South Florida Voom Zone!!!

[truqui]

LMT and Dvlos

I have the Stealth antenna. At the center piece, where the arrow like wings meet, there is a housing in which a card goes. Mine didn't have the amplified card which it's suppose to. The installer has to put together the antenna when he gets it from Voom and he should put this card in. I don't know why mine had a regular card in it.

Don't know anything about the Winegard though.

 

[johnv1970]

Wxel is now digital looks like 4 multi channels 27 is the channel number

 

[wasch_24]

A question about amplification, I have the Wineguard OTA, it's supposed to be better than the stealth, what is the amplification card, and how do you know if it's turned on? ALso what's the range on the Wineguard in terms of miles?

The Winegard GS-2000A (Sensar II) has the power card/board integrated into the antenna and has a range of 10-45 miles for UHF. There are two ways that it receives power. The most popular way, and the way Voom directs it's installer to do, is to use a diplexer so that the voltage from the Voom STB provides the power to both the dish and the antenna. If no diplexer is used then you need to provide a power supply. Winegard sells a 117 VAC power supply specifically intended for that antenna.

EDIT: Voom installers do not receive the power supply, hence the GS-2000A nomenclature.

 

[Dvlos]

Damn!!! I've been wanting the installer upon his next visit to completely nix the diplexer, I think it's causing noise and problems in my setup, however they just moved the OTA to the roof for better reception ( and it worked ). So if I want to nix the diplexer the antenna needs a power source? Which from the looks of the adapted can reside inside the house, and would require more COAX lines to be run back and forth throughout the house?

I still want to ax the diplexer since I'm getting "twinkling" squares on some OTA channels, as well as some random "twinkling" on some of the Sat channels, I really just want to run seperate lines to the receivers. I think it will sharpen up PQ more in the end. Am I following a solid line of thinking here?

Also 10-45 miles is a rather ambigous range there, is 45 like clear skies, no major structures in the way, if that's the case I should be able to hit West Palm Beach channels from Ft. Lauderdale, especially channel 29. Until I moved the OTA to the roof I was having trouble getting channels like 7, and 10 which their towers are like exactly 10-12 miles away. However I do live like 2-3 miles away from Ft. Lauderdale International Airport, and INstalls Inc. said that could be the problem right there. If that's the case, is there a bigger and better OTA that Voom might carry?

 

[wasch_24]

Two lines throughout the house will be required and the power supply would reside in the house. Antenna range quotes cannot be taken at face value. I was originally installed with the Channel Master Stealthtenna which has about the same stated range but at 35 miles away, it wasn't cutting it. I called Voom and explained that the installer had exhausted all options so they scheduled me for the Winegard PR-8800. It isn't powered so no power supply is needed and it has a stated range of like 60 miles. It works perfectly for me now. There really isn't any standard upgrade it seems. Different regions receive different antennas. I guess it probably depends on the local installers source. Generally upgrades are about $60 antennas. I am about 3/4 of a mile from a microwave relay tower for a local airport and I get all major locals, although the TV signal doesn't pass through the microwave beam.

 

[truqui]

What's up with NBC6???

Law & Order SVU started in HD 16:9 up to the first commercial break...then coming back, 4:3 SD Next break back to 16:9 HD...
What's up?
Does anyone know why NBC6 does this? It's happened before...

 

[Dvlos]

truqui, someone in the Programming forum thinks the controller people in the NBC station are asleep at the wheel.

Also what's up with NBC you'd think they'd broadcast as many shows in HD, for crying out loud a regular comedy sitcoms on CBS that really would have little to no benefit being in HD are in HD (which I truly appreciate) and shows like Fear Factor and their Fox competing reality shows are NOT in HD, seems stupid to me by a long shot. Also Fox sucks for staying with the ugly EDTV standard.


Wash, how is the unpowered antenna working? Whats the difference in power/unpowered size? I would imagine that an unpowered 60 mile radius antenna is quite large. Do you know if Voom offers other type of antennas like a true omnidirectional one, or maybe Wineguard's Square Shooter (which I don't think is omnidirectional but sports a more consistent range).

 

[wasch_24]

...Wash, how is the unpowered antenna working? Whats the difference in power/unpowered size? I would imagine that an unpowered 60 mile radius antenna is quite large. Do you know if Voom offers other type of antennas like a true omnidirectional one, or maybe Wineguard's Square Shooter (which I don't think is omnidirectional but sports a more consistent range).

It works great and is really strange looking. Check out this pdf. I'm not sure what Voom's official policy is on what model they give out. It seems to vary by installer. I have heard of a few folks that have used the Square Shooter, most were in the city. I don't know if Voom provided it or if it was their own investment.

 

[Dvlos]

Installs Inc, when I spoke with them a few weeks back asked me if I had a "Square Shooter" until we narrowed it down to which one I had. So I imagine some Voomers may be using the Square Shooter.

