West Coast VOOM Issues

[WLong]

Hey guys,

I wanted to start a thread about unsuccessful west coast VOOM installs. The problem with getting VOOM in my case was due to the fact that we in the Seattle area have a 12 degree angle to the 61.5 Satellite used by VOOM.

I know my tastes and I don't think having a 30 foot tower in my back yard would be conducive to the sometimes raging parties I have in my home.

The logical solution to this problem is that VOOM do what DISH Network did. Have content available on a Satellite more readily available to west coast subscribers.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[seabird]

I live in West Seattle and have been Vooming since November 15th. The dish points extremely low in the eastern horizon. In fact the installer had to mount the dish the wrong way on the mounting bracket to get low enough on the horizon to reach the satelite. With all the hills, mountains, and valleys in Seattle, unless you have a clear eastern exposure and you are on the top of a hill, there is no way you can get Voom in this town.

Voom is awesome and I recommend you invest in a tower to get high enough to get connected with the Rainbow Satellite.

Your parties will be even better with a RAVE HD concert beaming into your AV room.

Terry

Samsung HLN5075 DLP
M&K Surround
Denon AVR 3801

 

[JaydeeD]

I live in eastern Oregon......Voom dish is at 14 degrees elevation....shooting just over my neighbors back porch!!!.......but satellite signal is great. I just wish I could get my OTA's.....towers only 15 miles away. I can see them from my roof, but no matter what configuration of antenna I try. none will ever lock in

 

[Vince2]

I live in Portland, and am waiting to get VOOMed this Saturday. I am on a hill pointing SE, so I should be OK, but I'll let you know this weekend. I found this interesting satellite tracker:
http://www.lyngsat.com/tracker/rain1.shtml

(sorry if this link was already posted)

 

[mike123abc]

One has to hope that VOOM buys 157. It is up for auction now, and it would really compliment their service if they got 157. Then the issue would be that the west coasters would have more bandwidth than the east since 29 transponders are up for grabs on 157 and VOOM only has 11 on 61.5 and 2 that they could eventually be outbid on.

 

[GeneWildershair]

Bill, this thread was a good idea for us west coasters! btw I have voom installers on my roof installing now! They said LOS is there, and are just putting everything up for me! I'm happy about that, but the guy is trying to charge me 35 bucks to run a second line even after showing him the emails posted here! This is really irritating me, I think I'll try to call Voom about this now... I'll keep you updated!

 

[WLong]

Good to hear! I have way too many large trees around me, otherwise I would be in the VOOM boat with you guys.

Note to self: Next house.... no trees.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I am in Santa Rosa, California, getting ready to have a "room with a VOOM" (need a HDTV set as well as VOOM). Please post after you get installed and how you like VOOM PQ.

If there are any Santa Rosa VOOMERS out there, I would like to know if the OTA antenna works around here and what you get!

I expect to be VOOMING by May.

Thanks,
1080iWannabe

 

[dlsnyder]

I live in eastern Oregon......Voom dish is at 14 degrees elevation....shooting just over my neighbors back porch!!!.......but satellite signal is great. I just wish I could get my OTA's.....towers only 15 miles away. I can see them from my roof, but no matter what configuration of antenna I try. none will ever lock in

Try just sticking a bent paperclip in the center of the OTA antenna connector on the back of your box. You may be pleasantly surprised!

 

[GeneWildershair]

Well guys, Voom is installed and looking good! My ota signal is great, I get everything I can possibly get OTA! And no I didn't pay for that second line! I fought the guy on this and he ended up just doing it for free, (like he should anyways) but he said it was because even with both lines connected he *maybe* ran a 100 feet of cable total, and was a really easy install! My satellite signal is a steady 50, (which I hear by Voom standards is really good).? And as for Voom PQ, the SD is just about the same as my Directv service. The HD pq, is may be slightly sharper on Voom. I did a comparison with DiscoveryHD, HBOHD, and ShowtimeHD, and it seems to be the case with each channel! Boy am I impressed with all the HD content available! Well guys Hopefully all your installs work out as well as Mine did! Now back to VOOM!!!

