I need good quality diplexer

[Jullius]

Can anyone recommend a good brand of diplexer for FTA and OTA used together? I have some "perfect vision" diplexers I'm using and one of my OTA channels gets lost in the process. I'm hoping maybe a different brand might fix this.

Thanks

 

[zamar23]

May be you need to look through Spitters, Diplexers... thread for that info. But signal loss also depends on other variables in your setup.

 

[guapoharry]

What channel (callsign, city) gets lost?

 

[Jullius]

What channel (callsign, city) gets lost?

It's an ABC channel 19 WXOW out of LaCrescent, MN

 

[McGuyver]

I just bought a set of "Holland" STVC type and they work great (perfect), another brand I tried acted as a short and my receivers didn't boot up.

 

[TRG]

Can you use a diplexer and still run a positioning motor?

 

[McGuyver]

Yes you can, I do...

the Holland STVC diplexer passes upto 24VDC through the satellite port, my Stab HH120 motor works just the same. From everything I've read, this brand is one of the best for the price and least expensive of the better brands. I found mine on ebay for $5.87 total each shipping cost included. 2 would cost you under $12 bucks

 

[Anole]

It's an ABC channel 19 WXOW out of LaCrescent, MN

Go to TV Fool and input your city/state, then get a listing of the channels available.
How strong and what direction is the one you seek?
Perhaps it's weak, or in a different direction from the others you receive?

There is some loss in diplexers, which is why I don't use them.
If you absolutely must, maybe a better antenna or a small amplifier would help, prior to sending the sig to the diplexer on the roof.

Channel 48 UHF is not near the edge of the passband for the diplexers: 674-680 Mhz

 

[Jullius]

I just bought a set of "Holland" STVC type and they work great (perfect), another brand I tried acted as a short and my receivers didn't boot up.

Thanks, I have a couple of Holland diplexers on the way. If that doesn't work I can run another cable, but I was hoping to utilize the existing wiring in the house with the diplexers.

I'll let people know how it works out.

 

[Jullius]

Thanks for the link. That's a neat site.

Go to TV Fool and input your city/state, then get a listing of the channels available.
How strong and what direction is the one you seek?
Perhaps it's weak, or in a different direction from the others you receive?

There is some loss in diplexers, which is why I don't use them.
If you absolutely must, maybe a better antenna or a small amplifier would help, prior to sending the sig to the diplexer on the roof.

Channel 48 UHF is not near the edge of the passband for the diplexers: 674-680 Mhz

 

[walrus1957]

Can you use a diplexer and still run a positioning motor?

I'm using cheap Phillips brand diplexers that I picked up at Menards for $5 a piece. I run my OTA house atenna and my satellite feeds through the diplexer and haven't lost any OTA digital signals so far. My Coolsat and Pansat stbs are feeding motorized signals through the diplexers then through a 4x1 switch to seperate DG380 motors, one that drives a 76cm dish for KU reception and one that drives a 1.2 meter dish for C-band. Inline is also an SW21 switch on the 76cm dish to select circular and linear feeds from the Invacom QPH-031 LNBF.

I have been running this configuration for some time now with no apparent problems or signal lose. So to answer your question, yes you can use a diplexer and still run a motor or several motors.

 

[McGuyver]

My Coolsat and Pansat stbs are feeding motorized signals through the diplexers then through a 4x1 switch to seperate DG380 motors... yes you can use a diplexer and still run a motor or several motors.

Wow, very interesting that you're running motors (plural) on one 4x1 diseqc switch, I remember reading that we should never place the diseqc ahead of the motor, so I myself have configured my setups accordingly. Now hearing your testimony, I'll have to experiment with this concept, I can mix my fixed dishes with the motor using a switch.

And so it's obvious that your stb can assign positions for more than one motor too, this I never ventured in

May I ask what brand/model diseqc are you using with the motors?

 

[walrus1957]

The only problem I had with this setup was using SG2100 motors. No matter what switch I tried to use to seperate the two motors, wether it be an SW21 or a diseqc 4x1 or a 22khz switch, both motors would drive at the same time. I then replaced the SG2100 motors with the DG280s and DG380 models. The system now works with any type switch.

You can use any number of DG280s or 380s, just assign each motor a different port from the switch used. I never did figure out why the signal passes through to an SG2100 motor even when its port from the switch was not selected.

As far as the diseqc brand is concerned, I have used three different brands and they all work (Lava, Chieta, and Coolsat). As to the SW21 switch I have always used the quality Dish Network brand.

I read in numerous posts over the years that you never place a switch before the motor, but what the hey I never was one to follow rules.

Don't get me wrong about the SG2100 motors, I love them, they just won't work when you have two or more of them running off the same 4x1 switch.

 

[McGuyver]

walrus1957,

thanks for the info, these details are helpful indeed. I have only one motor to deal with but the question for me now is; will it work with mixing my Stab HH120 with fixed dishes, this type of configuration takes a turn in another direction. I use the Chieta heavy duty switches in my setups so now I'll have to see if the Stab will work with fixed dishes and a Chieta switch. On the other hand, I recently ordered a Digiwave 8x1 diseqc which hasn't arrived yet, it may act quite differently being that it can work with diseqc 1.0, 1.1 & 1.2 (usals) commands. I have some testing to do. My ultimate goal is to rid of the multiple switches and connections in my multi-dish setup. The Stab is in a stand-alone setup feeding one receiver, this may also reduce the multi-receivers in my living room, LOL... Changing from one receiver to another and switching between my DVD recorder, DVD player, PVR, VCR, a selector switch including the TV inputs using 2, 3, 4 or more remotes is easy for me but it makes it interesting because my wife hasn't a clue how to use the living room HDTV , My dish farm is a jungle right now and much of the cabling can be reduced to a minimum with the 8x1 switch.

