My signal quality issue...(no help from VOOM)

My install was last week and the signal was around 45-47. Now, Sunday, it's been at a steady 25 and no picture at all. Tech coming tomorrow (Monday). He told me on the phone that the install was VERY strong, so the dish shouldn't come loose AT ALL. Wonder why I have no signal (that's what the receiver says) and no pic? No Sopranos for me tonight!
 
Just got off the phone with a VOOM tech. They're sending out another tech this coming Saturday, same company different tech. I don't hold out much hope though, the VOOM tech told me that the signal in my area just isn't very good. So it looks like the tech will be packing up the equipment if he can't significantly improbe the signal :( Rather disappointing I was really looking forward to some HD viewing.

Thanks for the input

Dave
 
Well I called VOOM today and asked about my service call, and to see who it would be that was coming back out to check my dish. To my surprise they informed me that it would be the same installers who were here initially, (this after I specifically asked for someone else!) After telling the csr the situation he in fact did read a note on my account about me asking for someone else. The csr was friendly, apologized and canceled them, and said they would try and find some other company in my area and give me a call tomorrow about it. I thanked them, hung up the phone and decided to try and tackle the job myself! I tuned into the signal page on the VOOM STB, and and turned the volume up on my tv so that I could hear it on the roof. So up the ladder I went, and directly to the VOOM dish. I started slowly unscrewing the dish to where I could move it with a little force, but without being able to throw it around easily. I then began to move the dish around slowly until I heard the beeps get a little faster. When I was satisfied with a nice steady rhythm going, I tightened back the bolts on the dish. I climbed down to check the signals. I was shocked to see I had a steady quality signal in the mid 60's! I then checked my signal strength and it was a steady 63! And I was told by my original installer that I was lucky to get in the 50's when I was first installed, and that I could get nothing more in my area! I am still waiting for the night to settle in to see if the numbers go way down, as they did before I went up there and did something about it. Btw.. it's also very windy outside, so I will be watching my signals closely. I will report back tomorrow how the numbers faired over night. So far so good, wish me luck.
 
That's excellent Gene... Mine is never more than 50. Maybe I should follow on your steps and see if I can get that signal up to 60. Let us know what happens. Comes to show that some of these guys are lazy or... rather not say.
 
Good news Jay. I got the same " 50's is as good as it gets" from my installer. Thinking maybe I should do what you did...my drop-outs during rain could use some improvement.

Bill
 
Gene,

Good work. I think part of the problem is that many installers just don't have practice "peaking" dishes to get the maximum signal, in part because it just isn't necessary with Dish and DirecTV (given they use a higher FEC rate). But I'm sure some are just lazy too.
 
Ok usually at this time of night my signals bounce down into the 20's and tv pixelates badly, but now I am getting no pixelation, and the lowest signal I can find is a 49, and that one is bouncing around the low 50's! :) The channels that were in the mid to high 60's are now in the low 60's, and my signal strength is a steady 63 still! And btw, the wind is going crazy outside to boot! I am happy once again in VOOMville! :D
 
I'll say it again. It's a shame that Voom insists on using these installers and not letting us do a self install. It is even more amazing that they insist on sending an installer to do a STB swap or STB addition.
My installer used his Dish/DirecTV equipment to "peak" the dish. After he left, I did exactly what you did Jay, I peaked it myself and got much better results. As you found out, it is not difficult, it simply takes some time. I ended up with signal quality/strength numbers similar to what you now have. I still found that during heavy clouds or simple rain, I would get drops and pixelation, so that is why I now have a 30" dish.
 
well it got cloudy, and really heavy winds blew thru here last night, (I thought my house would be torn apart it was so bad) hehe. I never did get a pixelation issue with VOOM! My next test is heavy rain, so until then, I'm happy with the numbers. If it does pixelate during heavy rain, I will probably get the larger dish myself, and *install it myself*. ;)
 
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