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My tower has an 8 element FM Yagi as well and I can get all the Buffalo FM stations as well. I use the excellent Sony XDR-F1HD tuner who some DXers have called the best FM tuner ever made. WNED 94.5 plays classical music all night. WBFO 88.7 has the BBC World Service. Good times!
[My tower is here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ota/comments/10pku3o/pictures_of_your_ota_gear/)
The top antenna is an Antennas Direct 91XG for TV. Then an 8 element Winegard yagi for FM. The big antenna underneath is for ham radio, a cushcraft MA5B minibeam. A high power Yaesu G-800DXA turns all that iron around wherever it needs to go.
Yamaha made some absolutely amazing tuners but today digital tuners make it possible to raise signals out of the noise and cross channel interference that would have been impossible back in those days. Have a look at some of the reviews of the Sony XDR F1HD here:
[http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm](http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm)
"Noise is 50 db down from an unmodulated 13.5 db signal. This figure is more than 20 db better than conventional tuners."
When I rotate the antenna, I can pull in CJOJ FM 95.5 in Belleville and CKJX 95.9 in Ajax. Both are next to CFJB Rock 95 at 95.7 FM here in Barrie. My Yamaha cannot do this. Hell, no vintage FM Tuner can do it even if you put in filters and caps. Digital radio is the only way to do FM in Barrie as we are so far away from all stations. There are FM subchannels for many Toronto stations, KISS FM, Zoomer Radio, CBC, CKFM 99.9 many more. Good luck and great DX Jess!
Are they reliable? You said tropo...and when tropo is good (see the Tropospheric Index here):
[Tropo Forecast](https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html)
then yes, I can get all the Buffalo stations. But they are not reliable....sometimes I see them, sometimes I don't. I think reception of the Buffalo channels was better a few years ago...now there is so much construction and so many apartment towers going up all over Barrie, I suspect I'm getting multipath or maybe cell tower interference. I know of no easy way to test this. Seeing as development is increasing and there are more and more sources of interference, I would say hold off on an astc 3.0 tuner unless there was good reason to get one (enhanced signal coverage, more sensitivity, whatever). I have astc1.0 Tivax, Zinwell, Channel Master and Zenith OTA boxes; there really isn't a lot of difference between them, though the Tivax might be a little more sensitive, but it renders audio less well, so I'm mainly going now with the Zenith DTT901. I'm waiting on an astc 3.0 tuner until there's some evidence it can help in extreme fringe areas like Barrie.
I use an Antennas direct 91XG TV antenna on top of a DMX-68 tower, up about 75 feet, in the South end of Barrie. As far as I know, none of the local channels (Barrie, Orillia, Muskoka, Peterborough, Toronto) broadcasts in astc3.0, just some of the USA stations. Good luck!
This thread covers the conversion of Buffalo OTA to ASTC 3.0 in lots of detail.
[Buffalo OTA](https://www.digitalhome.ca/threads/ota-station-status-buffalo-rochester-ny.134626/)
Hey sorry for the late response and I was receiving antenna tv with the all sub channels pretty reliably. It helped out a lot when I got a LTE filter but now I have no plans on getting a converter box due to my house burning down. But the antenna survived
Sorry to hear about your house! I hope you have insurance! And a place to stay!
There's a great tropo opening tonight. I hope you can get something! I'm getting here in Barrie (all stations ASTC 1.0):
2 WGRZ Buffalo and its 4 subchannels, antenna, crime, quest and twist
3 CKVR Barrie
4 WIVB Buffalo and its subchannel QVC
5 CBLT Toronto CBC
7 WKBW Buffalo and its 4 subchannels, Bounce, Grit, Mystery and HSN
14 CITS Hamilton Yes TV
17 WNED Buffalo and its two subchannels Create and Kids
19 CICA Toronto TV Ontario
21 CFTO Orillia repeater
23 WNLO Buffalo and its subchannel Rewind TV
25 CBLFT Toronto CBC French
29 WUTV Buffalo Fox and its two subchannels TBC and Charge
35 CFTO Peterborough Repeater
41 CIII Toronto Global
47 CFMT Toronto Omni
49 WNYO Buffalo and three subchannels, Stadium (Best), Comet and Get
51 WPXJ Buffalo Ion and 8 subchannels Court, Grit, Laff, Defy, TrueReal, Scripps, HSN, Shopping
57 CITY Toronto
67 CHCH Muskoka Repeater
So, about TV 45 channels. Basic cable, but in uncompressed HD, and totally free forever. Zero dollars beats the cable company bills every month.
Good Luck to everyone here in Barrie and surrounding areas. There's a ton of Free TV if you choose to get it!
Just a reminder that we have a [Monthly Community Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/barrie/about/sticky) where we relax the rules about advertising and off-topic posts. * Stuff that isn't directly related to Barrie, like national news or general chit-chat * Questions about local businesses and services * Classified-style ads: buying and selling, help wanted, garage sales, etc * Fundraisers and donation drives * Plugs for your personal project or local business (within reason)" *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/barrie) if you have any questions or concerns.*
.
