laws of electromagnetism and physics apply equally now as they did then. Manufacturers now have modern materials to work with so the construction of their products seems to be more durable, but antennas often last more than 20 years. Since TV antennas have been around so long, there is already a large body of real world knowledge about antenna designs and capabilities.

10. Which other equipment will I need? There may be conditions affecting your reception that require specific equipment, such as preamps, attenuators, distribution amplifiers, splitters, combiners, a tower, etc. If you try such equipment without proper knowledge or guidance you could damage your TV and other equipment. The OTA Forum is the right place to ask the experts.

11. Aren't satellite and cable TV better than OTA TV? For specialty channels and pay-per-view movies and events, satellite (DBS) or cable (CATV) are needed because such channels as TSN and Discovery HD are not broadcast OTA. However, if you want regular, local programming, OTA is free of charge! Also, in case you are planning a move to another city, CATV set top boxes from one cable company almost always do not work with the systems of other cable companies, while DBS can be moved anywhere and OTA gear works fine as long as stations are available.

TV signals traveling via DBS or CATV systems undergo various types of processing on their way to you, including MPEG lossy digital compression/expansion steps which may introduce signal degradation. Typically an OTA station will receive its pure Network Broadcast Master signal via C-band satellite or fibre optic link with no compression, and then rebroadcast the same signal directly in ATSC format, which contains just one level of MPEG compression. Thus, the signal travels directly from the broadcast antenna to your antenna at light speed with no intervening processing steps until the MPEG stream is decoded in your ATSC receiver.

With a top quality OTA receiver and antenna gear, the improvement in picture and audio quality over CATV or DBS can be spectacular, especially in HDTV, as many DHCers attest. This is not conjecture; the improvement is readily visible and audible on good systems, especially when seen in split-screen mode.
Some consumers will want to have the best of both: keeping their DBS or CATV subscriptions and watching their favourite DTV programming OTA.
Some will find no reason to use OTA because the quality of their DTV is satisfactory.
Some will find that proper OTA reception, no matter how good their gear, is thwarted by densities of buildings in their metro/urban locale or sheer distance to their deep fringe location, and so will rely on DBS if they can aim a dish towards the correct satellite(s), or CATV
Some will find going 100% OTA to be the most worthwhile solution, while watching DVD-based first run movies and specials on rental from video stores.

If you have an ATSC tuner in your TV and live in a suitable area, what's the harm in hooking up an antenna and seeing OTA for yourself? Even so, suit yourself and respect the decisions of others.

12. Does Digital OTA TV have an On Screen Guide? Yes, the ATSC standard incorporates a data standard called PSIP, which contains program, channel, time, and other data for the ATSC tuner to display. See this thread about PSIP data:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=49384

13. Why is everything here named in letters that I don't understand? See the DHC FAQ regarding Acronyms & Definitions:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/for...ad.php?t=17715

14. What does DX mean? Here in the OTA forum we sometimes use the term DX, which means Dial Crossing. DXing has been a hobby of enthusiasts going back to the early days of radio and now of television. DXers enjoy scanning broadcast frequencies in search of unusual or long distance signals, such as during odd weather conditions. Thus, DXers are very knowledgeable about high quality equipment and the techniques needed. Many TV DXers are also HAM radio enthusiasts. .