Voom - OTA Antenna Cost / Suggestions?

[415Scope]

The original OTA antenna installed was a Stealth 3010. The OTA ant was placed on the back of my house, barely clearing my roofline. The broadcast tower faces the front of my house. I live only about 5 miles from the broadcast tower, but I do not have a clear shot (some tall buildings in the way). I'm listed as RED according to antennaweb.org. I received 0 OTA channels from the get go, Installer at that time said I had to wait until my box receives the software updates -- very wrong
I was getting in the neighborhood of Off-Air Sig Qual. = 2 – 20 and Off Air Sig Power = 0. I went up to the roof and took off the 3010 from the short mast & lifted it up in the air , according to my wife the Off Air Sig Power jump up. I didn't have her surf the locals at that time. I just wanted to see if my theory of the antenna being too low was correct. When I called Voom & tried to explain all I might need was a taller mast, they wouldn't hear off it and said just wait for a service call. Will after almost 2 weeks & 2 messed up scheduling snafu by Voom, a new installer showed up today. I went through the same theory with the new installer, but he was already prepared to swap out the antenna. The new antenna is a beast, a DB8. It was attached to a 3 ft. pole – oh baby! According to the Installer, this antenna took care of other OTA problems he was called out to fix. Anyways, he takes down the old stealth & re-drills new holes for the DB8. We couldn't check to see if it was working until after 6pm, due to work on the broadcast tower. So he left, and I waiting 2 hours to give the new antenna a shot. Checking the system status for OTA signals, I was disappointed to see the same results as before – OA Sig Qual = 2 -20 and OA Sig. Pow = 0. The thing that got me thinking was the installer was going by his compass direction of 63 degrees, wheres the recommended settings on antennaweb had most of my stations in the 72 degree range. Will up to the roof I go to tweek the antenna. This time I had my cell phone with me to get back results from my wife, who was in the house. As I started turning the antenna my wife said no change. I was about to give up, when I remember someone on this board said to turn it 180 degrees, well low and behold when I did that my wife started yelling out OA Sig Qual = 60 – 70 & QA Sig Power = 45 – 50. It seems the installer placed it backwards.. This would be a happy ending if all my OTA channels came through, but I'm only getting a few channels out of the bunch that I should from the broadcast tower.
So here we go with the questions:
1. Would adding a pre-amplifier to the DB8 help me at all in this case. The RJ cable run is probably less than a 100'
2. The installer did not know how much the DB8 was going to cost me; he said Voom would pick up $60, but according to installer the DB8 costs around $145 (though I see it on the web for bout a $100.). Will and how will I get billed the difference for this?
3. I've read good things about the SS100. Does this model handle obstructions (tall buildings) better than a DB8?

thanks.

 

[The Stone Man]

If you are only 5 miles from the tower, you should not need a pre-amp. The installer had a 50/50 chance to point the new antenna correctly, and blew it. I think your original theory is correct, so here is what I would do.

1. Go to Radio Shack and get a 5 foot extender pole.
2. Call Voom and tell them the new antenna makes no difference. Ask for service.
3. Take down the beast, and re-install the Stealth + extension.
4, Check reception. If no improvement, look at the SquareShooter.

 

[vinnyv07]

I have been trying alot of OTA ant's since the VOOM install and one of them was the DB8. If you are so close to the tower there is no need for an ant of that gain. DB8 is a very powerful Ant which will most likely make matters worse for you. The Stealth actually performed better from my range from the towers and I am 13 miles away. I would try the Stealth again with the preamp...also get the Stealth up as high as you can. I increased my mast from 5 ft to 10ft and it made a difference.

 

[jimmykce1]

I using a Channelmaster 4228 installed in my attic with no amp. All is working fine. Also I am about 20 miles from the tower locations.

 

[DarrellP]

In a thread at AVS dealing with Portland locals, they advised people who are close to the towers to not extend all the elements on a Yagi style antenna because you get too much of a directional gain. The Yagi looks like a "V" tipped on it's side with the open part facing the towers. Leave the innermost fingers folded, do not extend them, this makes the Yagi less directional and you'll pull in more channels.

 

[Seawaves]

Check out the Weingard Square Shooter.

 

[PBHDinSD]

.
1. Go to Radio Shack and get a 5 foot extender pole.
QUOTE]
Lowes has extender poles also. My experience with radio shack is they are almost always more expensive then most places.

 

[415Scope]

Thanks guys for the feedback, so it looks like height vs. size
What's funny is I get some results when I use a simple rabbit ear.. I might borrow my brothers Silver Sensor indoor ant. to see if I get any better results.
Otherwise I'll give the Lowes thing a try this weekend.

Sounds like the DB8 is overkill, since I'm only about 5 miles a way from the broadcast tower. But according to atennaweb, I am in the Red zone. I'll try raising the ant this weekend to see if it improves my reception.

Voom hasn't contacted me on the extra change for the DB8 yet, anyone dealt with this yet?

Question on the Voom box, is there a way to check the sig strenth of each OTA channel without exiting the diagnostic menu?