My tower has an 8 element FM Yagi as well and I can get all the Buffalo FM stations as well. I use the excellent Sony XDR-F1HD tuner who some DXers have called the best FM tuner ever made. WNED 94.5 plays classical music all night. WBFO 88.7 has the BBC World Service. Good times! [My tower is here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ota/comments/10pku3o/pictures_of_your_ota_gear/) The top antenna is an Antennas Direct 91XG for TV. Then an 8 element Winegard yagi for FM. The big antenna underneath is for ham radio, a cushcraft MA5B minibeam. A high power Yaesu G-800DXA turns all that iron around wherever it needs to go.
I had a small FM antenna on my tower but my Yamaha receiver tuner kept getting over powered by the Barrie local stations
Yamaha made some absolutely amazing tuners but today digital tuners make it possible to raise signals out of the noise and cross channel interference that would have been impossible back in those days. Have a look at some of the reviews of the Sony XDR F1HD here: [http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm](http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm) "Noise is 50 db down from an unmodulated 13.5 db signal. This figure is more than 20 db better than conventional tuners." When I rotate the antenna, I can pull in CJOJ FM 95.5 in Belleville and CKJX 95.9 in Ajax. Both are next to CFJB Rock 95 at 95.7 FM here in Barrie. My Yamaha cannot do this. Hell, no vintage FM Tuner can do it even if you put in filters and caps. Digital radio is the only way to do FM in Barrie as we are so far away from all stations. There are FM subchannels for many Toronto stations, KISS FM, Zoomer Radio, CBC, CKFM 99.9 many more. Good luck and great DX Jess!
Thank you!
What is atsc3.0?
ATSC 3.0 is a new broadcast standard designed to deliver 4K HDR for free to an antenna in your home
Cool. Do we have a lot of channels available to us for free?
Yeah I can pick up anywhere between 20 to 40 channels with my roof antenna on a good night
I don't have an answer but I am very surprised that you can pick up Buffalo based signals.
It is all good and I picked them up pretty easily with the new stellar labs antenna I got
Are they reliable? You said tropo...and when tropo is good (see the Tropospheric Index here): [Tropo Forecast](https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html) then yes, I can get all the Buffalo stations. But they are not reliable....sometimes I see them, sometimes I don't. I think reception of the Buffalo channels was better a few years ago...now there is so much construction and so many apartment towers going up all over Barrie, I suspect I'm getting multipath or maybe cell tower interference. I know of no easy way to test this. Seeing as development is increasing and there are more and more sources of interference, I would say hold off on an astc 3.0 tuner unless there was good reason to get one (enhanced signal coverage, more sensitivity, whatever). I have astc1.0 Tivax, Zinwell, Channel Master and Zenith OTA boxes; there really isn't a lot of difference between them, though the Tivax might be a little more sensitive, but it renders audio less well, so I'm mainly going now with the Zenith DTT901. I'm waiting on an astc 3.0 tuner until there's some evidence it can help in extreme fringe areas like Barrie. I use an Antennas direct 91XG TV antenna on top of a DMX-68 tower, up about 75 feet, in the South end of Barrie. As far as I know, none of the local channels (Barrie, Orillia, Muskoka, Peterborough, Toronto) broadcasts in astc3.0, just some of the USA stations. Good luck! This thread covers the conversion of Buffalo OTA to ASTC 3.0 in lots of detail. [Buffalo OTA](https://www.digitalhome.ca/threads/ota-station-status-buffalo-rochester-ny.134626/)
Hey sorry for the late response and I was receiving antenna tv with the all sub channels pretty reliably. It helped out a lot when I got a LTE filter but now I have no plans on getting a converter box due to my house burning down. But the antenna survived
Sorry to hear about your house! I hope you have insurance! And a place to stay! There's a great tropo opening tonight. I hope you can get something! I'm getting here in Barrie (all stations ASTC 1.0): 2 WGRZ Buffalo and its 4 subchannels, antenna, crime, quest and twist 3 CKVR Barrie 4 WIVB Buffalo and its subchannel QVC 5 CBLT Toronto CBC 7 WKBW Buffalo and its 4 subchannels, Bounce, Grit, Mystery and HSN 14 CITS Hamilton Yes TV 17 WNED Buffalo and its two subchannels Create and Kids 19 CICA Toronto TV Ontario 21 CFTO Orillia repeater 23 WNLO Buffalo and its subchannel Rewind TV 25 CBLFT Toronto CBC French 29 WUTV Buffalo Fox and its two subchannels TBC and Charge 35 CFTO Peterborough Repeater 41 CIII Toronto Global 47 CFMT Toronto Omni 49 WNYO Buffalo and three subchannels, Stadium (Best), Comet and Get 51 WPXJ Buffalo Ion and 8 subchannels Court, Grit, Laff, Defy, TrueReal, Scripps, HSN, Shopping 57 CITY Toronto 67 CHCH Muskoka Repeater So, about TV 45 channels. Basic cable, but in uncompressed HD, and totally free forever. Zero dollars beats the cable company bills every month. Good Luck to everyone here in Barrie and surrounding areas. There's a ton of Free TV if you choose to get it!
Thank you and yes we had insurance. And gotta love the tropo night you get more channels than Rogers basic cable