Pacific Northwest VOOMers!

[hinkpink]

I think the original installer was named Mark. I don't remember the name of the installer who put up the 24" dish, but he was good as well.

So now suddenly CBS (7-1) doesn't come in; I'm wondering if the recent windstorms have moved the antenna a bit.

I've had several lockups lately on 7.26 requiring a reboot. And either rain fade or tress branches blowing have caused the sat. signal to come and go. Sigh. I'm thinking of switching to D* since I have clear line of sight. It's a tough call since I enjoy VOOM programming when it all works.

-Bruce

 

[lblampman]

Thought I'd post over here in the Pacific Northwet section I just signed up at VOOM's website and have a scheduled install for the 23rd between 8am and noon. I'm up here on the north end of Whidbey Island (very close to Deception Pass).

I've already got E* and I'm hoping VOOM does well enough that I'll be able to them. I'm not particularly unhappy with E* but I would like more HD and E* doesn't seem to be coming up with any more in the immediate future. They also have an impeding change from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 and I'm sure that'll hold things back until that fiasco is over with...could be a long process.

From reading on the forums here it seems VOOM hasn't been a bed of roses but I'm hoping for the best! I'm a bit concerned about seeing the "way over yonder" satellite and rain fade but I'm never going to know unless we try it.

Thanks Gill for being the voice of reason; I've read many, many of your posts and I probably wouldn't have made the choice without your (mostly) calm reasoning...even in the face of mutliple "no shows" for your larger dish. :up

Now we'll wait a week or so and see how it goes! :shocked

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Hey, Bruce, just thought I'd let you know that we "lost" 7-1 when we went to it Mon. evening. Finally, called yesterday and found the digital transmission is down for "routine maintainance" until "Saturday or Sunday".

And, Les, thanks for the kind words. Just posted to you on the "Customer Comments" section I believe giving you a few pointers. Make sure they are bringing you a 24" dish.
With your location on the north end of Whidbey (near one of my most favorite spots in the world-Deception Pass!) I don't know what locals you will get but antennaweb.org can help.

Again, good luck.

Geez, way to late listening to Sounds of the Season on VOOM, Gill

 

[hinkpink]

Thanks for the tip re: CBS. I thought something was weird since all the others are coming in fine.

-Bruce

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Hey, guys and gals, we got our 24" antenna upgrade yesterday. Yes, it was the SEVENTH scheduled service call but our persistence and, finally, good followup from the good folks at VOOM and Installs, Inc. got the job done. Now we have to test it and with rain promised (!) for Christmas it looks like we'll get our chance. So far a steady 97 with occasionally going to 96 or 98.

Now when we get the new software download we'll really be in business!

Merry Christmas!

Listening to seasonal music on KING-FM rather than watching HDTV under lowering Seattle skies, Gill

P.S.: Actually, I love snow and was hoping against hope we might get some for Christmas but as you know that is a very rare event in Seattle. Now Spokane...that is another story.

 

[chickentender]

New Voom user out in Ballard here - Previously I've been pulling in OTA channels for about 2 years and finally decided I really missed Sci-Fi and Discovery etc..

I posted my installation woes here http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=14048 so I won't go into that.

I'm just a block above the Ballard locks so I'm FIRMLY in the Magnolia shadow and have yet to pull in Fox. Just ordered a Channel Master 4228 so maybe that'll help me out there. The other oddity though is that I've NEVER been able to pull in KOMO-4 despite my efforts. Occasionally I can get a "blip" of signal while trying to tune it in but it's never enough to draw a picture on the screen. It transmits from teh same towers as King and Kiro and the ONLY explanation that seems valid is some report I read months and months ago about it being slightly less powered than the other two and that it's HD antenna is side-mounted on the tower and oriented to the SouthEast, which is precisely the opposite direction from me. The post I read said this creates a very narrow shadow from teh tower which gradually expands up toward Port Townsend. If that's true I'd be smack-dab in the middle of that shadow. I don't know - when Im up on the roof I can see the towers as clear as day off to the SE, so who knows. I'm hoping the gain from the 4228 will finally pull it in. (I'm using a radioshack yagi at the moment which the 2nd installer put back on, at my VERY firm request, to replace the Winegard Voom supplied because it worked for crap).

I am getting a bit of rain fade but reading posts here it sounds like an upgraded dish could cure that problem. I think I'll give Voom ANOTHER call today.

Cheers to you HD freaks around here.

CT in Ballard

 

[calypsocowboy]

Any Idaho Voomers?

 

[rvsixer]

Any Idaho Voomers?

I know there's a couple of 'em around here.

