[Jeffhs]

Northeastern Ohio is not that far from Detroit or Windsor, Ontario, so you were probably getting the latter's UHF stations. Before I had cable and long before DTV, I could see every VHF and UHF local station in Detroit, Windsor, and Toledo in the spring, summer and early fall, just using an indoor UHF loop antenna. I enjoyed watching Detroit's channels 20, 50, 56 and 62 back in the '70s-'80s, with their old off-network reruns and other original programming, long before the new networks (UPN, now MyTV, The WB, now The CW, etc.) came in and destroyed the originality that made all big-city independent UHF stations so much fun to watch. I grew up near Cleveland (I live 35 miles east of the city today) and watched channels 43 and 61 to begin (they both went on the air in 1968), with channel 55 arriving 17 years later. I'll never forget the day channel 43, United Artists Broadcasting's WUAB-TV, went on the air. I was working on a TV in my basement at the time, with a radio playing on a local top-40 rock-and-roll station, when suddenly, an announcement broke in on the station's regular programming (in paraphrase): "Hey Cleveland! Drop what you're doing and turn on your TV -- WUAB-TV is on the air!" I immediately ran upstairs and turned on the TV in my living room to channel 43. WUAB was "on the air," all right--with a test pattern.

I'd enjoy DXing those Canadian UHF stations as long as I can, if I were you. Canada's DTV transition is scheduled for either next year or 2012; after that, we will have to use DVD players, VCRs, agile modulators, or cable/satellite to see anything on our prized vintage TVs.