Washington D.C. Metro area Voomers

[WarrentonHD]

I'm out of Manassas so I don't know what you will be able to get OTA. Have you gone to antennaweb.org yet? As far as your Datalink install goes, reference previous posts about their installers. I would reccomend that you call (1-888-316-4679) and find out who is scheduled to perform your install and make your own decision based on the posts about their installers.

Have been to antennaweb, but all they list for digital is 1 station out of Goldvein. I checked 2150.com/broadcast and they list a lot of digitals, all the DC stations are 39 miles from here, which is just in or out of range of the stealth depending on whether they are uhf or vhf, but 2150 doesn't tell me this.
I already ran a search under Datalink and read both good and bad reviews about them. I tried to call and ask them some questions, but their CS was very unhelpful. I plan on trying again.
Thanks

 

[wasch_24]

Have been to antennaweb, but all they list for digital is 1 station out of Goldvein. I checked 2150.com/broadcast and they list a lot of digitals, all the DC stations are 39 miles from here, which is just in or out of range of the stealth depending on whether they are uhf or vhf, but 2150 doesn't tell me this.
I already ran a search under Datalink and read both good and bad reviews about them. I tried to call and ask them some questions, but their CS was very unhelpful. I plan on trying again.
Thanks

At 39 miles you will be lucky to get OTA with the Stealth. I could only get CBS and NBC out of DC with it and I am only 27 miles away. The whole OTA thing is iffy though. Someone on the other side of my subdivision picked up everything with the Stealth, go figure. Voom upgraded me to the Wineguard 8800 for free and now I get CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, PAX, and PBS. Once installed, call Voom while the installer is there and they may be able to authorize him (hopefully Tod) to install an upgrade over the phone.

 

[jgantert]

At 39 miles you will be lucky to get OTA with the Stealth. I could only get CBS and NBC out of DC with it and I am only 27 miles away. The whole OTA thing is iffy though. Someone on the other side of my subdivision picked up everything with the Stealth, go figure. Voom upgraded me to the Wineguard 8800 for free and now I get CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, PAX, and PBS. Once installed, call Voom while the installer is there and they may be able to authorize him (hopefully Tod) to install an upgrade over the phone.

No WB or UPN? You're going to be missing all of those great Orioles games!

-John

 

[wasch_24]

No WB or UPN? You're going to be missing all of those great Orioles games!

-John

Yeah, I don't get either of those. I don't know why. They are both pretty close to the same azimuth as the others I get. They are both UHF too. I'm not too concerned about it though because I haven't ever watched those two staions, even on cable, and I don't like watching baseball. Although it would be nice to have a couple more HD channels to explore.

 

[Tahoerob]

No WB or UPN? You're going to be missing all of those great Orioles games!

-John

For UPN, you need to be ~ 5 miles form tower!!
You should be able to get WB50.

I am out in Winchester (65 miles from towers) with a Winegard 9095 (highest antenna gain) & I get NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, WETA, & PBS (Front Royal w/ rotor), ABC-Harrisonburg (rotor). I use a Dish 921 for OTA currently, but am reading Voom forums especially since DVR is coming for Voom. I have seen mention that Voom will also authorize a CM 4228. This has the second best antenna gain.

All DC OTA is UHF. Thus, you only need a UHF only antenna & preamp.

www.2150.com/broadcast is the BEST OTA station finder. Follow the links to get your correct lat & long. AS WELL AS correct magnetic variation.

 

[mike528]

For UPN, you need to be ~ 5 miles form tower!!
You should be able to get WB50.

WB50 is not as strong as other DC stations, and UPN 20 is very weak. I live in Arlington (about 3-5 miles from the towers, not quite sure), and did not get UPN 20 or WB50 until I removed the diplexer and got a separate line for my OTA antenna, which boosted my signal a good bit. Hopefully both stations will increase their signal strength over time; I think both of them just did the minimum they needed to get on the air and satisfy the FCC's digital broadcasting requirements.

In terms of content, UPN has very little true HD programming, and all I have seen so far is upconverted programming with black bars on the sides. WB 50 has a good deal of true HD content in prime time, but they seem to cater to the teen demographic, and I rarely watch them. So I would have to say that you guys are not missing all that much (unless you want them for the baseball, or unless someone in your household enjoys watching angst-ridden teenagers with really carefully-groomed hair.)

 

[riffjim4069]

WDCA-DT is currently broadcasting at low power (1.172kW). They are scheduled to build a new DTV antenna and broadcast at full power (500+kW) in 2005. They will be co-located with WTTG-DT (FOX5).

WTTG-DT plans to raise their DTV antenna 200ft. next year. While they are indeed broadcasting at full-power (1000kW), their antenna is side-mounted and on the other side of the tower....which is great if you're in Winchester, not so great if you're down in Fredericksburg.

Also, WUSA and WJLA share the same antenna for both analog and digital. Soon WHUT-DT and WETA-DT will be on the same digital antenna. I think WHUT-DT is currently testing and I think WETA-DT will gain a few more kW and a couple hundred feet???

I'm not a big fan of UPN or WB, but more/more reliable HD content appears to be coming in the near future.

 

[jgantert]

In the Baltimore area, 54 only seems to be SD. I'm not sure about 24 (upn). Its listed as HD, but I dunno...

Can anyone get 11 or 24 right now? Did the storm take them out? I can get 11 on analog, but no 24 on analog or digital.

For me in Baltimore, I can't get 20. But 5 and 50 come in good for me most of the time.

