As mentioned in a previous thread, I have been having signal problems ever since my dish was swapped out for a larger 24' size. The only way I was able to get a good signal was by removing the LNB and temporarily taping it out about 2" from the arm. Today a new installer came out and replaced the entire dish. Now I get a great signal. He said the previous installer was lazy and just bolted the 24" dish onto the old arm (for the original smaller dish)--this results in an improper dish-to-LNB distance as the focal distances are different. So if you're switching to a larger dish...replace the whole antenna! Knowing this would have saved me weeks of frustration!
Important tip for those going to larger dish
- Thread starter Vince2
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No, there were 4 screws that allowed detachment of just the dish. Your existing 24" dish must have the correct length arm. It's when the 24"-er is bolted onto the smaller dish's arm that everything is out of whack. Anyways, mine was probably a rare incident, but worth mentioning.
The larger dish did indeed help. It is difficult to compare numbers since the software upgrade occurred between dishes (they have different scales) but I was unable to get a stable picture until the big dish was up. Now I'm running in the mid 80's for signal quality.
They were going to test even a larger dish with me (30"), but decided it would not work here on the Pacific Northwest since the elevation is so low.
They were going to test even a larger dish with me (30"), but decided it would not work here on the Pacific Northwest since the elevation is so low.
With my 24" I'm getting around 90 on a clear day in the Portland area with an elevation of 11 degrees. 2 nights ago with a light drizzle, my signal was still 86 so I am very happy. I used to lose my Dish signal with a slight rain with the 18".
How much for larger dish
If I am looking to do the rental, and install is free, I take it that the default will be the small dish. How much should I expect to be charged if I opt for the 24" dish? I am in South Dakota so the small dish should work, but I don't want to have to argue for an upgrade later if my signal is poor. How much were others charged (if anything) for the larger dish? Thanks!
If I am looking to do the rental, and install is free, I take it that the default will be the small dish. How much should I expect to be charged if I opt for the 24" dish? I am in South Dakota so the small dish should work, but I don't want to have to argue for an upgrade later if my signal is poor. How much were others charged (if anything) for the larger dish? Thanks!
There were no charges for the larger dish. It's clear that Voom wants everyone to be happy so they will do what is required to be sure your signal is stable. They may opt to install 24" as standard in some areas just to keep costs down (minimize service calls).
Darell: I'm in Portland too. Do you get locals OTA? I'm up in the West hills about a mile from the towers and they go over my head so I don't get much (I removed the stealth and have Comcast limited basic for locals). With the satellite, even when it's clear out my 24" dish hasn't got me into the 90's with SQ yet. Part of the problem is I'm shooting between two trees and am partially blocked. This is where bigger dish helped I think.
Darell: I'm in Portland too. Do you get locals OTA? I'm up in the West hills about a mile from the towers and they go over my head so I don't get much (I removed the stealth and have Comcast limited basic for locals). With the satellite, even when it's clear out my 24" dish hasn't got me into the 90's with SQ yet. Part of the problem is I'm shooting between two trees and am partially blocked. This is where bigger dish helped I think.
Vince, I get all of the locals that are in the guide except for the religious channel at 24? They took out KOAC ch 7, I never got that one either. I've been on them to add Fox WS, talked to a CSR this morning and they said it should be up in a few days. Have you tried pointing different directions or with an omnidirectional to see if you could capture the reflected signals? I'm fortunate to be in the Valley so I have flat land all around me for the most part.
i have problems thie weekend 5/1 and 5/2/04 . call voom and they say anything above 25 is good.thats crazy i am getting maybe 74 and 75 on both sinal power and quality.reading advice from some of my other posts it seems like they really dont know.some people getting well over 80 and 90.
That CSR must have missed the meeting about the new scale since the software upgrade last month. Call back.theman said:
wasch_24 said:
Some of the frustrations we have been going through is that many of us are more knowledgeable about satellite TV than the CSR's. Many of us are electronics geeks to begin with - we're into HDTV and many of us have had satellite TV for years (back 20 years on C-Band for me). Also, by frequenting this board and other web resources, we are up to date on problems and solutions. On the other hand, the CSR's know only what they're told or what they figure out or pass on from their techs. Most places pay CSR's minimal wage and there is high turnover. About the only solution would be for Voom to give the CSR's a solutions database populated with up-to-date (and correct) answers. It can be done, other companies do it...
Voom installed a 18'' dish for me on April 27th, And anyways signal strength started out low like 27, then the installer got it to 55, and then did a factory reset on the box and signal strenth started pinging in at 89-95% signal strength and thats what it has been ever since. And for my ota channels which i only get 3.. NBC, CBS, Fox i get a 77-84% signal strenth. So far pretty consistent.. I wish i could get a couple more locals though... O and my elavation is about 7500 feet... Colorado Springs, Colorado.....
