Hi Phil,

     About "TV reception" of July 4:

PM> Is that Channel-57, Mike?  I got such a strong signal from them...
MS> I was typing about that same story not so long ago...
PM> "Henri-Bourrassa and St-Laurent," you wrote...  So you were out of
PM> the way of the mountain.  People I know who live in the shadow of
PM> the wrong side of the mountain have trouble getting Vermount...

     Well, then i feel sorry for them unless they plan to move and there
is no restriction on the next location where they'd like to live;  i did
not have a clue when i moved to Montreal and, as one can imagine, trying
antenna setups on the balcony of empty appartments wasn't possible.  %-)

     If a few other Montrealers read us perhaps they could use our tips?

MS> All of the twelve positions on my VCR had a separate TV channel...
PM> Twelve!  I didn't know there were that many channels in the area...

     Yes, let me count them from the bottom up.  I'll start with those i
have very little doubt about:  SRC (2), CBC (6), TVA (10), CTV (12), TQC
(17), ABC (22), PBS (33), TQS (35), FOX (44) and PBS (57).  I think that
Savoir was around 29, and Global CH-46 perhaps.  :)  CBS (3) and NBC (5)
were so faint i didn't really want to set those on my VCR anyway.  CH-33
was snowy too but i liked having it pre-programmed just in case it got a
bit stronger.  If one shifts toward Cartierville reception degrades.  :(

PM> Shows how much of a TV viewer I am.

     I had the computer in front of me and from time to time i rotated a
bit (90 degrees) when all the parameters were reunited to make that hour
one of those when i retired from this hobby, Montreal also offers plenty
of distractions which won't involve any sort of electronic media at all.

                                   :)

MS> It didn't cost me much:  a pre-amplifier...  ...a variable indoor
MS> amplifier plus some wiring...  ...a spare ~UHF~ loop...  ...this
MS> antenna wasn't efficient for lower ~VHF~ frequencies but since i had
MS> so much trouble with being close to channel 2 and 6...
PM> I've gotta experiment.

     As with my FM setup here, once the signal poured in i sat down then
i enjoyed when possible.  I should have given filtering a try myself but
sometimes people must put distance between them and their problem before
sufficient perspective is gained.  I did have some fun with an old B & W
TV which was sensitive enough to get better sound from fainter stations;
the picture couldn't lock vertically until i used a simple 555 RF gating
circuit to close the loop...  As a by-product, it happened to work on my
cousins's Pay-TV channels but that came to me as a total surprise and we
had no interest:  he's a "purist" while i didn't have cable...  That was
what i had in mind as i commented about not so radio regenerative stuff.

PM> ...summer, as you say, and it's news to me -- no signal at all.
MS> ...i watched `Nova' on WCFE and that was not really a problem...
MS> Perhaps there's a strong signal degrading the reception?
PM> Strange.  For me the disparity is extreme.  Would not the
PM> interferring signal show up in winter as well?

     I'm sorry not to have much of an answer to it, the explanation from
Mike Ross about the 6 dB drop seems sound enough to give it a thought...

     If i must stick to the overload scenario i'll say that perhaps it's
the 1st year some new equipment is added which happens to be a nuisance.

PM> How BTW is TV reception in Three Rivers, Michel?
MS> ...local programming is not satisfying at all...
PM> Well... my solution is CDs and videos.

     The one film i'd consider for rent is the last `Star Trek' which we
never had a choice to watch in the original non-translated version and i
won't even see it coming on tape...  Also, ~DVD~s are no option to me so
the cost of cable seems affordable in the long run, considering the cost
for buying a ~DVD~ player and disks to go with it -or- taking the bus to
rent original tape versions that i'm likely to find only in Mtl!...  $-o

                                                           Salutations,

                                                           Michel Samson
                                                           a/s Bicephale


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