Pacific Northwest VOOMers!

[SeattleVoomer1]

Just wanted to make sure we had a place for us to post as there are getting to be a bunch of VOOMers out here. And we have plenty of time to watch it in the rain!. OK, OK on the west side of the Cascades anyway.

Watching HDTV via VOOM under clear Seattle skies, Gill

 

[JaydeeD]

No rain here in godforsaken eastern oregon

Not many ota's either....LOL.......and the ones I do have don't have a clue about HD, they just run their analog signal into thier digital transmitter.

But Voom is DA BOMB!!!
Voomin since 11/03

 

[DarrellP]

In Woodburn Voom is coming in loud and clear. All of my OTA digitals except for the FOX 480p widescreen are coming in great. I've reported the channel ommission to voom and Zap2It and they are working on it. I'm using a 24" dish for better reception. So far I have not lost a signal due to rain but it's only rained one day since I've had the service, I'll see how it holds up the next few with the rain moving in.

I just ordered PlayboyHD for those rained-in days ;-)

 

[BlackHitachi]

In Woodburn Voom is coming in loud and clear. All of my OTA digitals except for the FOX 480p widescreen are coming in great. I've reported the channel ommission to voom and Zap2It and they are working on it. I'm using a 24" dish for better reception. So far I have not lost a signal due to rain but it's only rained one day since I've had the service, I'll see how it holds up the next few with the rain moving in.

I just ordered PlayboyHD for those rained-in days ;-)

How is that 24" dish holding up?? I know i need one here in Medford Oregon.. Would like the rest of my locals also but they are working on it..

 

[DarrellP]

It's doing great! Of course, it hasn't rained hard since my install so I'll see how it does come November. My signal strength with the new software is in the 80's. Speaking of 80's, we're going to have some 80 degree days this Easter weekend, Yahoo!!!! Time to break out the hiking boots.

 

[BlackHitachi]

Yea its going to be 80's here too.. Well i get signals in the 83-89 range but it has rained here and signal went down to 70 and picture went out?

 

[shelly]

Darrell and BlackHitachi,

Although I live in CA, I have been getting 95-96 signal, which would seem very high to me, since new software but with very light rain (.01") a few weeks ago, my signal dropped 40 points and I lost reception. Voom is reinstalling a 24" dish for me and I hope it solves the problem.

It is encouraging to hear that your 24" dish is helpful. I wonder if there is more involved, though, especially the angle the dish is aimed to get the 61.5, Mine is just at 15 degrees which is very low on the horizon, and I just get a peek of the 61.5 sat throug an opening in the hills that surround my home.

Shelly

 

[BlackHitachi]

Darrell and BlackHitachi,

Although I live in CA, I have been getting 95-96 signal, which would seem very high to me, since new software but with very light rain (.01") a few weeks ago, my signal dropped 40 points and I lost reception. Voom is reinstalling a 24" dish for me and I hope it solves the problem.

It is encouraging to hear that your 24" dish is helpful. I wonder if there is more involved, though, especially the angle the dish is aimed to get the 61.5, Mine is just at 15 degrees which is very low on the horizon, and I just get a peek of the 61.5 sat throug an opening in the hills that surround my home.

Shelly

Shelly i hope that 24" works for ya!! Please let us know how that goes. I know here in the winter i will need on for sure probaly 30".. I believe you are right about angle!! i am at almost 14. most here are between 13 to 14 in southern oregon. I barley get over the hill east of me. Thank goodness i live on a hill and seriously that that tree on the hill got cut. Dont know how that happend??

 

[DarrellP]

If Voom decides to upgrade everyone to a 30", I'll take them up on it, I know I'll have problems come winter, I always did with Dish.

 

[Taron1]

I’m in Sacramento California and the signal has been inconsistent for the most part. Using the standard 18th dish on a good day,

NO rain, or WIND, the signal: Quality 89 Strength 64 Great Picture

Some wind (not all the time) but: Quality drops in the 70’s Strength 64 or 63 Picture Break up or no picture.

Some light Rain (not all the time) but: Quality drops in the 70’s Strength 64 or 63 Picture Breakup or no picture

April 19th Day TIME Wind Break ups all day.
April 19th Evening Rain and Wind Quality 88, 76 Strength 64 Perfect picture.
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME AT Quality 76 the picture is Perfect.
April 20, 2004 Wind light Rain Quality 89, 90 Strength 64 Perfect picture.


I don’t understand it either but I think the problem is at the transmitter not the individual home. They had to make a change in the transmission because it is working find now with no adjustments.

 

[ct32]

Shoreline, WA here

I understand that VOOM is from 61.5 sat. That would seem to below the horizon for me. Are there alternative sat's for VOOM or is anyone seeing that sat in my area?

I want to VOOM!

