Possible San Diego Voomer
- Thread starter Bilodeaumj
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Ferdball said:
How the install go? Was a diplexor used? Did you get all the OTA channels?
I see you are a Padres fan how are you holding up without channel 4 and the HD Padre games (I guess cox only carries it, so if you had Time Warner it won't apply)?
Not sure if he used the diplexer. I think he did. Can I tell from behind the STB?
I got the installer to pull 3 coax and 1 cat5 cable. The extra coax and cat5 will be for DVR. Hopefully it will be enough. He made a large enough hole to pull more coax if needed. He charged $45 for an hour of custom pull.
Also, for the phone line, I'm going to pull the blue pair for the phone line if I need it.
Time Warner actually has a an agreement to carry Padres games, even in HD. I haven't returned the HD box from TW, so I can still watch if I wanted to. I'll return it and cancel HD service when I'm happy with Voom. I'm going to keep my basic cable w/DVR until Voom offers it, so I'll have Padres games until then.
I got the installer to pull 3 coax and 1 cat5 cable. The extra coax and cat5 will be for DVR. Hopefully it will be enough. He made a large enough hole to pull more coax if needed. He charged $45 for an hour of custom pull.
Also, for the phone line, I'm going to pull the blue pair for the phone line if I need it.
Time Warner actually has a an agreement to carry Padres games, even in HD. I haven't returned the HD box from TW, so I can still watch if I wanted to. I'll return it and cancel HD service when I'm happy with Voom. I'm going to keep my basic cable w/DVR until Voom offers it, so I'll have Padres games until then.
Any word on UPN going HD???
Anyone hear anything regarding UPN going HD? Sure would be nice to watch Enterprise in HD...
Anyone hear anything regarding UPN going HD? Sure would be nice to watch Enterprise in HD...
New OTA channels?
Anyone in the SD area hear about new OTA's? A quick look at http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx shows the following stations:
KSWB-DT 69.1 WB San Diego CA 100° 11.8 19
KGTV-DT 10.1 ABC San Diego CA 292° 9.0 25
KFMB-DT 8.1 CBS San Diego CA 292° 9.0 55
KNSD-DT 39.1 NBC San Diego CA 99° 11.8 40
KPBS-DT 15.1 PBS San Diego CA 99° 11.8 30
KUSI-DT 18 IND SAN DIEGO CA 99° 11.8 18
XETV-DT 6.1 FOX TIJUANA BC 152° 18.7 23
I thought we only recieved 6 OTA's. I'm at work now but not sure which one is new (if at all). Please let me know if you recognize the newbie...TNX
Anyone in the SD area hear about new OTA's? A quick look at http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx shows the following stations:
KSWB-DT 69.1 WB San Diego CA 100° 11.8 19
KGTV-DT 10.1 ABC San Diego CA 292° 9.0 25
KFMB-DT 8.1 CBS San Diego CA 292° 9.0 55
KNSD-DT 39.1 NBC San Diego CA 99° 11.8 40
KPBS-DT 15.1 PBS San Diego CA 99° 11.8 30
KUSI-DT 18 IND SAN DIEGO CA 99° 11.8 18
XETV-DT 6.1 FOX TIJUANA BC 152° 18.7 23
I thought we only recieved 6 OTA's. I'm at work now but not sure which one is new (if at all). Please let me know if you recognize the newbie...TNX
Bilodeaumj said:
what about these others from antennaweb?
blue - uhf KZDF-LP 41 AZA OCEANSIDE/CARLSBAD CA 0° 12.9 41
blue - uhf KPBS 15 PBS SAN DIEGO CA 136° 10.3 15
violet - uhf KSKT-CA 43 HSN SAN MARCOS CA 0° 13.0 43
violet - uhf KSDX-LP 29 IND SAN DIEGO CA 136° 10.3 29
* violet - uhf KPBS-DT 15.1 PBS San Diego CA 136° 10.3 30
violet - vhf KCBS 2 CBS LOS ANGELES CA 315° 114.3 2
check out this for Padres games
http://hdtv.forsandiego.com/messages/1/1707.html?1090785278
No new OTA's here 
I did the scan feature and received 4 repeat stations which I have now hidden. I was hoping to get UPN or hopefully a Tijuana station for Futball but to no avail. Let me know if you get any additional stations and I might think about upgrading my antenna. I believe you are North of me as I am near the UCSD College area. MJB
I did the scan feature and received 4 repeat stations which I have now hidden. I was hoping to get UPN or hopefully a Tijuana station for Futball but to no avail. Let me know if you get any additional stations and I might think about upgrading my antenna. I believe you are North of me as I am near the UCSD College area. MJBAll the TV stations Available in San Diego
Check out this link this will have all the stations for the SD area.
http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/ca/tv_information.asp?m=sdi
CBS-DT is 55
NBC-DT is 40
ABC-DT is 25
FOX-DT is 23
KUSI-DT is 18
WB-DT is 19
PBS-DT is 30
Check out this link this will have all the stations for the SD area.
http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/ca/tv_information.asp?m=sdi
CBS-DT is 55
NBC-DT is 40
ABC-DT is 25
FOX-DT is 23
KUSI-DT is 18
WB-DT is 19
PBS-DT is 30
Bilodeaumj said:
I don't know, I will try tonight.