 

[McGuyver]

I reconfigured my motor dish setup as I mentioned earlier, I'm mixing fixed dishes with my motor feeding through the "Holland" STVC diplexers and it's working perfectly. I did have a circular LNBF hugging the Linear LNBF on my motor dish for ION TV on 119.o°W using a 22KHz switch, the Linear was on the "22KHz on" port and the circular on the "off" port. Everything worked fine except for the circular feed, the motor seemed to wonder back and forth in the vicinity of the 119 sat as if it was looking for it, occassionally grabbing the signal as it passed it up. So I removed the circular LNBF and the tone switch, all else is just fine. I haven't figured out why the circular feed was confused, maybe another day when I have time.

 

[walrus1957]

I reconfigured my motor dish setup as I mentioned earlier, I'm mixing fixed dishes with my motor feeding through the "Holland" STVC diplexers and it's working perfectly. I did have a circular LNBF hugging the Linear LNBF on my motor dish for ION TV on 119.o°W using a 22KHz switch, the Linear was on the "22KHz on" port and the circular on the "off" port. Everything worked fine except for the circular feed, the motor seemed to wonder back and forth in the vicinity of the 119 sat as if it was looking for it, occassionally grabbing the signal as it passed it up. So I removed the circular LNBF and the tone switch, all else is just fine. I haven't figured out why the circular feed was confused, maybe another day when I have time.

I never had any luck using a 22Khz switch after the motor in the setup you described, would always screw up for some reason. I changed out the 22Khz switch for an SW21 switch and it works just fine.

Here is what I am currently running on one of my setups; From the stb through Phillips Diplexers that combine my OTA and sat signals, then to a Chieta 4x1, port one to a DG380 motor driving a 1.2 meter dish then to a DMX242 LNBF, port 2 to a DG280 motor driving a 76cm dish then to an SW21 switch, port 1 of the SW21 to the Linear port of an Invacom QPH-031 and port 2 of the SW21 to the circular port.

If you ever figure out why the 22Khz switch doesn't work please let me know, I haven't figured that one out yet.

 

[McGuyver]

I never had any luck using a 22Khz switch after the motor in the setup you described, would always screw up for some reason. I changed out the 22Khz switch for an SW21 switch and it works just fine.

Here is what I am currently running on one of my setups; From the stb through Phillips Diplexers that combine my OTA and sat signals, then to a Chieta 4x1, port one to a DG380 motor driving a 1.2 meter dish then to a DMX242 LNBF, port 2 to a DG280 motor driving a 76cm dish then to an SW21 switch, port 1 of the SW21 to the Linear port of an Invacom QPH-031 and port 2 of the SW21 to the circular port.

If you ever figure out why the 22Khz switch doesn't work please let me know, I haven't figured that one out yet.

Wow! my web protection software is detecting malicious content on this website... hmmmmm??? It must be something in the flash ads.

Well, I'll certainly keep you posted when I find out but after thinking about my setup and how I rushed through to get this tested I realized that I may have had a conflict of switches. I didn't mention the Dish' SW21 that I'm using to switch between the motor and the fixed dish. This setup feeds my test room TV and my wife likes to watch the NBC mux on 72W when she's in here smoking her cigs. With the way I have it set up now, if I have the motor aimed at another sat like the 125W and she changes channels to NBC, the motor stays put and she gets a fast channel change to the 72W and a fast channel return for me and the motor won't have to run the length.

The 22khz switch was between the motor and the 2 lnbf's and the SW21 is between the outside diplexer and the motor, I now wonder if there was a conflict of the 22khz and the SW21. the 22khz is a cheapy, no name brand.

The motor worked fine with the 22khz "on" to the linear lnbf but not with the "off" port to the circular. I would've thought that the problem would be with the "on" port being that the "off" side is usually the normally open side like a clear pass through.

Now I'm thinking of trying 2 SW21's (cascaded), one at the lnb's instead of the 22khz. Maybe the problem is with the cheapy 22khz. I'll eventually try one of my Ecoda's too to see how it acts.

 

[Jullius]

Well, it turns out my wiring was to blame. The people who wired the house used cheap twist on f connectors behind the wall plate and didn't ground them properly. Now I can get my OTA and Satellite fine.

 

[McGuyver]

Well, it turns out my wiring was to blame. The people who wired the house used cheap twist on f connectors behind the wall plate and didn't ground them properly. Now I can get my OTA and Satellite fine.

It's good that you discovered the faulty connections, they probably had no idea what they were doing, lol

My Stab HH120 motor came with those twist-on type, so I used the professional RG-6 connecters with the long nut so I can tighten them inside the motor housing, the molded shroud on the motor housing makes it difficult to use connectors with short nuts, you can't get a wrench on 'em.

it doesn't hurt to have extra hardware around like the "Holland" diplexers.