OTA Questions

[stevo714]

These have probably been asked before but I did some searches and could not find the answers.

1. What is everyone getting for there OTA Signal Strength? My Satellite Strength is 60 and the Antenna is 20.

2. The Pre-Amp Board is broke that goes in the Stealthtenna which they will be replacing, but they are telling me the Power Amp that comes with it is not needed as the Receiver should be able to send enough power to the pre-amp in the antenna. Is this true? They are also telling me it does not matter where they put that power amp. I always thought it had to be before you di-plex the antenna and Dish into 1 line. Is this true?

All in all not a bad Install except no OTA yet. I'm fairly close to 2 of my towers (10 Miles) with the further ones being 30 miles but I can't get any OTA. I was wondering since my OTA Strength is at 20 shouldn't I be able to pick up something. Everytime I click on the channel it says "No Signal for 8-1 is available"

One other quick question is How to you get to the screen that shows all of your signal strength's. I can get to the screen that shows the Dish Strength but I can't get to that screen that the Intallers were in that showed OTA also.

Thanks

 

[Ominous1]

Did you try adjusting the position of your antenna?

 

[Sean Mota]

Also, are you using the diplexer?

 

[Lobstah]

With towers only 10miles away, I'd think you could pick them up with rabbit ears and/or tinfoil.
Keep in mind that UHF is very directional, so the antenna needs to be pointed right at the towers.

Lob

 

[stevo714]

They have it with Diplexers but not the one's that came with it. They said they were to cheap. They used a special diplexer outside which accepts the 2 lines from the dish and the 1 line from the antenna and then diplexes into 4 outs. He said this Diplexer cost about $100. Inside he put another diplexer that breaks it back into 2 lines and then into the receiver. The installer said that the Diplexer that came with it that snaps onto the receiver is very cheaply made.. He put the 4 Out Diplexer on for me outside because I might be adding receivers if everything goes smoothly with the Locals.

Anyone know how to get to the screen which shows all you signal strength's?

 

[vurbano]

voom, green button, bottom selection, settings, down,down

 

[Sean Mota]

They have it with Diplexers but not the one's that came with it. They said they were to cheap. They used a special diplexer outside which accepts the 2 lines from the dish and the 1 line from the antenna and then diplexes into 4 outs. He said this Diplexer cost about $100. Inside he put another diplexer that breaks it back into 2 lines and then into the receiver. The installer said that the Diplexer that came with it that snaps onto the receiver is very cheaply made.. He put the 4 Out Diplexer on for me outside because I might be adding receivers if everything goes smoothly with the Locals.

Anyone know how to get to the screen which shows all you signal strength's?

I don't doubt that the diplexer is better. If I were you I would trace all the connections and probably (if you are up to it) disconnect the diplexer(s) and see if I could get anything without it/them. It is just me but I do not trust a lot of these gadgets that output/input signals in/out. If you can see all your local channels in your PG, there has to be something that is not allowing the signal to go through.

 

[Ominous1]

I'm about 5-7 miles from all my towers and I get it in the 90s, except for last night when we had super strong winds in the area causing problems on my NBC station in the mid-afternoon then later causing problems on CBS around 10:30 PM.

I have the stealth and have not had a problem since I adjusted after the initial install.

 

[occammd]

I don't think you need the wall-wart power supply. Mine is getting power from the rcvr to the diplexer

 

[stevo714]

I read that when the channels are mapped correctly it should read 8.1, 15.1. Mine read 8-1 WGALD, 15-1 WHTD is this still mapped correctly? Is there a differnce between the"." and the "-".

My readings are as follows

Satellite Signal Quality - 96
Off-Air Signal Quality - 20
Satellite Signal Power - 74/15
Off-Air Signal Power - 53/0

What do these #'s mean? I'm confused as each OTA Channel should have a different Signal Quality. Why is it showing 20.