What kind of signal strength (USE the Aim antenna function for in the install wizard under system settings) are you getting for XHPN now?
If it's low Do you have antenna rotator to see if you can get it stronger?
Do you have the stealth antenna and is the amp installed and powered?
Have you tried to tune LA's UPN?
If no stealth antenna and you have rotator, do you have an antenna amp?
Bilodeaumj said:
No luck with UPN. Not even a glimmer on the scanner.
I am not sure why. Fox comes in loud and clear. I even had CBS from LA (55) on the antenna tuner last night, but it just would not lock in.
I connected the power input for the amplifier for the stealth (bought separately by me, my installer never installed the power input for the amp) and got all the channels clearly except for UPN, CBS, and ABC.
Now I am trying to get an antenna upgrade for the rest.
Hi from a Voomer since March 04 in La Mesa near Drew Ford. Asked at the the time of installation to forget about the OTA until I got a BIG Antenna to put on my rotatator/mast. Just picked up a Wineguard 9095 and AP4700 Preamp in stock at Amerisat in Kearny Mesa. This is the place where the Pro Installers go and they will sell to you also.
I will report back as soon as I have this Big Boy antenna installed.
I will report back as soon as I have this Big Boy antenna installed.
stanny1 said:
Pleae keep me informed. I'm especially interested if you get UPN as I'm not that far from you (70th & El Cajon Blvd)I'd be surprised if you don't pick up LA stations.
FOX not coming in even with Wineguard 9095
We live in Solana Beach and receive all the locals except FOX XETV. The VOOM installers have been out four times now trying different antennas, most recently the Wineguard 9095 today. Picks up several channels from L.A., but still no local FOX. Installer suggested we attach a pre-amp to it -- any thoughts on whether this would work? I've heard plenty of people in North County say that they can get XETV just fine with an upgraded antenna, so I'm wondering why we can't.
Any help would be much appreciated.
-Mark
We live in Solana Beach and receive all the locals except FOX XETV. The VOOM installers have been out four times now trying different antennas, most recently the Wineguard 9095 today. Picks up several channels from L.A., but still no local FOX. Installer suggested we attach a pre-amp to it -- any thoughts on whether this would work? I've heard plenty of people in North County say that they can get XETV just fine with an upgraded antenna, so I'm wondering why we can't.
Any help would be much appreciated.
-Mark
I live in the carmel valley area just south of you and I receive XETV along with all of the other channels with the standard stealth antenna that was installed. XETV is the weakest but I believe it is in the mid 80's. All of the other channels are in the 90's. I think our location is good as I have no blockage to the south and southwest.mark k said:
On their new $1 installation/6 months subscription deal, I just had two Voom receivers, a 24 inch sat. dish, and one of their OTA antennas installed yesterday in Del Mar/Solana Beach. The Voom installer arrived right on time and had all the necessary gear with him. He was very competent and had a portable RF Spectrometer with him to help with the OTA antenna placement and selection. More about this later.
For new Voom customers, I would strongly suggest that you require a 24 inch dish to be installed at your site. Request this PRIOR to your installation date. This will help with continuous reception during rainstorms. The bigger dish apparently also improves the overall signal strength by about about 2-4 percent. The indicated signal strength on both Voom receivers was 98/100. The installer said that he typically gets readings of 95-96 on the smaller 18 inch dishes. There is no extra charge for the 24 inch dish.
The Voom picture is very good quality on my 56 inch 4x3 Panasonic CRT set and on my 50 inch 16x9 Sony rear projection LCD set. I was concerned about typical signal compression artifacts on the big 4x3 set, as I had previously seen them with a short term Dish Network installation on the same set. I can't compare the pictures side by side, but from memory the Voom SD picture is better than the Dish Network SD picture (I had the Dish Network 811 receivers).
On OTA signals, the Voom receivers appear to be very sensitive and perform well with multipath rejection. This was a very pleasant surprise. Both receivers are significantly better than the Samsung T150 OTA receivers that they replaced. I think they are also a little more sensitive than a new LG-3510A receiver that I have also tried in this same location.
At any rate, the Voom receivers pick up a couple of additional channels that the LG and Samsung receivers did not, using the same roof top cables and antennas. I am using a Channel Master 4248 in one location and a no-name ten year old RS UHF/VHF smallish combo antenna in the other location. On both receivers, I receive every San Diego area digital station with no dropouts, except for XETV, which is located about 35 miles south of me in Tijuana.
