Help with OTA Please

[HeavyC]

Okay, I just had a rather frusturating call with the installers that will be coming out in two weeks to try and fix my OTA. They basically called to try and get out of having to come out and work on it at all.

He said that he had his map out and it didn't matter what way they point the anntenna they aren't going to get all of that stations. I told him, which ones I am getting which totally goes against what he's saying, but that didn't matter. Anyway, he's convinced that nothing will work, and I'm convinced that it is not oriented properly. Here's where the towers are in relations to me.

FOX WYZZ 120deg 17.0 Miles (Receiving)
PBS WTVP 211deg 11.1 Miles (Receiving)
CBS WMBD 204deg 09.9 Miles (Not Receiving)
NBC WEEK 206deg 10.5 Miles (Hardly Ever Receive, When I do...Lots of Dropouts)
ABC WHOI 220deg 10.2 Miles (Not Mapped)
UPN WAOE 188deg 08.8 Miles (Receiving)

As you can see, I'm pretty reliably getting in the channels at 120, 188, and 211. I also get them occasionally at 206. If what he's saying is true, I should also be getting in the channel at 204 right now as well, and I'm not getting it at all. I'm convinced it isn't pointed properly since the original installer just gave up and left it pointing whatever direction it ended up poining, but I have some other issues, and I need to know which ones to bring up.

Right now, my signal strength is at 19, and I know it should be higher considering I'm in the middle of farmland and I'm so close to the towers. Here are my questions.

Do I need the amplifier on there?

Should I ask them to take the Diplexer Off (I know some places won't, but they didn't have to run any cable for my install)?

Should I call VOOM and get a different Antenna?

If Yes, which antenna would work well for my situation?

I really don't want a rotor, but is that the only thing that will work?

 

[Sean Mota]

Since you are so close to the power, it should work unless you are getting blocked heavily by something. If I were you I would try without the diplexer first and try to repoint the antenna as well. Also, it will be good to know if the station is transmitting at low or high power. The stealth antenna should be good for your location (just by looking at the miles). I will try both of what I told you. The one that is not mapped to your stb, its no going to show up until Voom adds it but the others that you are getting low signal you should be able to get by repointing or trying without diplexer.

 

[mkatts]

HeavyC, what Ant did they install? It seems that all of your stations are in pretty close proximity to each other so you should be able to find a happy medium to get them all. Where on your house is the ant? I ask becasue mine was first mounted on an eve of house that pointed the ant towards the towers but one of the wings was completley behind the second story wall of the house and the other side was pointed into a tree. I could not get abc, cbs or fox. The installer swore up and down that it didn't matter because " TV waves are just everywhere" But I have the Winegard GS200A and it is bidirectional. My installer did not use the diplexor because I asked him not to. After 5 return visits, I convinced them move the ant up to the highes peak on my house which over shot the trees and roofs and now I get everything with 80-90 signal strength on all ota's. I am 12 miles away from all stations. The installer wanted to install the Winegard Pr-8800 which is a huge ant. 5 feet wide on top of a 3 ft tripod with a 6ft pole on the tripod.

I would try without the diplexor first but if that doesn't work, look to where the ant is mounted.

 

[HeavyC]

Well, what's the best way to approach the isntaller then? I have a two story house. Over the garage, it's only one story, and then the rest of the house is 2. Currently, the dish and antenna are over the garage and not on top of the 2nd story, where I know it would come in better; however, I can't imagine the installer is going to have a ladder high enough to get up there, and I'm not that great with heights so getting up on the roof myself isn't an option.

So I guess here is my second batch of questions for you guys.

1. How can I get them to not use the diplexer? I have a feeling they are going to be resistant to doing that.

2. How can I convince them to move it to the 2nd story of the house instead of the 1st? I have a feeling they aren't going to want to do this at all.

3. Is the amplifier a problem at all? I was reading that when you are close enough to the towers that can cause lots of problems.

At this point, I really feel like I should overcome my fear of heights and just get up there and play with the alignment myself. I just don't have a ladder tall enough to get on top of the garage.

 

[Sean Mota]

You might as well send an email to Wilt Hildenbrand" <wilth@optonline.net>. so that he can assign this to someone that can make sure that the job is done. You are very close to the towers and should have very little reception problems.

