Connecting digital/analog existing antenna to direct tv cable

[sherjo]

Was told by someone I could use my Mother's older roof antenna and hook it up to the existing direct cable currently connected to their dish. Would like to confirm that this will work, especially that the antenna will pick up digital signals.

Also need to know how to attach the direct tv cable to the older antenna. Attaching picture of antenna, the old end that plugged into the antenna. I see some small wires coming out of the end of this rubber. I do not know where it was attached as it was just left hanging unattached by the Direct TV installers years ago. And the 3rd picture is of the
direct tv cable.

tv cable that is

 

[907TECH]

Sure, you can use that old antenna. There is no such thing as a digital antenna, or an HD antenna, an antenna is an antenna. It is damaged though, the longest element is missing the antenna covers VHF low, VHF high, and UHF. Most likely the damage will not affect you the missing element is for the lower channels of VHF low which is not used much today for OTA. I would suggest replacing the coax between the antenna and your satellite cable with high quality RG-6 Coax, unless you know it is not very old. Depending on what kind of splitter was used by the satellite company, and how many drops you want in your house you may need to install a distribution amplifier, if you only need one TV hooked up that would not be needed. If you provide your zip code your site can be checked to see where the towers are, on what channels, and their strength. You may need a mast mounted preamp depending on the report results. You may want to attach a photo of the satellite splitter that is probably inside the house somewhere where the equipment is located. I am guessing there are good TV signals there since there is no preamp currently but who knows...

 

[Tvland1]

Its kinda hard to tell from the pic but it looks like someone broke the 75ohm connector off the antenna where the cable connects

 

[solarvic]

I would recommend putting a new 75 ohm transformer on your antenna. They are low cost.. The picture looks like its not even connected to the antenna. The end that connects to the antenna has a pig tale that connects to the antenna and you connect the coax wire to the coax end. It depends how far away signals you want to receive but a powered booster on the antenna gets you lots more channels.

 

[Wireless Engineer]

The balun has been torn off the terminals which should be located on the bowtie looking element.
It's missing a VHF reflector but that shouldn't hurt it's performance drastically.
The dish receiver should have a antenna input jack on the back for connecting a outdoor antenna.
If the antenna coax is very old, you are likely going to have to replace it but rg6 is cheap.
That antenna if working properly should out perform most modern antennas.