Did I get the wrong antenna installed??

[talon1189]

I got Voom installed last week and my locals were coming in at a very weak 40-41 signal strengh The installer told me that I needed a bigger antenna due to the weak signal that I was getting. I am only getting 4 channels locally I have a 25 year old roof antenna that I have hooked up to my new 60" Sony TV and get 10 local channels They installed a Sensar 2 from Winegard and is listed on the box for the "green zone" I went to the Antennaweb.org website and entered my info and it says that I need a "red" zone antenna I called Voom service and told them that my locals are weak and hit and miss. My installer told me that I needed to call to get the OK to get a bigger OTA antenna. I called Voom, and they are sending out the local installers on 11/15th. I am kinda new to this whole HD scene and am wondering what I should tell the installer when they arrive on the 15th to assure that I get the proper antenna to recieve more locals? Will this upgrade cost me any out of pocket money? All advice on this matter is greatly appreciated >>>>>>>>>>>Talon

 

[TheTimm]

You could be in for a bit of a battle here. It took me a month or two before I was able to get acceptable local reception from Voom. I was having better luck with rabbit ears than with the antenna Voom installed. It's a good sign that you can get 10 channels with your other antenna (you might just wanna use that one until Voom hooks you up proper). I had trouble getting them to believe that it was possible for me to receive the channels that I wasn't getting with their antenna. It should help you to be able to tell them that you can get 10 channels - just not with their antenna. The good news is that they eventually did get it right and installed a larger antenna that gets the job done, and well. But it took many service calls before they finally got it right. When you get an appointment set up, I'd recommend calling the local installer and telling them the problem directly. Otherwise you run the risk of skipping work just to have a tech come out, look around, and tell you you need a bigger antenna. I'm not trying to scare you here - hopefully everything will go smoothly for you - but be prepared for this to take a while.

 

[The Stone Man]

Each situation is different. TheTimm had one that took a while to resolve. Mine was easy. I had one channel that would not come in well. Called Voom, and they said they would send someone to 'evaluate'. Two days later, a service guy showed up with a new antenna in hand and said he was here to install it. BAM!! 20 minutes later, I had all locals and he took away the old stealth antenna. No $ at all, and I was very pleased with the way they responded and took care of me.

 

[CDH]

Why don't you just connect your 25-year-old antenna to the Voom STB? I have a large antenna in my attic that was there when I bought the house. I didn't even bother having the Voom installer try to put in a new (smaller) antenna, we just used the existing antenna.

With this big old antenna I get more OTA digital channels than I can get analogue ones!

CDH.

 

[talon1189]

Why don't you just connect your 25-year-old antenna to the Voom STB? I have a large antenna in my attic that was there when I bought the house. I didn't even bother having the Voom installer try to put in a new (smaller) antenna, we just used the existing antenna.

With this big old antenna I get more OTA digital channels than I can get analogue ones!

CDH.

If I did this.........my locals would not be in digital would they?

 

[Sean Mota]

If I did this.........my locals would not be in digital would they?

nope... Any antenna can bring in Digital channels... (I think) What you need to be careful is that if whether or not your old antenna is amplified or not. How is your current setup with VOOM and the new antenna. Is there a diplexor?

 

[talon1189]

nope... Any antenna can bring in Digital channels... (I think) What you need to be careful is that if whether or not your old antenna is amplified or not. How is your current setup with VOOM and the new antenna. Is there a diplexor?

My 25 year old antenna is from the Flintstone's era :yikes It is NOT amplified. Is a diplexor the same is an amplifier??

 

[Ilya]

My 25 year old antenna is from the Flintstone's era :yikes It is NOT amplified. Is a diplexor the same is an amplifier??

No, diplexer is a special type of splitter/combiner that is used to combine satellite cable with the cable coming from the OTA antenna into one single cable run. Simply to reduce the number of wires. The second diplexer (usually attached to the back of the STB) splits the two cables at the box.

Your old antenna may work just fine. Give it a try. Antenna itself is not digital (it doesn't do any digital processing). It simply passes signal to the receiver. Since VOOM's receiver only has digital tuner, you will only receive digital stations, even with your old antenna.