 

[Sean Mota]

I read that when the channels are mapped correctly it should read 8.1, 15.1. Mine read 8-1 WGALD, 15-1 WHTD is this still mapped correctly? Is there a differnce between the"." and the "-".

My readings are as follows

Satellite Signal Quality - 96
Off-Air Signal Quality - 20
Satellite Signal Power - 74/15
Off-Air Signal Power - 53/0

What do these #'s mean? I'm confused as each OTA Channel should have a different Signal Quality. Why is it showing 20.

the "-" is correct. Your off-Air signal Quality is too low for the receiver to get a lock on OTA channels. It needs tob in the 60-70 to get a lock. I really think that one your diplexer is downgrading the signal somehow or their is a lose connection somewhere. If I were you, I would test one receiver and connect it directly from OTA antenna to receiver (nothing in between) and see what results you can get.

 

[Videofx]

Make sure when you take those readings that your receiver is on an OTA channel or the numbers will be incorrect.

Bill

 

[stevo714]

How does it come up wit a signal Quality # though? When I used the Stealthtenna in my old house the receiver would show Signal Strength per channel not an overall #. I'm a little confused on that. The problem is the pre-amp is bad and I can't see if he left the bad pre-amp in or what he did. But I should have received some of my channels with an un-powered Stealthtenna. We will see when he replaces the Pre-Amp. If it doesn't fix it he already said he would run a seperate line but if I add Receivers he will have to split the antenna line and run multiple lines to each receiver which I don't want to do. So I hope the Diplexer's work.

The Diplexers should work as I Got all my channels before with an un-powered Stealthtenna with a Diplexer and I am now even a few miles closer to the towers.

I guess my only other question is can you read individual OTA Signal Strength per Channel, and which number is Strength on that menu? Signal Quality or Signal Power?

 

[stevo714]

Thanks Bill thats what I was looking for. Which number is actual Strength? the Off-Air Power or Off-Air Quality? and what does the 53/0 mean in the Off-Air Power Reading?

 

[cmercer]

My strongest stations are reading about 70. The one I had trouble with would not come in until I bypassed the diplexer. It is now reading 32 and working.

 

[Videofx]

Thanks Bill thats what I was looking for. Which number is actual Strength? the Off-Air Power or Off-Air Quality? and what does the 53/0 mean in the Off-Air Power Reading?

Quality is the most important of the 2 numbers. If your quality is 53 and OTA power is 0 then there is a problem somewhere from the anntena to the OTA mosule in the Voom receiver.

Bill

 

[occammd]

Is the diplexer a powered switch or just a mux? If it is a mux maintaining input impedance then your power will be halved over what it would have been without it.

 

[stevo714]

How would you know if its powered or a mux? The 3 cables go in and it has upto for 4 outs that you could run from it

 

[slffl]

I have the same OTA power with the Stealth. Try this, unhook the OTA coax alltogether and you'll still have 15-20 signal. Installer is coming to try and 'fix' it today, but I'm not expecting much since it's the same person who installed it in the first place.

 

[vinnyv07]

I just purchased my own antenna to replace tha stealth. Its called a db8 and it says it has a uhf range of 70 miles. A clear upgrade from the stealth. VOOM cam with a upgrade antenna for me but that didnt work any better than the stealth. I called voom back up and requested that a seperate coax be run from the OTA directly to the receiver...with nothing in between. They are going to be at my house on this Thursday to do that. Im missing NBC and WNET from my locals...and Im getting low sig from abc.
My signals with the stealth are CBS- 45-50%, NBC 10%-25% sometimes I get a broken up picture with the signal in the 20's, Fox 45-55%, UPN 45-55%, ABC 25-40% some dropouts when it goes down in the 20's, WPIX - very low power no sig, WNET 15-20% no picture.....also Im getting WNJN which is a PBS station in the 70% range. Im hoping this new DB8 gets me ABC and NBC with no problem. We will see. Voom has been to my house three times so far not including this install on thursday. So, I really cant complain about their service. They have my support now because they have done everything possible to make me happy. Which a good company does.