Located in Ballard
Had Voom installed last weekend. I'm getting pixelation in rain and what not so maybe the 30in will help me out as well. Have had 2 installer visists so far and I gave both of them much more 'benefit of doubt' than I should have - the 2nd was stupider that the first - I think I'm DONE dealing with them.
Had a radio shack yagi up on my 2-stry roof (in Ballard just barely north of the locks) into a Samsung for OTA before Voom and got everything except for komo4 and q13. Actually for a while I was getting 13 - apparently they used to broadcast from the ch22 tower as well (and viceversa with 22 being broadcast on the 13 tower) but stopped a while back for some regulatory reason. I wish they'd continue because I just can't seem to get 13 to even BLINK because Magnolia is right in my way - if only I was just little higher and further north..
Anyhow, installernumerouno came out and disconnected my old vhf and the newer yagi and took down the mast - he replaced it with a shorter thicker mast and the POS Winegard antenna that came with Voom- he said it should do as good a job anyhow. I saw it and was skeptical but figured "he does this all the time so must know what he's doing". That was my bad.
Sufficeth to say few of the channels we pulled in with the yagi/Samsung came in with the winegard/motorola and those that did come in after he switched antennas were not reliable - even king5 which had always been rock-solid was heavily pixelated with drop-outs. And the guy LEFT - he LEFT it like that (I had gone to work while my lady stayed home while he was here). He also left me a broken old data jack (that I'd installed near the living room cable outlet previously) and just drilled a new hole next to where I had the damn data jack (phone/cable/cat5) mounted. He must have dropped the DVD player upstairs because hte front faceplate (I noticed much later that night when I went to "straighten" the upstairs motorola box because it sat crooked on the shelf) was nearly popped off and hte metal was dent on top - I managed to pop it back in place and had to fidget with the door a bit to get the dvd tray to open and close completely again. The best part though, and I wish I could've been here, was that he forgot his tools and had to come back from his next install to get them from our porch where my lady left them.
If you're reading this Mr. Installer whose name I'll omit, please figure out that professionalism goes a long way and know that it's a good idea to have more information about your install location and the hardware involved than your customer does.
The second installer who came out to give me the "upgraded" antenna evidentally had zero idea where this antenna was (though Voom scheduled all of it) and let me know that they "only have the supplied one unless tehy buy the upgrade out of pocket" - huh? I don't know and I don't care. In the end (I was at work talking to him on the phone) I told him to get back on the roof and install my old RadioShack yagi and get out of there. My lady was a little pissed even since he spent most of the time gabbing on his cell and when he did get on the roof HE asked HER if it was a directional and if he should "point it... that way?"!! What the hell? He's a satellite/antenna installer and does not know what a directional antenna looks like? An old yagi style that has been around for HOW many years? He was actually amazed at the the reception difference (ooh and awwing when he came back inside) started asking us where we got it and how much and "whoa that's.. that's... whoa".
So now, I get reception as good as I did when I started with the OTA. Satellite is usually in the 80s for signal and could also be improved. I'm thining of putting up a 4228 to pull in Komo - probably still won't get Q13 but at least I'll get the VHF signal from it. But now I've got this short stubby mast they put on my chimney strap.
Ug. All this stuff aside I must say that I'm digging Voom programming - pic is gorgeous and I think there's plenty of selection. Sure the Voom originals are bordering on lame but thye're fun to have and the Voom news sure looks good.
Sorry for the long windedness - had to vent a little - not really disappointed in Voom, mostly just the horrible subcontracting going on with their installations. I KNOW that had I know less than I do, I may have just gottten fed up and cancelled and would've called up Comcast to come out. You know?
Cheers all.
