Indiana/Indianapolis area VOOMERS

[gross67]

I just had a new OTA antenna installed and am now getting the following stations:
6.1
8.1
8.2
8.3
13.1
13.2
20.1
20.2
59.1

Nine out of the Fifteen listed on my PG. (Not too bad) Is anyone getting any of the others? I'd love to get 4.1 - the Pacers were playing last night and I couldn't watch! My installer said the he hasn't known anyone to get 4.1. Maybe in the future ..... I thought I'd start this thread for all the Hoosiers out there.

Cheers,
James

 

[Sean Mota]

Did you try to see if VOOM is mapping the channel? Do you see it in the PG?

Here's where you check the mapping?

http://tvlistings4.zap2it.com/cabdbs/grid.asp?partner_id=cabdbs

 

[gross67]

Sean,

Yes, the channels do show up on the voom guide - they simply do not come in. Peter Reese from VOOM writes...

James,

Voom web site is based on FCC "digital contours" for each channel, so
if there is any chance that it would be receivable, it will show up
there. Your channel map is limited to a single DMA, so you will see fewer
channels.

We are changing all of this in the next couple of months, when we will
implement off-air scanning. Your box will get a "master map" of
channels in your DMA and surrounding DMAs. The box will then scan frequencies
to see which channels are receivable. Then the installer (or viewer,
subsequent to install) can decide which channels to retain in the map.

This way you don't polute your lineup with a bunch of channels that you
can never receive. In the NY DMA, for instance, there are now 27
off-airs in the map. I doubt that anyone can receive all of these, and many
people only get a handful due to location specifics.

Getting this completed, tested and pushed out is a top priority for us.

Peter

So, hopefully in a month or so we will all have more OTA's and no "NON" chanels on our guide.


Cheers,
James

Did you try to see if VOOM is mapping the channel? Do you see it in the PG?

Here's where you check the mapping?

http://tvlistings4.zap2it.com/cabdbs/grid.asp?partner_id=cabdbs

 

[gross67]

Channels 20.1 and 20.2 are there some times and not others ..... odd, this. I'll have to check the signal strength/power when I tune them in next

JG

 

[gross67]

Any other INDY area viewers out there?

Hey gang, are there any other Indy area viewers out there? I'd like to know what OTA channels you are getting.
Cheers,
JG

 

[ComcastOgre]

If I were to sign up for Voom, could I program WLFI (CBS Lafayette) into the guide? It's not in the Indy DMA, but I KNOW that antenna could get it since it's MUCH closer than the Indy CBS affiliate.

 

[Videofx]

Submit Request

You would have to submit a request or wait until they implement the OTA scanning feature. Right now if its not in the program guide you will not be able to watch it.

Bill

 

[rickaren]

Up and Running in Noblesville

Install late Wednesday night with No Locals. After two days with only 0-4, 0-8 and 10 that for some reason had WRTV on it, and just before I was going to call VOOM performed a "Factory Re-Set" and wow got even more IN Locals than the present print map! Print Map had 18-1 and was not shown on screen. There was 29-1, 30-1 and 30-2 not shown but must be going to add to mapping. ALL the above no signal and I think that is because they are North of Noblesville. Receiving all the others except 4.1 (down for updating and not available on my DirecTV HD E-86 receiver at this time too) and 23.1. Great news since I'm on one line (extra I had installed with building of home with DirecTV- Pegasus HD dish) using the diplexor and no amp! Zip is 46060. Anyone else have Adant Wireless from Chicago do your install? Why not from their Columbus Indiana location for me. Installer, Ira, drove 136 miles one way from Crown Point, IN and didn't arrive here till 5:30 PM and left with Locals not working (did a Factory Re-Set today myself and all of the above then loaded up) till 9:30 PM! Had to be mid-night before he got home. Happy with Stealth Antenna and only one line here and new receiver. Was told if I needed larger antenna and another line to call VOOM and Adant would return. Good thing I had that extra line already installed (have two others to TiVO, one to HD receiver, and one to another TiVO in bedroom) since I doubt the installer would have even started the job so late. Happy with VOOM here!

