splitting uhf signal on dual tuner

[jonathoncasey]

Hi,

I have a dual tuner through Dish Network. My rg 6 cable from each room was all run to outside of my house. From the diplexer outside of my house, I have a three way splitter on the uhf. Well, one television that is connected to the splitter looks fine, however, the other two look horrible. I've tried switching from twist on connectors to professionally installed crimped. I've tried adding a amplifier. I've also tried using a two way splitter instead of a three and it didn't help. How can I get good signal from All televisions on the splitter? Could it be due to the fact that the split occurs on the outside of the house and there is a lot of cable in between the split and the bedroom tvs?

Jonathon

 

[iafirebuff]

How much cable are we talking about? I have my 622 TV 2 out put split to 2 tv's, with about 100' feet of cable involved. I would make sure all connections are good, and done with a decent connector, as well as the splitter, make sure it is a decent one. It might be as simple as your splitter, a connection, cable length or a combination of those.

 

[RandallA]

What channel is TV2 set to? You have to tune all the TVs to that channel. For example if it's set to channel 73 Cable, then all TVs must be set to channel 73.

 

[jonathoncasey]

I have all of them set to channel 73. There is also about forty to fifty feet of cable being split out to each television from the splitter. Does anyone have any advice on what brand of splitter to get? Is radioshack bad? Would a multiswitch be needed in this scenario?

 

[iafirebuff]

I would look at the splitter and the connectors. You don't seem to have too much cable. Radio Shack splitters should be ok. I usually buy bulk from Sadoun.com. How many ports does your splitter have, brand, etc?

 

[jonathoncasey]

It's a radioshack splitter three way

 

[boba]

You don't say what model Dual Tuner you have but I am going to assume you have no TV antenna connected. At the back of the receiver run a cable to a VHF/UHF amplifier then a cable to the diplexer. Set the output channel to the lowest UHF channel you can use on your system (14-69). Also check to see if the installer used the attenuator on the UHF output, if they did remove it and try without the above amplifier.

 

[jonathoncasey]

It's a 322.

 

[skyviewmark]

I have found that some tv's just don't like certain channels. Change your modulator to different channel settings and look at each tv on the channel you choose. I have found that lower channel numbers work better, but this is not always the case.. Find a channel that gives you the bes picture on all 3 tv's.

 

[RandallA]

Could you try it with 2 way splitter and see what happens? My guess it that there is to much loss with the 3 way splitter. IIRC, in the 3 way spliters there is one port with 3.5 dB loss and two with 7.0 dB loss.

 

[bhelms]

Agreed - try lower channels. Attenuation in the cable is worse on the higher frequency channels so a lower frequency channel's signal should be stronger at your remote TVs. That might be enough to make a difference.

How is the signal at the remote TVs if you remove the splitter altogether and send the signal to just one TV? Try each one independently, connected to the source without the splitter.

Also - look at the type of cable you're using. RG-6 is just a type designation but that does not in itself guarantee that it is "quality" (i.e., low loss) cable. You could pick up a good bit of performance by switching to a higher quality RG-6, like Belden 1694A, but be prepared to pay a good bit for that stuff. Find the brand and mpn for the cable you're using and look up its performance, then compare it to something like the Belden type I mentioned...

http://www.belden.com/search/index.cfm?q=RG-6/U

 

[Jared Twomey]

I have found that some tv's just don't like certain channels. Change your modulator to different channel settings and look at each tv on the channel you choose. I have found that lower channel numbers work better, but this is not always the case.. Find a channel that gives you the bes picture on all 3 tv's.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ do that

 

[Pepper]

I found that the "CABLE" channels are at a lower frequency band than the OTA UHF. I was experiencing similar trouble until I switched the output to "CABLE" - channels 100 ~ 110 work fine for me.

 

[jonathoncasey]

I have tried a 2-way splitter, but there was no improvement. Also, if I change the modulator channel, do I need to have it on air or cable?

 

[skyviewmark]

I have tried a 2-way splitter, but there was no improvement. Also, if I change the modulator channel, do I need to have it on air or cable?

I always use air.. But it doesn't matter.. All that matters is that your tv's are set to to same channel and set to air or cable the same as the modulator

 

[jonathoncasey]

I can only get my two tvs to work when they are on either cable 72 or 73. Everything else is static.

 

[skyviewmark]

I have run as many as six tv's off of a 322 without an amplifier so I know that it will work. The key is always to find the one channel that looks the best on each tv. This can take a bit of swapping channels and changing the 322 modulator. Unless your tv's have some kind of problem then you should be able to make it work.. If you are getting one good picture off a splitter then probably your splitter is ok for what you are doing.. You could have bad cable but I doubt it. Connectors are also all important. But back to my original statement, it's all about the channels you select to use. Set your modulator to different channels and go to each tv and try it. Each modern tv has a menu that allows you to choose air or cable. I like to use air because it just seems to work for me.. But irelevent as long as the setting matches that of the modulator of the 322. Then just try different channels. I like 22 or 23 on the air side, but it depends on whether you have any local channels using those frequencies in your area.. Never get your modulator close to anything that can be picked up locally off air. You will get interference even if the channel is very weak. It's a trial and error thing. You just can't give up.

 

[jonathoncasey]

I have tried every possible channel for the modulator and one of the tvs still has fuzzy reception.

 

[rcdallas]

From what it sounds like the diplexers are not hooked up correctly. I've done this myself and have chased my tail.

Double check your configuration - remember in/out - in/out connect together.

 

[jonathoncasey]

Would a monster cable splitter be much better than the radioshack splitter that I already have. I would definitely pay the extra money for better reception.