 

[talon1189]

The Voom installers came out today as scheduled. Here is what they found. The two MORON's that installed the Dish and antenna 10 day ago put on a standard duplexor The installers switched it for an "ampflied" version and boom.........my OTA signal went from a 42 to a 92 I get all local except 2 that are available in my area. They even relocated the antenna to a higher spot on my roof. We still could not pull these 2 stations. I told them that I get these channels on my old antenna. I put the roof antenna input on to show him. The two channels that were missing came in clear. My 60" Sony TV is only 10 days old and does have a HD decoder inside of it. The 2 channels are broadcast in digital. Does this mean that if a program is broadcast in HD that I will watch these programs from my 25 your old roof antenna because my TV has the HD decoder? The installers told me yes........but I am not sure

 

[TheTimm]

If you're tv has a HD tuner -- yes, you can watch the programs in HD with your old antenna. If you get all the channels you want with the old antenna, you can just run that through your Voom box and forget about the antenna they installed and be good to go. There's nothing special about "digital" antennas. If you can receive the signal, anything works. Like I said, I was getting locals with a fifteen-dollar set of rabbit ears from Radio Shack before I got Voom -- that's how I knew that they should be able to get them with a rooftop antenna (and I made them keep trying till they could - it gets a little old to keep switching inputs on the tv when I'm doing some serious channel surfing!).

 

[SonicRob]

I have a Projector that has S Video, DVI and Component Out can i still receive my local Channels i am going to Install soon. I would hate not to get the locals i could receive the Locals in my bedroom with rabit ears oh well i will find out soon.

 

[Tvlman]

Always use amplification. It helps a great deal. And you'll be surprised how a 20 year old antenna that could barely drag in analogue signals can bring in bright crisp digital signals. Same thing happend to me. I have crisp OTA signals with my old attic antenna and I could barely pull in some of the local analogue stations. Matter of fact, in a test I can switch my antenna from digital to analogue and barely get CBS channel 2 here in L.A. and then swtich back to digital and it comes in clear and bright. Amazing these technicians!

 

[snaggerbob]

I'm getting voom installed on the 8th and they told me i would be getting a channelmaster. I think they said it would be about a 4ft antenna. Is this a good antenna?

 

[The Stone Man]

Channelmaster and Winegard make 8-bay antennas that are good. Sounds like you are getting the Channelmaster 8-bay that looks like a big fly swatter. If it brings in your OTA channels--then it's a good antenna. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you snaggerbob.

 

[Lobstah]

Almost all OTA's are on the UHF band, and are broadcast in digital format. UHF has been around for a LONG time and is not rocket science, it is just being "repurposed". That's why your 25yr old antenna works just fine. And yes, you can hook it up to the VOOM system, which is what I did for my install, since my UHF antenna worked much better than the one that Installs, Inc. brought with them. Keep in mind that UHF is a "line of sight" technology, unlike it's older cousin, VHF (channels 1-13). So your UHF antenna needs to be pointed in the direction of the broadcast towers.

SonicRob,
Yes...you'll be fine. The channels you get have nothing to do with the display device...that's all handled by the VOOM box.

Lob

 

[DarrellP]

Your old antenna MAY NOT WORK. Is it a UHF/VHF? Most digital signal run in the UHF frequency range. If your old antenna was pulling in only Analog channels, it may not work. Are you able to get the channels above 14 on your Sony? If so, you should be ok.

 

[Bob-o]

Hi guys. Anybody had any experience with the new Winegard Square-shooter antenna?
There was a review in this months "The Perfect Vision" magazine. It's a perfect size for me at 16" X 16" X 4". The SS1000 and the ampiflied SS2000.

 

[DarrellP]

I've heard great reviews on it as well. Since we can't get Analog with Voom, the Squareshooter should work since the reviews I read said it is only weak with Channel 2 Analog. Go over to AVSForum in the HDTV Hardware section and search for it.

 

[Bob-o]

Hi Darrell. Thanks for the lead. I knew it had to be over there somewhere.