Rick
Noblesville

 

[StewartFan]

OTA Channels for Terre Haute

Hello I live in the Terre Haute area and at the Zap2it website they only have one channel listed and it is in Champagne IL. 80 miles away!! I have 3 channels right here in town that are Digital channels and one being 1.1 miles from the house. I was wondering who I could write to to get these added to the channel list. For now I have the antenna plugged directly into the TV so I can get my locals. Any help would be appreciated.
Tim

 

[Sean Mota]

Hello I live in the Terre Haute area and at the Zap2it website they only have one channel listed and it is in Champagne IL. 80 miles away!! I have 3 channels right here in town that are Digital channels and one being 1.1 miles from the house. I was wondering who I could write to to get these added to the channel list. For now I have the antenna plugged directly into the TV so I can get my locals. Any help would be appreciated.
Tim

Read this thread and go from here:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=9741

 

[rickaren]

Had Lady Supervisor from Installs Inc.stop in at home here in Noblesville unannounced to check out Voom install. As you can see from my previous post, in this Thread, my install was performed by Adant Wireless out of Chicago. She said Installs Inc. in Indianapolis now can do installs since they have now received training. She took pictures of install and asked if I was satisfied, which I am. She explained how many installers do sub-standard work and have never had anyone oversee their work in the past, even if they have done it for years. They get pretty upset when they are ordered back by her review. I'm in Pegasus Territory and she said that Installs did all of their install work through Radio Shack in the past but since they had problems getting paid by Pegasus, they no longer do that work in Indianapolis. She didn't know about the VOOM rental plan and may explain why they have done several de-installs on VOOM since those that bought may not want to rent instead. She said most had no problems but one got everything except 8.1. I was impressed that after install, VOOM called to asked if I was happy and if everything was O.K. and now the Firm that sub-contracted the install came by to review install. She did find the Dish was not grounded and that my DirecTV was not either. I told her I have never had a Dish grounded owning two on a previous home and have had a whole-house surge protection with insurance @ $1.99 a month (Cinergry PSI behind meter). I asked if there was any improvement if grounded? She said no, so it must be a liability issue with them. Told her I had a claim with Cinergry last year when lighting hit the field behind our home and fried two modems and that I didn't care that both Dishes are not grounded. It sure is nice (don't know how long it will last) to have a Company care about a product you have purchased (rented) something you will not find with Pegasus! I also have not had to contact VOOM with any issue since install! Again try VOOM, I'm happy I did!

 

[rickaren]

Still a problem with VOOM 4-1 but you also still can not receive in HD from DirecTV with an E-86 either. Just received this up-date today.

This is a technical note to all of our 4-1 viewers. In other words, you
watch WTTV's DTV programming on channel 53 from Trafalgar, which is usually
displayed as 4-1, but see below. If you view WTTV's DTV programming on
channel 54 from Windfall (i.e., 29-1) or you can't receive either of these,
you may disregard the rest of this note.

For the past couple of weeks or so, WTTV-DT 53 has been broadcasting the
wrong channel number. You may have noticed that your receiver was
displaying 59-2 instead of 4-1, or it may have refused to tune it
altogether. I have had a couple of emails on this, but nothing specific
enough to help me figure out what the problem was. However, one viewer
began mentioning 59-2 again (which went away on 3/1 officially), and it made
me curious. I checked the data stream on WTTV-DT, and, sure enough, the
channel number was showing 59-2. The problem has now been corrected. The
problem occurred after we shuffled some of our DTV equipment around a couple
weeks ago.

So, if you watch WTTV-DT you should make sure you can still tune it OK. If
not, you may need to do a new channel scan to erase the memory of 59-2 and
get 4-1 back in your list. Or, on many sets you may punch in 53-1 directly
and the receiver will tune to channel 53, decode 4-1, and add it to your
list.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thanks for
watching WTTV-DT.

Rick Poling
RF Supervisor
WTTK-TV 29
WTTK-DT 54
WTTV-TV WB 4
WTTV-DT 53
WXIN-TV FOX 59
WXIN-DT 45

 

[rickaren]

WTTV Channel 4-1 Info:

If you happen to have had HD before VOOM as I did with DirecTV, or your VOOM receiver maps 4-1 (WTTV) and you don't receive a signal, you may never receive one! Before March 1, 2004 this Channel was received on 59-2, and yes I received it. I was confused and thought the Station was working on this issue and it would return. WRONG! Thanks to a great reply (posted below) from Rick Poiling, RF Supervisor of WB4 you may now understand this issue. Hope this helps others.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

59-2 was WTTV's DTV signal for about a year and a half, ending March 1 of this year. This was part of our package to appease the FCC while we built the current low-power DTV stations. The FCC was angry with us because the previous owners of WTTV had not done enough to get their DTV stations built before the May 2002 deadline. So that was not your imagination. But no, it is not coming back on 59-2. There is not enough bandwidth available on WXIN-DT to run 2 HD programs, as I explained in the email you mentioned.

I ran AntennaWeb using the 46060 zip code, and you are right, 4-1 is not listed, nor should it be. WTTV-DT 53 (aka 4-1) does not cover Noblesville. But WTTK-DT 54 (aka 29-1) does, and it is correctly listed by
AntennaWeb.