 

[mkatts]

You sound almost exactly what my problem was. I am lucky enough though, that the installer could go up to an upsairs bedroom and climb out the window to get on the roof. I think you have to pat extra for the installer to have a 40 ft ladder to get real high. I am 12 miles from the towers, I have an amp and i have no problems.

Wilt is your bet bet. He can get it resolved without a doubt.

 

[HeavyC]

Thanks so much guys!! I just fired off a long email to Wilt explaining the whole situation, and I gave him a link back to this thread. I can't wait to hear what he says. I love VOOM so much since I've had it installed. If I could get this resolved it would be absolutely perfect.

 

[jgantert]

I'ld just go out and hire an antenna guy...

Those boneheads from Installs Inc. couldn't install an OTA antenna if their life depended on it!

-John

 

[slater]

Here's a question, I get locals from Charlotte, NC. My STB downloaded two channels that come from Belmount, NC which I'm having troulble getting one of them. Voom says it's not a Charlotte channel but it's consider a Charlotte channel. DirecTV and Dish have to carry it. If it's not a Charlotte channel than why is it shown on my STB?

 

[Sean Mota]

How far are you from the channels? Are they in the same direction to your location? Go to www.antennaweb.org and select digital only. Get this information and let us know. If the channel is already mapped, you are likely to get it as long as you are within the proximity of the transmitter and you antenna is pointing in the same direction. What antenna are you currently using?

 

[slater]

HI Sean, I live with 50 miles of the tower. I got an antenna at Radio Shack that picks up within 75 miles and had to buy a rotar cause I got towers in two different directions. The channels that I'm talking about come from the same tower cause both channels are owned by the same people. WJZY-UPN46 and WFTV-WWWWB55. 55 broadcast at a lower power and I get it with hardly no problem but 46 I'm starting to have trouble with. Voom says they don't know how I'm getting it but it's part of the Charlotte tv market. They both do broacast in digital and 46-1 has been showing HDNet. Even the cable company carries them in HD.

 

[Sean Mota]

That's very strange since it shows on your PG but yet you can pick it up with your antenna even though it seems like you are doing everything correctly. I wonder if this channel is a part-time channel. Have you contacted the engineers a that tower and find out information that pertains to the power and schedule of this channel?

I do not know if it's possible to get another digital tuner receiver and see if you can get it. Soon VOOM will a software release that will let you do manual scanning. At this point I do not know whether it will help you or not but this release will have the advantage of picking up digital channels from multiple DMAs.

 

[slater]

Sean, I even had people from the station to come to my house and check things out. They brough their own antenna, box and tv and picked it up and even more channels. They even hooked up the Voom STB and everything went well. There are two more things I can try. That is raising it even higher or cut down some tree limbs. Voom wouldn't give my UPN 48 from High Point. They say the gov. sets the channel area cause there in digtial. Thanks for reading my post. If I get this channel in and not lose it than I will be very happy.

 

[Sean Mota]

Voom wouldn't give my UPN 48 from High Point. They say the gov. sets the channel area cause there in digtial.

That's not true. There are CSRs at VOOM that are misinformed and given wrong information to subscribers. Any Over the Air channel, you can pick up through your antenna and there is no government that can prevent that. Do you know the name of the CSR that gave you this information? I like to report this to VOOM so that this can be stopped.

Currently VOOM mapping OTA function cannot map local channels outside what's consider your DMA. For example, here in NYC, I know I can pick up ABC from CT but it's not mapped on my LOCAL VOOM PG. ABC from CT happens to be in a different DMA. On the new software upgrade when manual scanning is released this be an issue.

 

[slater]

Hi Sean, no I didn't remember his name but two CSRs told me that the FCC is the one that sets the stanard areas cause it's a digital channel and not a regular over the air analog (however you spell it). I would like to tell Voom about people getting other channels from different area but they probaly tell me that, I don't know how there getting them bullcrap story. I would like to try other channels. Thanks.

 

[HeavyC]

Well, a guy named Steve from Adanat Wireless in Central Illinois came out today and snagged every single one of my Digital OTA Channels. Thanks everyone for the help, especially to Sean and Wilt.