Thread: Please check my distribution setup

Hey guys,

Im ready to mount my OTA Antenna on the roof and would like to distribute its signal to my three vip receivers but I have a few questions. My setup is as follows: (Pic Attached). I have three dishes and Sw64 dish legacy switch feeding three receivers about 100' away with four 100' cable runs. I would like to insert/combine/diplex the OTA signal to the three receivers into the existing cable runs.

1. Are these diplexer's OK (or similar)?
Link

2. Can an old 4 way powered CATV work as a distribution amp? Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

I would stay away from using diplexors if at all possible, you may lose a lot of signal by using diplexors but it can work, if the frequency range of that old dist amp is 2-900 mhz it may not work as some digital tv stuff is over 900 mhz, I know that cable tv amps dont work for ota reception.

The SW64 is inappropriate for ViP receivers, if it works at all; it'll require two cable runs to each box, unless you want to give up the second tuner on every box. What you really need is a DPP44 to minimize cable runs. Actually, if you only have three dual-tuner boxes, you really need to either get a 1000.2 or 1000.4 dish. With either of them, you don't require an external switch at all to run three dual-tuner boxes, but you would need three cable entry holes in the house. Then again, you're going to need that anyway, using a pair of SW64s or a single DPP44, so it's a moot point as long as you have LOS to all three orbital locations at one time. You can even insert a 61.5 or 129 wing dish into the "wrong" 1000.x dish if you can't see all orbitals at the same time or your locals aren't standardized yet.

An old CATV distro amp will do the job, but the noise factor may be too high. The single biggest killer with OTA signal is noise, and a 15-year old box that was designed for analog signals is much more likely to hurt reception than help it. Try it without an amplifier first (1*3 splitter only), and then add something like a Motorola inline amp before the splitter if your signals aren't satisfactory. Otherwise, your wiring diagram is right.

As far as DTV being over 900MHz, that's incorrect. The DTV transition actually reduced bandwidth to less than 750MHz in almost every market. Verizon and Dish Network actually own most of that spectrum at this point. Unless you have something in your market broadcasting higher than rf channel 59 (I'm unaware of any markets that do), this is not a concern. Noise factor of your amplifier is much more important than how high it runs.

Cowboy,

My dish setup has been working for a while now. I have to use the Sw64 since my dishes mount legacy lnb's (4 & 5.5' dishes). I only have one dual tuner receiver so I have four tuners in total and the sw64 suits me fine. I just want to distribute OTA without running additional RG6 runs.

I'm sorry, I misread your diagram; I thought that you had a pair of 722s and a 211, not a pair of 211s and a 722. I understand your restrictions with legacy LNBs. The diplexer you have chosen should be just fine. By the way, what is your location?

As far as an amplifier, SatGuys Forum member Splicer has recently turned me on to Motorola's line of amps, which are inexpensive and seem to work well for feeding a distribution system:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Signal-Booster-1-Port-Amplifier/dp/B00122FCRG"]Amazon.com: Motorola Signal Booster 1-Port BDA-S1 Cable Modem TV HDTV Amplifier: Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413%2BLlVDL6L.@@AMEPARAM@@413%2BLlVDL6L[/ame]

Using that in addition to a quality 1-in, 3-out splitter is a much better idea than using an old CATV amp. Or you could spring for the 4-output model:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Signal-Booster-BDA-S4-Amplifier/dp/B000WPGRKK"]Amazon.com: Motorola Signal Booster 4-Port BDA-S4 Cable Modem TV…@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51t9ExrOWhL.@@AMEPARAM@@51t9ExrOWhL[/ame]

If you have an old CATV amp try it some were pretty good it won't cost you any more to try it if it dosen't work then replace it.