Alternate distribution method needed

[bnewt]

I need to find a different way to combine dish programming & ota, then send to other rooms via coax. Presently, my dish & ota feeds come into the house separately. They are both amplified separately, then run into a signal combiner, that allows both signals to be run thru a single coax. That is then run to a splitter that feeds 3 tv's. This allows me to watch either the satellite or local programing on any of the tv's. This setup has worked fine for several years. Recently, I have been getting a rolling white (almost transparent) lines in the pictures. This is not a constant problem. It is intermittent. I have tried to switch the splitter, & the signal combiner with no difference. I am next going to try to switch out the satellite amplifier & possibly the dish receiver. When everything is functional, the picture quality is as good via the coax as it is from the composite input. Is there any type of simple distribution setup that will the separate input of satellite & ota signals, combine them & then distribute thru a coax to be used with older tv's?

 

[James Long]

It would be best if you pulled the feed to your satellite receiver off of the feed to the TVs. You can DIPLEX antenna signals with the feed to a single satellite tuner to run them on the same cable, but you need a diplexer at the far end to keep the satellite signal away from the TVs. There is also the issue of the power that your receiver is sending to the lnbs. Without the proper diplexers you could be sending that power into your TV set which can be harmful to the set as well as the receiver.

It would probably help if we knew more about your setup ...
Do you have only one receiver? What model(s)?
What is this "amplifier" that you say you have on the line from the satellite?
What are you using to combine and split the signals? Are they labeled as diplexers or are they common "splitter/combiners" that one can buy at RS/WalMart or the gas station?
What type of LNBs/dish do you have? Dish300? Dish500? Is the DishPro logo on the LNB or is this an older dish?

Can you describe the signal path completely between the dish and the receivers? There is some information in your post, but 'seeing' the entire system may help.

JL

 

[bnewt]

I have dish 500 probably 4 years old, 508 dvr. The feed from the dish comes into the 508. From there the rf signal goes into a radio shack video distribution amp, into a channel 4 signal combiner. The ota feed comes into the house also into channel master video distribution amp, then into the same channel 4 signal combiner. From this signal combiner is a single coax cable that runs to a 3 way splitter. Any of the tv's connected to the splitter can watch the ota locals or the satelllite programming via the rf input. I had this same setup with the old "big" dish and had no problems.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Make sure all your cables running from the 508 to the amplifier, and from the amplifier to the spliter, are good RG-6 cables with a sheild. Cheap RG-59 cables will start doing what you describe after time. Also make sure all connections a tight and there is no corrosion build up. Also make sure that the connections a good "full glass" connections, where the white part of the cable is right at the lip of the connector.

 

[James Long]

Well, bnewt, at least you have the plan done safely. I have a similar system set up for my 501 and it can work well. (We have seen some odd and really bad ways of connecting a dish on these forums.)

JL