Thread: can i use an Amplified antenna for OTA

In the dish manual it says you can not use an Amplified antenna. But the research I have done people are using them. I have a radio shack hd antenna with power and amplifier. We have been having problems with the feed on some of the boxes, the sat picture turning black for a sec then coming back or break up of picture and sound on some recorded shows. Could the antenna be causing this because it is amplified? Techs came in twice, the first time they said the lnb was loose so they tightened it, but the problem continued. then they changed the lnb the second time out, but i actually started getting more signal break up on my 612, but it seems the 211k is fine (we have two of each and seems to only happen on certain ones, three have the ota connection). I just unpulged the amplifier to see if things improve and of couse now get no ota signal, just wondering if this is neccerarry or if it could be some other problem. I do also have an extra dish 500 that i got when i bought a fifth receiver (yet to be installed) off of craigs list, wondering if dish would be willing to install for free to get a better signal off one of the sats in case poor signal is one of the problems. We currently have dish 1000 for 61.5, 72, &77, dish 500 for 110 (foreign) with a dp44 switch. Had it for about two months, and the tech installed the ota antenna with the diplexers and all, so i don't think the setup is the issue. And to be clear the picture problems are with the sat channels, not the locals.
Thanks.

Does your diplex filter block the DC on the low side? (OTA antenna side)

The amp/power is connected before the ota line is split, the split signal goes to the diplexers. The ota signal is split 4 times, three go to sat boxes, the other to a dtv converter box for an sd tv we have in the guest room.

this is the antenna we have setup:


I can't post links lol, so here is the model info, its from radio shack and it is setup outside:
HDTV Outdoor/Indoor Antenna
Model: DA-5200 | Catalog #: 15-2186

The OTA antenna is mounted outside with the Dish antenna, the amplifier is also located near the OTA antenna, when you diplex them does your diplex filter block DC on the OTA side?

If it doesn't it should this could be interfering with the SAT side.
If this is the case you could try a DC block on the OTA side.
Hopefully your OTA antenna is easy to access.

i don't think it has a block, just looked that up. Can i put one on before it goes to the splitter which then sends it to the diplexers, or should i get one to connect to each diplexer. The splitter and diplexers are inside so easy to get to. I am guessing the dc block does not allow the power to go into the sat connections and only up to the antenna?

Yes as the name implies it keeps the DC from the amp (in your case) from getting into the common cable between the diplexers.
Also the SAT receiver puts out a DC voltage to control the LNB and you want to keep that away from the OTA side.

I would put one on each side this will also keep the DC from the SAT receiver away from the OTA side.

ok awesome, thanks a lot for your help.

Originally Posted by rcbridge

Yes as the name implies it keeps the DC from the amp (in your case) from getting into the common cable between the diplexers.
Also the SAT receiver puts out a DC voltage to control the LNB and you want to keep that away from the OTA side.

I would put one on each side this will also keep the DC from the SAT receiver away from the OTA side.

They did not have dc blocks at radio shack, so I got a four way splitter without dc pass through. Will this do the same thing as a block?