VOOM and OTA reception in Cleveland, OH

[Ilya]

Any VOOMers in Cleveland area? Akron? Canton?
Which OTA stations are you getting? Any OTA reception problems?
Which local installer did your VOOM installation?

If you have any questions or comments specific to Cleveland area, please post them in this thread.

 

[Ilya]

Here are the OTA channels that are currently mapped for Cleveland OTA map (#15):

3.1 WKYC-DT (NBC)
3.2 SD version of 3.1 WKYC-DT (NBC)
3.3 Local weather map
5.1 WEWS-DT (ABC)
8.1 WJW-DT (FOX)
19.1 WOIO-DT (CBS)
43.1 WUAB-DT (UPN)
61.1 WQHS-DT (UNI)
68.1 - no signal (Mansfield)​

There is also channel 8.15 mapped, but it is not local. It's the same as VOOM's channel 999.

Edit: Channel lineup updated.

 

[TriSchnitz]

I had Voom installed this weekend and I get all those plus some channel 68 that doesn't have a signal but does have programs in the guide.

The locals are great but my voom channels are experiencing occasional sound losses for a split second and the picture flicker that others were talking about.

 

[Ilya]

TriSchnitz,
Welcome to the forum and to VOOM!
I believe 68.1 is Mansfield, which is too far from Cleveland. No chance of getting that channel.

Yes, VOOM is aware of those problems that you are having. They should be fixed in a near future.

 

[fayrich]

I'm a Cleveland Voomer. Getting all of the locals pretty well most of the time with my own OTA setup, but 19 is iffy frequently. I'm actually in N. Ridgeville and am using a channel master 7777 pre-amp which helps some. Channel 68 is from Mansfield as previously stated. Might be able to receive with a rotor. Personally, I'm not interested.

 

[Ilya]

I've heard it might be possible to tune to Canton HD station(s) from Cleveland. Can anyone confirm this? Should we ask VOOM to map those instead of 68.1? Any thoughts?

 

[fayrich]

Should map channel 61 now. It is up and running for about a month.

 

[Ilya]

61? I don't see it listed as a digital channel at www.antennaweb.org
Could you tell us more about this channel? Does it offer any HD programming?

 

[Cyre]

I am a Cleveland voomer (located in Wellington). Been one for about a week and a half now. I get all of the local stations, well except for the Mansfield one, I am not concerned about that one. I have been extremely happy with the service, and the programming. Yeah, sure its got its quirks, but its nice to be able to use my HD monitor for something other than SD......

Anyone know when WB is going live?

 

[fayrich]

Ch 61 in Cleveland is digital Ch34 WQHS. Believe it is the Spanish cable channel Univision. Probably no HD content, but it should be mapped with the rest of the local digitals.

 

[Ilya]

Cyre, welcome to the club!
Last time I've heard about WB (WBNX), they were waiting for FCC Permit...

 

[Ilya]

Ok, from what I've heard in other forums, we are currently missing the following digital channels in our Cleveland OTA map. Since the software update with OTA channel scanning is delayed, I am considering requesting these channels to be added to our map. Please post your comments and opinions about whether we should or shouldn't request them:

3.2 - SD version of 3.1 WKYC-DT (NBC)
3.3 - Weather map
17.1 (freq=39) WDLI-DT (TBN) Canton
61.1 (freq=34) WQHS-DT (UNI) Cleveland​

FYI, the following channels are not yet available, but are expected in the future:

25.1 (freq=26) WVIZ-DT (PBS) Cleveland
49.1 (freq=50) WEAO-DT (PBS) Akron
55.1 (freq=30) WBNX-DT (WB) Akron
67.1 (freq=47) WOAC-DT (SAH) Canton​

Let me know if I missed something.

 

[Cyre]

I dont know about anyone else, but I think we could do without 3.2 and 3.3. 3.2 is the SD version of 3.1 and who cares about the radar loop. Those 2 channels serve no purpose and I am enjoying not having to surf through them. My 2 cents worth anyway....

 

[fayrich]

I agree with Cyre. Forget about 3.2 and 3.3. Just junk anyway. It is irritating to have to walk thru them on my Samsung OTA only STB. Cannot delete. Am looking forward to the local PBS channel(25/26) coming on in May of this year. Cleveland area is not going to pick up the Canton channel without a rotor, but the Akron channels should be able to be received when they come on. Just a further comment on the NBC locals(3.2 & 3.3)-- all they are doing is using up bandwidth that detracts from the quality of the HD on 3.1. Wish the network would not allow this!

 

[TriSchnitz]

Actually, I wouldn't mind the radar loop. I'm a cyclist and always checking the radar online to see when I should go out. And since it's always raining here it seems, being able to click over for a live radar loop would be nice.

 

[fayrich]

I can go along with the radar loop, but using channel 3.2 for SD version of 3.1 is a total waste of bandwidth. Hope the other local channels don't start doing this.

 

[Ilya]

I can go along with the radar loop, but using channel 3.2 for SD version of 3.1 is a total waste of bandwidth. Hope the other local channels don't start doing this.

Well, here is one possible argument for that channel 3.2:
3.1 stretches SD programs to fill the 16:9 frame. (I hate when they do this!)And since this stretching is done at the transmitting end, there is nothing we can do on our end to unstretch it. Having 3.2 in the linup would allow us to watch unstretched SD programs...

 

[fayrich]

Guess you could be right about this Ilya. But since I never watch any NBC SD programs anyway, I have not noticed this. Must say however, that programming originated from their studios(news, etc.) looks excellent. They are using widescreen format with absolutely no stretch detected. I assume they are broadcasting local stuff in ED(480i) format. Every bit as good as watching a DVD. The only part of local newscasts that looks bad is the taped segments from elsewhere.

 

[Ilya]

I don't watch NBC SD programs. So, for me personally this is not very important. (And I really don't care much about Spanish channels for that matter either...) But may be someone does (or will). So, I guess this would be the right thing to do to add all available OTA channels to the lineup, so that people would have more choices. What do you think?

As for being able to skip channels that we are not interested in, I guess we can use the favorites list for that purpose (at least until channel scanning/manual tuning is implemented). I personally use the HD-only button for channel navigation. It let's me skip all SD programs

 

[fayrich]

Even though my spanish is almost non-existent, and I never watch that channel, I do think that all digitals should be mapped. (However, in passing that channel, sometimes see some weird stuff going on there. Could be worth looking at from time to time if could only understand what they are saying.) Was also thinking of doing my scanning thru favorites, but am waiting for the freebies to go away so I can re-assess what I want to be there.