Hmm, I may ask about this, I really want all the major network affiliates to come in without dropping problems when they go HD (which I have sometimes) and Channel 29, which is the most up north channel I want due to their programming.

 

[lmtorres]

If you remember, I told the group that after my install the only problem I had was getting ABC and FOX as I could only get sound from each channel, but no picture. Well, today I noticed that the PG was all screwed up. That is, the content didn't match what the program said should be on. I called VOOM CS and they had me reset the receiver after which they "hit" the receiver for me.


The program guide was all straightened out, but in addition I now get ABC and FOX (which were the only two OTA channels I was having a problem with). This is pretty cool and I wanted to let the group know about it in case anyone else has the same type of problem (sound, but no picture). Apparently all it took was a reset and VOOM sending a signal to the box to get it cleared up. I guess I can now cancel the service call I had scheduled for next week to adjust the OTA, although some of my signal strength is not that strong on OTA (50-70) or is that pretty usual?

Still loving it...

LMT

 

[gonzalez6653]

I would not have bought a HDTV at this time if it wern't for VOOM due to the lack of HD programming offered by "any" other delivery service. I guess I'm lucky here in the Boca Raton/Ft.Lauderdale area as both Broward & Palm Beach County OTA network comes in clear, crisp & w/great audio, VOOM HD PQ is Great, SD acceptable ( better than Adelphia Cable & D* which I also still have as backup, just in case) I always have a choice of about 12 HD broadcasts to choose from and am watching stuff I never use to watch cause it looks & sounds so good on HD VOOM... I got on board with Tivo when it first came out and had my share of problems with Tivo in its infancy, I now can't live without Tivo... I feel the same about VOOM, bitch & grip all we want, but there is nowhere else to enjoy this much HD programming with any other provider and thats why, I assume we have HDTVs... I believe VOOM will be the leader in HDTV Satellite Broadcast Market and I'm willing to put up with what mounts up to be "a hill of beans" in the overall benefits VOOM offers HDTV owners.

Running a new Panasonic PT-60LC13 LCD Projection Widescreen, Infinity Speakers, Pioneer 110W 6.1 Dolby Reciever, Panny DVD and of course TIVO... system kicks ass both PQ & Audio... VOOM makes it happen...!!!

Then again thats my opinion, I could be wrong...!!!

 

[truqui]

... I feel the same about VOOM, bitch & grip all we want, but there is nowhere else to enjoy this much HD programming with any other provider and thats why, I assume we have HDTVs... I believe VOOM will be the leader in HDTV Satellite Broadcast Market and I'm willing to put up with what mounts up to be "a hill of beans" in the overall benefits VOOM offers HDTV owners.

I agree 100% with you. I think that's the general felling for all the Voom subscribers. With Voom, I believe we are really taking advantage of what our displays were created for!!!

 

[eatman3]

Having Voom Installed next week in the Stuart/Palm City area. Any and all advice for installation and dish and antenna size needed? Looking forward to all the HD channels. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dvlos]

Welp, I get the tech guy tomorrow, let's see if I can get my OTA and other issues resolved, anyone got Voom in Fort Lauderdale area? Are you normally getting channel 29?

 

[Vlad D]

Anyone having problems with their OTA channels? As of last night I can't get any of my OTA channels. I have previously had no problems with the miami locals. I tried several reboots and still no OTA channels. When I go into the settings menu, it says that my OTA signal is at 0. I wonder if my OTA module crapped out on me? I guess I'll be calling Voom tomorrow to setup a service call.

 

[Dvlos]

Well changing the coax cables really made an improvement although I still don't get channel 7. Second call was opened for this. Vlad... as of this morning all my OTAs have been working great.

 

[Vlad D]

Dvlos,

Last night when I got home from work all of my OTAs miraculously reappeared also. Go figure.

 

[dnyce]

New Voomer

I've had Voom for 21 hours now and love it. I'm in Margate on Sample just west of 441 and I can't get channel 7!! This worries me since the reason I got Voom is to see Football in HD. Is this new version 6.10 have anything to do with my OTA reception??

 

[Dvlos]

dnyce well I have good news and some bad news, FOX here only shows stuff in ED mode (480p at 16x9) so it's not TRUE HD per se, but they are supposed to be upgrading to true HD. If you adjust the antenna and get FOX but lose others, you need an upgraded antenna like I do. I live near the FTL Intnl Airport and it is causing me problems...

 

[cruzer]

Hi all. I'm in Delray Beach and had installation done today. Not really happy with the install guys. They were more interested in getting on to the next job. They only got 1 out of the 3 receivers working. I've since got another one up, but one is still not working.

I'm not getting any OTA channels. I've tried all the 2-69 RF channels and can only get a few to register near 80. But when I scan, I get no channels. I need help!

Voom installers won't be back out here for another 3 days! I think with a little guidance from you guys, I could probably do better job than whoever they send out.

HELP!