cant pick up any local channels at all

[shaun-ohio]

today was my install from prostar digital for the local channels antenna, the lady and the kid that came with her, told me it was a stealth amplified antenna, i only live 32 miles from the local channels in columbus, it wont pick up any locals at all, it is mounted way high on my directv mast too, it wont even pick up my local channel of pax which is only 5 miles from me, she called someone and they told her that i would only be able to pick up 1 local channel and it wont even do that, it looks like a huge winged type antenna, the lady on the phone told her to look for some different colors on it and it didnt even have any on it? were they supposed to run another coax into the stb or what? because they didnt, all she did was take the coax from the back of the sat in and hook it up to the ota in? is this right or not? what should i do next?

 

[JohnDoe#2]

...were they supposed to run another coax into the stb or what? because they didnt, all she did was take the coax from the back of the sat in and hook it up to the ota in? is this right or not? what should i do next?

Just connecting the the sat coax to the "Antenna In" is worse than nothing. They could have run a new cable from the OTA antenna to the "Antenna In" but the easier and more economical method is to combine the antenna and satellite with a diplexer on the existing Sat TV cable and then seperate them again at the receiver with another diplexer.

Sounds like these were not experienced antenna/satellite TV installers.

 

[shaun-ohio]

yes thats what i was thinking also, the lady is the one who answers the phone for prostar, i mean what would she know about installation, other then booking appointments, the kid with her is the one who did the install on my ota, thanks for your help, lookis like i need to call voom and get a professional installer to hook up the job right.

 

[mattb]

32 miles from Columbus, you should still be able to get at least the big 3.. ABC,CBS,NBC...

Not sure about PAX but I beleive FOX is lower power, and I dont know about PBS (it comes from Westerivlle Area) and you should be able to get something from UPN 53.

Good luck!

 

[PSB]

"the lady is the one who answers the phone for prostar: What the heck are you guys doing!!!!!!! Dont let these quacks into your home (nothing to do with her being a woman, thats the only good thing about this story) Ask to see their SBCA 1+2 certificate, photo ID. and VoOM certification!!!!!! If they dont have it dont let them touch ANYTHING, dont let them in your home!!!!!! You are the customer! Dont feel lucky that you are getting your system hooked up! DEMAND the above, call them back and mention this forum, tell them not to schedule you until they can provide someone who has at least got the above, some states also require a license, sorry to hear this story, sounds like maybe they have the diplexer on the wrong way, a common mistake if you have never seen a VoOM system before! Good Luck!

 

[shaun-ohio]

well i did discover one thing, that if i hooked the coax coming directly from the ota antenna they installed, it brings in the local channels but no fox, 53 or my local pax which is only 5 miles from me. it brings in abc,cbs,nbc and lots of pbs channels including pbs kids which directv has, yes they hooked a diplexer up outside and ran the sat coax and the ota coax into it then ran the main coax coming into my stb, so i know i can pick up the local channels now, they just dont know how to hook it up, i know more then they do and thats bad and they are supposed to be professional installers? no way jose!!!

 

[Incaico]

http://antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

This website will help you point your OTA antenna to get the best signal possible!