-John

 

[DR J]

Adding ota maps for DC & Baltimore

I live in MD 15 miles off the Capital Beltway. I called VOOM to have them add the ota maps for DC to the channel maps for Baltimore. I got a call back from VOOM, saying that they couldn't do that, because my zip code (20776) was a "Baltimore area" zip code.
What nonsense! I receive ota channels 2,11,13,24,45, and 67(Baltimore). But I also get clear reception of 4,5,7,9,20, and50 (Washington).
Unfortunately, I can only get the VOOM receiver to list 2,11,13, 22 (Annapolis) and 67.
I assume that there is no software capability for the receiver to manually add a station's map.

I was connect by the operators at 1-800-get-VOOM to VOOM's "customer service", which is so overloaded that after repeatedly calling and waiting through the messages, I received the "please leave your phone number & we'll return youe call within 24-48 hours.
I'm still waiting (and probably will be for some time.)
Am I just stuck?
What do I do now?
Do I have any recourse?

 

[jgantert]

Dr J,

I'm in the same boat. Only list Baltimore stations, but I can get DC (much better PQ, btw).

Just wait it out. Manual scanning is "coming real soon now"... "Any day now..." It will allow us to get Balt & DC.

-John

 

[WarrentonHD]

At 39 miles you will be lucky to get OTA with the Stealth. I could only get CBS and NBC out of DC with it and I am only 27 miles away. The whole OTA thing is iffy though. Someone on the other side of my subdivision picked up everything with the Stealth, go figure. Voom upgraded me to the Wineguard 8800 for free and now I get CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, PAX, and PBS. Once installed, call Voom while the installer is there and they may be able to authorize him (hopefully Tod) to install an upgrade over the phone.

Any idea why the person in your subdivision was more successful with the stealth? Is he on higher ground, or less trees/buildings in way? Trying to get an idea what the key factors are for OTA to work. I'm still scheduled to a Tues install, hoping I can persuade them to bring the Wineguard with them and get immediate authorisation for upgrade if the Stealth doesnt work.
Thanks.

 

[DR J]

Thanks for the advice. I'll wait for the manual re-mapping capability.
Hopefully by the time the announced DVR is distributed, this issue will have been successfully adressed.
Thanks again.
DR J

 

[wasch_24]

Any idea why the person in your subdivision was more successful with the stealth? Is he on higher ground, or less trees/buildings in way? Trying to get an idea what the key factors are for OTA to work. I'm still scheduled to a Tues install, hoping I can persuade them to bring the Wineguard with them and get immediate authorisation for upgrade if the Stealth doesnt work.
Thanks.

Nope, I don't know where the house was.

 

[mkrans]

I finally got through to customer service after trying for 3 days, I told them we wanted to cancel our order as it has been over 3 weeks now waiting on the equipment. They explained about why all the delay's, which we understand, however, my biggest concern was the inablility to get to customer service. But...when I called the number for new orders it was picked up on the first ring. Voom offered us two months of free programming to keep the order, so we decided to go ahead and try it, they also are sending an upgraded antennae due to our location (Culpeper, Va.), does anyone have any idea what they will send? The installer seems to think that it won't matter what they send, he thinks we will not get local channels in HD as we are too far out. They say the equipment is supposed to be sent in the next 7 days, we'll see.

 

[wasch_24]

I finally got through to customer service after trying for 3 days, I told them we wanted to cancel our order as it has been over 3 weeks now waiting on the equipment. They explained about why all the delay's, which we understand, however, my biggest concern was the inablility to get to customer service. But...when I called the number for new orders it was picked up on the first ring. Voom offered us two months of free programming to keep the order, so we decided to go ahead and try it, they also are sending an upgraded antennae due to our location (Culpeper, Va.), does anyone have any idea what they will send? The installer seems to think that it won't matter what they send, he thinks we will not get local channels in HD as we are too far out. They say the equipment is supposed to be sent in the next 7 days, we'll see.

From what I've seen and heard it will probably be either the Channel Master 4228 or the Wineguard 8800. Both are UHF 8-bay bow-tie type antennas with at least a 60 mile range. They should work, I am kind of suspicious of the installer. If he has already convinced himself that it won't work then he is not going to try very hard to get anything. If all else fails have him install it and then tweak it yourself. My installer used his cell phone hands free and I sat in front of the TV on the phone letting him know when the signal came in. He said that milimeter changes in the direction the antenna was pointing were making a difference. Most of the DC stations are close together, just hope that you are mapped for DC and not Richomnd. Good luck.

 

[WarrentonHD]

Vooming in Warrenton

Just got set up this morning, great install, and getting all the major OTA channels from DC thru the Wineguard antenna. NBA Finals tonite in HD.

 

[wasch_24]

Just got set up this morning, great install, and getting all the major OTA channels from DC thru the Wineguard antenna. NBA Finals tonite in HD.

That's great news! All the way out in Warrenton, wow! Did the installer use the diplexor- one line into house and STB?

 

[WarrentonHD]

That's great news! All the way out in Warrenton, wow! Did the installer use the diplexor- one line into house and STB?

Installed the diplexor, mainly because I wanted to keep my Adelphia cable service active for a few weeks so I can watch Euro 2004 soccer on PPV . This takes up one of the 2 cable lines into the house. Only alternative would have involved lots of line fishing. Was very happy to get OTA so easily, especially with diplexor. My house is on top of a hill on DC side of town, with not too many trees in DC direction, so am sure all that helped.

 

[FrankJo]

Ok folks, I'm having install on 6/14 by installs inc. I live in PG county, just inside the beltway. Any advice that is particular to our area will be greatly appreciated.

BTW Saw game 2 last night in HD. (I have a Toshiba 51S700 with built in tuner. Best purchase I have ever made. ) Damn, it looked Sweeeeeeet! And DAMN THAT KOBE BRYANT!

 

[FrankJo]

Whoops, forgot something. Has anyone had Satellite Masters do their install? The guy has a 443 are code. Is that Baltimore?