You will not receive 4-1 in Noblesville anytime soon. That transmitter will always be in Trafalgar, which is a very long reach to you at any power level. Even at the maximized power level we have applied for, you would be at the edge of WTTV-DT's coverage area. You are much closer to our Windfall site than you are to Trafalgar.

You may, however, someday be able to get 29-1. We would like to move this one to Indianapolis, but whether we can or not is up to the FCC and we don't expect a decision anytime soon. But, even if we can't, and had to build a full-power transmitter at Windfall, that would still be your best bet.

You mentioned your directional antennas. Do you know what the front-to-back ratio is? It may be that you can move your antenna just a little and get 29-1 off the back side of the antenna. You'd have a much better chance today of getting 23-1, as they are full power and not far away from you at all (the transmitter is in Strawtown). After looking at your station list that you do receive, it may actually be that your antenna is TOO directional. You really should be able to get 23-1 by sticking a coat hanger up in the air from Noblesville.

Note that WTTV and WTTK are restricted in where their transmitting site can be located, due to the fact that WTTV is licensed to Bloomington and WTTK is licensed to Kokomo. So we must always put a "city grade" signal over those cities. Note that neither station is licensed to Indianapolis, so we can't just move the tower to Indianapolis without proving that we can put a good signal into the "city of license", which in most cases is not possible. So, while you may expect that it would be right for you to be able to get 4-1 just because you get everyone else, there is a reason why that is not a valid expectation.

Now from a business perspective, we'd love to serve the Indianapolis area better. And we'll do everything we can to achieve that better service. But, we also have to do it the realm of the FCC rules and the licenses that we have.

Hope that begins to explain what is going on here. In a nutshell, WTTV/WTTK has been dealt a bad hand when it comes to covering the Indianapolis area. The applications we have on file will make the best of the situation, and if we get to move 29-1 (WTTK-DT) to Indianapolis, that will solve the problem. But we think it may be up to a year before we get an answer on that one.

 

[nicklew98]

We'll give it a try from Bloomington

I joined the Voom Club the other day, get installed on 5/26/04. I hope they send the right antenna, as it is 50 miles to Indy from here.

Can't wait, can't wait!

Follow up 5/20/04, have a company named Magic Satellite out of Indy area doing my install. I take it from their website they normally do Directv.

 

[Silly Rabbit]

Vooming in the Lafayette Area

Install set up for June 2. Anyone else in the Lafayette area have Voom? Wondering what to expect for OTA. I currently use a DST-3000 and Rat Shack roof top antenna with rotor. I get 6,8,13,18, and 59 in digital. Sometimes PBS comes in, but not always. I use to get WB on 59-2, but now I see why it doesn't work anymore. Bummer. Anyone know if the hardware shortage is a problem in this area? I haven't heard anything from Install Inc, but was given an install date by Voom.

Later

 

[finkdogg187]

I am thinking about getting Voom, and I was wandering if (and which) local channels do you get in HD. I know Comcast here in Indy provides NBC & CBS, so I was wandering if Voom provides these too.

 

[cdru]

I am thinking about getting Voom, and I was wandering if (and which) local channels do you get in HD. I know Comcast here in Indy provides NBC & CBS, so I was wandering if Voom provides these too.

I beleive no satellite provider offers HD locals with the exception of CBS HD from NY or LA as a distant net. O&O markets can get the feeds, but Indy isn't one of them.

Edited: Doh. Didn't realize this was page 2. For OTA locals, you get what you can receive with an antenna. Voom doesn't broadcast your locals across the satellite.

 

[nicklew98]

Talked to Magic Satellite, my installer, and they said they have at least 50 Voom installs with no equipment.

This could take a while...

 

[gunny268]

Has anyone had an install in the Bedford, Bloomington area. I'm located 30 miles south of Bloomington so I'm basically halfway between Indy and Louisville. I will be putting up a seperate OTA antenna since my Hitachi 57S700 has a built in OTA tuner. I'm curious as to who will be doing my install on 06/15.

 

[billr]

I live up towards Lebanon and have had Voom for about ten days.
My other OTA tuners (a Samsung sir-t165 and hughes e86) could always lock
in to 6,8,13,20 and 59's digital signals.
I can also get lafayette 18-1 and the 23-1 UPN signals.

If conditions were right, I could also get 4-1, but not consistently.
Gotta point down towards Bloomington, away from Indy, and I
don't have a rotor. This is with a TERK55 (ugh) sitting two stories up.

The voom box's OTA tuner is considerably weaker. It's now difficult
just to get 8-1 to work half the time. Very disappointing, as are
the rain fade problems I'm having.

This weekend I'm putting up a new bowtie from antennasdirect.com
and we'll see if that helps. The Wingard "wing" the voom supplied
is worthless.

Also, because I already had one, the Installer kept the DVI cable
for himself....