No VOOM for me in Seattle

[analog8]

I was all excited about getting VOOM here in Seattle. Installer arrives and it takes him 30 seconds to tell me the 200 ft tall wall of trees to the east makes VOOM a non-starter for anyone in our street.

Why is the #!#@! VOOM satellite at 11 degrees on the Eastern horizon? My neighbours all have Dish or DirecTV which has a clear line of sight to the south, even with plenty of trees. Unfortunately I think VOOM has the clearly superior HD programming option so I am damned if I'm going to spend $$$ on anything else.

Do they have no trees where the VOOM execs come from? Did they get their satellite secondhand in an estate sale?

The installer told me nearly half his VOOM installs here in Seattle are non-starters due to the bird being so low from our perspective (and our copious helping of trees).

Anyone got hard data on VOOM adding another bird? Like one that I can actually see?

Thanks anyway for all your helpful posts in here. I hope someone from VOOM reads this and gets the hint

Frustrated in Seattle

 

[iceshark]

Was your installer Dave in the brown van from DBS out of Oregon?

I am in Marysville and you can read my many posts on installs here in Wa state.

I am my nieghbors all have VoOM and love it.
I had them upgrade to 30inch dish for rain fade problems and now all is grand.

I would have challenged him to make sure you have no way at signal.

Our nieghborhood has wall of tall evergreen trees and I am about 300 ft away from them and have no problem.
I believe either Gene or Portland chap posted a good cheat for looking at possible signal windows.

Take your arm and put it like a clock pointing at about 9.48 and point your finger. If you are able to clear trees on your roof towards the rainbow bird you should at least have them try.

Another thing you can do. If you currently have a dish network reciever or have a friend with one . Put it in installation mode on dish tuning and take a exsisting dish or put on temp up in spot you think can get signal and put reciever on sat 61.5 and see if you can get sat signal. THis is same satellite.

If not I am truelly sorry you are missing VoOm as it rocks.

We are all wishing they had picked a western friendly bird but they didnt.
And the second bird they have is not much better for us here out west.

Hope this helps.

 

[JimP]

We are all wishing they had picked a western friendly bird but they didnt.
And the second bird they have is not much better for us here out west.

Given the wall of trees on my property, I'm able to locate the Voom dish on the back of my house hidden from the street. Both Dish and Direct dishes would have required installations out in the yard, which would have required longer cable runs and additional landscaping to hide them.

So for some of us, the Voom satellite is ideally located.

I do relate to what you're going through. I think I'd try what iceshark suggested about testing reception at 61.5. Otherwise, waiting till Direct, Dish or your cable company catches up with Voom will be your alternatives.

 

[Dapper Dan]

I am a previous Dish customer & just had Voom installed. The installer had trouble finding a strong signal & finally settled on a weak signal strength. He told me to call Voom back tomorrow if the signal strength doesn't improve within a day. I didn't wait to call tomorrow & when I told a Voom rep the problem they said they'll have someone call me in the morning & arrange to get a 30' dish. Right now I'm getting no channels

 

[analog8]

Thanks for the suggestions.

My installer was from DBS but I don't think it was Dave. I didn't catch his name.

My house is three stories, and I have small trees up to my roofline directly behind to the east blocking LOS. A couple of hundred feet away there is another stand of trees (Douglas Firs) which goes up another couple of stories, although there are some breaks in that.

It might be possible if I put it on a pole on my roof at the rear of the house but it is still marginal...seems like a lot of hassle and I wouldn't want to be the one getting up there! I might call VOOM back to see what they think.

 

[vurbano]

a two hundred foot tall wall of trees would be a problem for me on the east coast. LMAO

 

[analog8]

a two hundred foot tall wall of trees would be a problem for me on the east coast. LMAO

It may not quite be 200 ft, but they definitely get that high.

Douglas fir is native to western North America, from Canada south to California and into Mexico.

FAMILY NAMES

Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pseudotsuga douglasii and Pseudotsuga taxifolia of the Family Pinaceae

OTHER NAMES
Douglas fir, British Columbia pine, Columbia pine, Oregon pine, Douglas spruce, yellow spruce, red spruce, Douglastree

HEIGHT/WEIGHT
The average height of the tree is 150 to 200 feet although some trees grow to heights of 300 feet.

Agent Cooper would be proud!