 

[GeneWildershair]

Oh, I forgot to add that the Voom box is reeeaally sslllooowww! When changing channels it takes forever before the picture comes up. Yeah I am exagerating a bit, but compared to my Diretv box, it is pretty slow! Other than that no real problems yet.

 

[JaydeeD]

Try just sticking a bent paperclip in the center of the OTA antenna connector on the back of your box. You may be pleasantly surprised!

I was just desperate enough to try that.....no such luck

I called my contact at Voom and Installs a couple days ago because like I said I had tried everything!!!..I tried at least 4 different antennas with and without amplifiers, I tried filters to block out the analog channels, I had a guy come and use a spectrum analyzer and pinpoint all the digital channels for me and confirm that there should be no problem getting a great signal on them anywhere on my property, I even tried putting the antenna an extra 20 feet above my roof....all I get is the no signal message and the "dish" symbol alternates red and green showing that it is seeing the signal, but cannot lock on....so anyway, I asked if he could send me a new 8VSB module as that is all I have not tried yet....and he is gonna break the rules and send it directly to me...no installer involved!!!....YAY!!!!!!

He also confirmed that the "scanning" portion of the software dump is in the works and probably april like we have heard....he mentioned this because he thinks once this happens my problem will go away because the receiver is looking for a specific frequency, and is currently off a little bit....but on all channels?...and I am the only one having this problem?....well we will see I guess

 

[subdude212]

Well guys, Voom is installed and looking good! And no I didn't pay for that second line!

Gene:

That's ripping good news, glad you stuck to your guns.

 

[soledade]

I live in San Diego at the bottom of a cul de sac with a hill in the eastern direction. At first I thought this would be a really difficult install but the dish is up on my second floor and signal strength is fine!

Carlos

 

[HD Junkie]

West coast installs

I'm sitting here in Lompoc, Ca. about halfway between LA and SF and right on the Pacific Ocean (actually about 5 miles from the water) and my Voom dish is pointed down from vertical at least 5 degrees!!!! Satellite elevation here is about 16 degrees but I still am getting very good reception overall.
Can't get my only OTA yet, supposed to be a mapping problem, Sean and Wilt are helping me, CSR's haven't done anything but "escalate" and did send my installer back out to verify install: was OK. I've been Vooming since the 10th of Feb.
Everyone here should be made aware of the Voom forum on Yahoo groups.
There is a lot of info there.

Can't watch SD anymore after Voom
Haven't even watched a DVD, either.

 

[HD Junkie]

Satellite Tracker

Very Cool Vince2.
Is new to me. Thanks

 

[GeneWildershair]

Nice to see all the west coast voomers out there!

 

[Ti-maniac]

Actually there is an issue where I am. It snows... alot...sometimes. And VOOM goes out since I am pointing at 15 degrees above the horizon. It has gone out during every storm since November.

During many of my CSR calls, I ask if I may upgrade to a 24" dish to get more gain. Normally it reads about a 50. They say no, of course, but I will probably do it anyway. It happens sometimes in rain as well. I have some pixelation problems with some of the HD channels like HBO. All of this should be attributed to being on the west coast. But its better than living in *******. (Name omited to prevent insulting cities like New York).

They are supposed to swap out the receiver soon, maybe that will help. Because when it snows, you want to watch it.

 

[thetripod]

i live in morro bay, california, which is half way between sf and la. i have nothing to the east of me and i live on a hill. the dish points towards the ground. but, strength is at 55-57. the installer was about to leave my house when he got there, saying it wouldn't work. DO NOT TRUST CRAVE ELECTRONICS!!!! THEY ARE INCOMPETENT.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

Any SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA VOOM installs yet??? If so, please post install experience, signal strength, PQ, and especially OTA success. Thanks!