 

[analog8]

No VOOM for me in Seattle thanks to their 11 degree Eastern orientation. I am surprised anyone can see it above the treeline!

The installer told me 50% of his installs here aren't working out due to the elevation problem. I hope they add another bird at some point. I guess I'll try Comcast HD for now...

 

[CraziFuzzy]

I have Voom coming in great in bremerton. Even in light rain. Keep in mind, I am at the top of an east facing hill, but I won't complain! The only problem is that I am having trouble pulling in Fox, as it, unlike all the other seattle channels, is actually broadcast out of tacoma, completely different direction. I am looking to throw up a second antenna to pull it in. On a clear day, I don't get Fox at all... On a overcast day, it comes in great! gotta love that reflection!

 

[DarrellP]

Hey Portlanders, our local Fox station is now broadcasting on 12-1, used to be 30-1, so if you are having issues tuning in, do an auto scan, all the Portland stations will now come into the Voom receiver with the autoscan.

Also, Fox is now broadcasting in 720p, getting ready for the 15th HD launch. We should also have UPN firing up HD on the 15th, so get ready for a rocking night of Enterprise.

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Thought I'd post here as well as Yahoo/Voom for ch. 9 users...

[VOOM] A positive story about VOOM & ch. 9 PBS in Seattle!!
Just wanted to let those here in the ch. 9 coverage area that we began
receiving 9-4 HD PBS last Wed. after sereral months without. Those of
you who might have read my previous posts know that we'd received 9-5
HD on 9-2 after 5 PM but around the time of the 6.20 software download
we lost HD on ch. 9.

Due to Wilt passing on the problem to Peter at VOOM headquarters,
visits from an installer and work on the part of Moto engineers we now
have HD from ch. 9 on 9-4 instead of 9-5 (where it resided on our
Samsung STB). I don't know specifically what was done but the Moto
engineers remapped the HD feed on ch. 9 to 9-4 where we now get the
picture. PG remains on 9-5 but we can handle that. I do know that
the engineers at ch. 9 were contacted to help pin down the problem.

Bottom line--VOOM will followup and fix problems. Be persistent, firm
and have a sense of humor when dealing with them. (OK, I admit I lost
it once when talking to a CSR and she started going through the "is
your STB hooked up to the antenna", etc. routine).

Now if we can just get more independent dealers selling VOOM to the
public and a bunch of well placed ads on our local OTA and cable
channels VOOM will keep us entertained for years to come.

Watching HDTV under clear Seattle skies, Gill

 

[venom]

Can someone in Seattle recommend an installer? Read my post on "Customer comments": http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=36929

Any help/advice would be appreciated

 

[hinkpink]

(1st post here on SatelliteGuys. I've had VOOM since March '04.)

Gill, I live in Seattle (Ravenna) and am able to see PBS HD on 9-5 with the 7.26 update. It disappeared somewhere around 6.10 or 6.20. I'm glad to hear VOOM worked with you and PBS to fix your issue.

I was upgraded to the 24" dish due to rain fade. It helped tremendously. For me, I think wind is a bigger factor, as there are some huge trees several blocks SE of our house that blow in the wind and occasionally cause dropouts.

Re: installers, I used Installers, Inc. and they did a fine job. In fact, getting a signal at all was touch and go, but the installer spent a good part of a day getting it to work (it did require a 6-foot mast on my roof -- sigh).

Now if we can just get that DVR...

-Bruce

 

[Flambe]

Hrm... interesting. I never spent much time on 9.5 but I saw what Bruce did - I got 9-5 for a while and then one day it went away. It's now back for me w/ the latest software.

I live in Fremont BTW.

Anyone else having a hard time w/ our local FOX station, KCPQ? Their signal regularly disappears on me (especially during football on Sunday!!!). Very obnoxious - I got a strong steady signal from them with my old regular OTA HDTV receiver before moving to VOOM. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else is seeing problems w/ FOX too.

Thanks,
-F

 

[hinkpink]

Yeah, for me FOX (13-1) comes and goes as well. All the other locals come in fine.

-Bruce

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Hey, Bruce, thanks for the info on the 24" antenna!

Nice to hear that Installs, Inc. did such a great job for you and that they went to the extra trouble of installing that mast. Do you know the name of your installer? We've had good service from Michael Maxwell and Rob Merino although Installs, Inc. says that they haven't been able to deliver our 24" upgrade antenna to Rob and have us scheduled with someone else for next Tues. AM. We'll see if the fourth(!) attempt is a charm.

As to Fox no problems here but if you guys live "behind" Queenanne you might be in its shadow. A check on antennaweb.org should tell you what to expect. We've found that moving our antenna (we have the original Stealth) just a fraction of an inch can make the difference between reception on several stations. I remember Fox being one of them. Good luck.

Watching HDTV under mostly beautiful blue Seattle skies, Gill