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Hey, chickentender,
Strange about ch. 4. Have you called KOMO and asked to talk to the engineer? When we had trouble with ch. 9-5 I called and got their head engineer right away. He worked with a VOOM engineer to get us back to receiving ch. 9-5. It's possible the ch. 4 signal is overloading the system and cutting off the signal. In addition, you might want to post this problem over on VOOM/Yahoo as Wilt, VP for engineering, keeps tabs on posts there and is excellent with follow through on unusual problems.

And, yes, a 24" antenna should solve your rain fade problem. We've had ours about a month and had sporatic problems for less than 30 min. during our recent days long downpour.

Watching Equator HD (stunning PQ) under cloudy Seattle skies, Gill

 

[chickentender]

Thanks Gill. Looks like the Yahoo group is members only so I'm waiting on that, but I'll check it out.

*EDIT* Nevermind - I found the forum in the main index - didn't notice it before.

 

[CraziFuzzy]

KOMO broadcasts in a very odd pattern, it is just as strong, and in the same location as most of the seattle stations, but it is broadcast directionally to the east, I guess trying to get it over the mountains some. Us out in bremerton are directly behind the transmission direction, so we only barely pull it in. With a big UHF directional antenna I've been able to get it in, but it is still the weakest station.

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Very interesting, CraziFuzzy. Where did you find out this info? It would be interesting to know for all the stations. I'd guess they push the signal east covering the Bellevue and east King Co. as there is more "money" out there and likely more HDTVs. But living down south in White Center we get KOMO just fine.

Still enjoying HDTV under partly cloudy (snow tonight?) Seattle skies, Gill

 

[iceshark]

Its not a VOOM only thing about KOMO 4. I am in Marysville and my cm big ol double flyswatter OFA has been getting 4-5-7-9-11-13-16 and UHF digitals with no problem for over a year on my VOom, I also now have a DISH 921 and it picks up analog as well as digital. it was getting even more channels. Now in the last week I have lost 4-1, 4-2 on both recievers. Kinda sucks.
hope what ever it is gets fixed.
One thing I can tell you that my dish gets differnet then my voom is channel 7-2 It appears to be a 24 hour feed of a cam on Seattle airport. Also I used to have channel 5-1 and 5-2 showing same thing. Not 5-2 is KinG weather all the time.

 

[odzbodkins]

I have an 8ft. directional antenna and sit above Lake Sammamish(Seattle area) with antenna pointing towards Queen Anne towers. I get:
4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, 9.1 ,.2, .3, .5, 11.1
13.1, .16.1, 22.1, 28.1, 28.2, 28.3, 28.4, 33.1, 45.1, 51.1 ,that's 20 locals.
If your screen comes up with :"no signal received.." when scanning, you can sometimes press Voom, and then watch, and it will appear. Channel 7 does this quite a bit and others. Buggy boxes, horrible installs, but I'd still kill to keep my Vavavoom. Odz

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Hey, iceshark, Over the weekend read that since DTV isn't taking off in the direction ABC would like that they are/were dropping their 24 hours news channel which as you know is 4-2 in our aread. It's been missing in action for about a week at our house. Haven't tried a rescan as we never watched it.

Still enjoying HDTV under mostly sunny Seattle skies, Gill

 

[dave7002]

Fox 13

Well, I totally lost Fox 13 (18.1) Sunday, so I missed the Super Bowl. I tried everything to regain signal, but no luck. All other OTA's where perfect. Any solutions?

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Rainfade in the Pacific Northwest is a problem of the past!

Since we don't get rain here anymore VOOM can save a bundle of money by not having to do any more antenna upgrades.

And no more program interruptions!

Take that you Southern Californians!

Still enjoying HDTV under clear and rainfadeless Seattle skies, Gill

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Thought you'll out here in the Pacific Northwest might...

like to see what I posted to "thegrod" over on the VOOM/Yahoo forum where we've had some discussion concerning calibrating your TV and/or projection system:

"And the conclusion is Wow! Colors which were a strength of the
Sim2Seleco before are more so now with the reds appearing "right".
Shadow detail on LOTR is much improved. Skin tones are natural. Hot
spotting on foreheads has disappeared. Detail in the snow scenes of
the LOTR is much better. Haven't taken the time yet to check clouds
and snow in bright sunshine--before it was washed out.

That's it so far. Will post further thoughts in a few days. Better
post some of this on satguys In Your Area forum. If someone asks I'll
tell them who the tech was who did our projector. He took about 2 1/2
hours and said that it varies from 2-3 typically. Charges $250 but
that is a relatively small amount for something that is watched hours
every evening and on a 96" screen with an elaborate surround system.

Still enjoying HDTV even through the artifacts on Starz LOTR under
mostly clear Seattle skies, Gill"

And still enjoying HDTV under mostly clear (but we're promised rain tomorrow night and Wed.!) Seattle skies, Gill