Since the installer had his RF Spectrometer with him, we tried out the Voom-supplied Wineguard Square Shooter antenna in the same location of the old Radio Shack combo antenna. While the gain was not as good on most UHF stations as the bigger antenna, the Square Shooter got acceptable results from one location and its much wider beamwidth (approx 45 degrees in azimuth) allowed it to be pointed in one direction for all stations in my area (13-30 miles distance from me). The Square Shooter antenna is quite small (about 1 foot square) and would be ideal for OTA reception in apartments. The installer told me that it has worked well for digital television reception in many San Diego locations for him. Voom uses other, larger OTA antennas such as UHF bowtie antennas for more difficult locations. All of these antennas are included in the $1 installation deal, which I find hard to believe.
The Spectrometer is really the way to go for dicey UHF installations, it allows you to hold the antenna by hand and move it around on the roof, rotate it or move it up/down for best reception on any desired channel. It also allows direct quantitative signal strength comparisons between different antennas. It sure beats the old guy on the roof, wife on the walkie talkie, looking at the TV method of antenna placement.
Is Voom worth it? Well, that is too soon to tell for me, but my wife likes the content, the installation was very professional and the signal quality is better than I expected (I have had a 13 foot C band antenna with an 4DTV receiver for many years, so my video standards are high). BTW, both Voom receivers upgraded themselves last night from the 6.00 baseline software to the most current 7.26 software. This was requested by the installer earlier in the day, but occurred with no actions required on my part, since the update occurred sometime after midnight.
I guess the best commentary came from the installer himself. He has been installing DirectTV, DishNetwork and other TV systems in the area for several years. He currently has both DishNetwork and Voom at his house; but he likes Voom much better because of the HD content, picture quality, and the OTA performance of the Voom receivers. He said he became a Voom installer three days after he tried the system last July.
PM me if you would like installer/retailer info in the San Diego area or more details on my installation experience.
For new Voom customers, I would strongly suggest that you require a 24 inch dish to be installed at your site. Request this PRIOR to your installation date. This will help with continuous reception during rainstorms. The bigger dish apparently also improves the overall signal strength by about about 2-4 percent. The indicated signal strength on both Voom receivers was 98/100. The installer said that he typically gets readings of 95-96 on the smaller 18 inch dishes. There is no extra charge for the 24 inch dish.
The Voom picture is very good quality on my 56 inch 4x3 Panasonic CRT set and on my 50 inch 16x9 Sony rear projection LCD set. I was concerned about typical signal compression artifacts on the big 4x3 set, as I had previously seen them with a short term Dish Network installation on the same set. I can't compare the pictures side by side, but from memory the Voom SD picture is better than the Dish Network SD picture (I had the Dish Network 811 receivers).
On OTA signals, the Voom receivers appear to be very sensitive and perform well with multipath rejection. This was a very pleasant surprise. Both receivers are significantly better than the Samsung T150 OTA receivers that they replaced. I think they are also a little more sensitive than a new LG-3510A receiver that I have also tried in this same location.
At any rate, the Voom receivers pick up a couple of additional channels that the LG and Samsung receivers did not, using the same roof top cables and antennas. I am using a Channel Master 4248 in one location and a no-name ten year old RS UHF/VHF smallish combo antenna in the other location. On both receivers, I receive every San Diego area digital station with no dropouts, except for XETV, which is located about 35 miles south of me in Tijuana.
Since the installer had his RF Spectrometer with him, we tried out the Voom-supplied Wineguard Square Shooter antenna in the same location of the old Radio Shack combo antenna. While the gain was not as good on most UHF stations as the bigger antenna, the Square Shooter got acceptable results from one location and its much wider beamwidth (approx 45 degrees in azimuth) allowed it to be pointed in one direction for all stations in my area (13-30 miles distance from me). The Square Shooter antenna is quite small (about 1 foot square) and would be ideal for OTA reception in apartments. The installer told me that it has worked well for digital television reception in many San Diego locations for him. Voom uses other, larger OTA antennas such as UHF bowtie antennas for more difficult locations. All of these antennas are included in the $1 installation deal, which I find hard to believe.
The Spectrometer is really the way to go for dicey UHF installations, it allows you to hold the antenna by hand and move it around on the roof, rotate it or move it up/down for best reception on any desired channel. It also allows direct quantitative signal strength comparisons between different antennas. It sure beats the old guy on the roof, wife on the walkie talkie, looking at the TV method of antenna placement.
Is Voom worth it? Well, that is too soon to tell for me, but my wife likes the content, the installation was very professional and the signal quality is better than I expected (I have had a 13 foot C band antenna with an 4DTV receiver for many years, so my video standards are high). BTW, both Voom receivers upgraded themselves last night from the 6.00 baseline software to the most current 7.26 software. This was requested by the installer earlier in the day, but occurred with no actions required on my part, since the update occurred sometime after midnight.
I guess the best commentary came from the installer himself. He has been installing DirectTV, DishNetwork and other TV systems in the area for several years. He currently has both DishNetwork and Voom at his house; but he likes Voom much better because of the HD content, picture quality, and the OTA performance of the Voom receivers. He said he became a Voom installer three days after he tried the system last July.
PM me if you would like installer/retailer info in the San Diego area or more details on my installation experience.
