Terk TV42 Antenna with a switch

[CygnusTM]

I'm getting DTV installed tomorrow. My set up will be 4 rooms including a dual-tuner Tivo, so they will be installing a 4x8 switch. I also bought a Terk TV42 antenna to use with the new setup. (So I can get Canadian OTA channels.) It just ocurred to me that the switch complicates the installation. Am I right in assuming that I need to separate the OTA signal from the satellite signal before it hits the switch?

 

[joedekock]

I'm getting DTV installed tomorrow. My set up will be 4 rooms including a dual-tuner Tivo, so they will be installing a 4x8 switch. I also bought a Terk TV42 antenna to use with the new setup. (So I can get Canadian OTA channels.) It just ocurred to me that the switch complicates the installation. Am I right in assuming that I need to separate the OTA signal from the satellite signal before it hits the switch?

No... you seperate them just before your recievers with a . I also don't know your situation, but I tried this antenna out and it did not work at all. For the available 9 cahnnels in my area, it only picked up 2, and the two it picked up were not very clear at all. My situation is that the tv towers I needed to come off of were more from the North and South and at the most 18 miles away. The sat dishes pointing south west, mean that the antenna is going to be mounted on the dish facing more East and West. Hence probably why I was not able to get a strong enough signal on all the channels. I have heard the same about others who have tried using this antenna.

 

[CygnusTM]

No... you seperate them just before your recievers with a .

I'm going to assume the word "diplexer" is missing there. So, I think you are saying that if the OTA signal was diplexed (is that a word?) into all four lines coming into the switch, then I would just need a diplexer before each receiver to split it out again. The switch wouldn't lose or mess up the combined signals.

If that's true, the problem is that the TV42 only supports two outputs. So, if I want OTA on all TVs I'm going to have to split out the OTA signal before the switch, split it four ways and use diplexers to send them to each TV again. This is going to be complicated. If I had a TV44 (that has four outputs) I could set it up as described above.

 

[joedekock]

I'm going to assume the word "diplexer" is missing there. So, I think you are saying that if the OTA signal was diplexed (is that a word?) into all four lines coming into the switch, then I would just need a diplexer before each receiver to split it out again. The switch wouldn't lose or mess up the combined signals.

If that's true, the problem is that the TV42 only supports two outputs. So, if I want OTA on all TVs I'm going to have to split out the OTA signal before the switch, split it four ways and use diplexers to send them to each TV again. This is going to be complicated. If I had a TV44 (that has four outputs) I could set it up as described above.

No.. your switch should have just one input for off air and two or three for satellite. Correct?

 

[boba]

You need a 5 X 8 switch and 4 diplexers or the 4 X 8 and 8 diplexers with some messy wiring and a 4way splitter on the TV antenna line.

 

[CygnusTM]

No.. your switch should have just one input for off air and two or three for satellite. Correct?

No, that would be a 5x8 switch. I have a 4x8.

You need a 5 X 8 switch and 4 diplexers or the 4 X 8 and 8 diplexers with some messy wiring and a 4way splitter on the TV antenna line.

Got it hooked up yesterday, and when you combine the new OTA antenna distribution with the existing PVR output distribution, it is quite a mess indeed. I still need to pick up some more diplexers and combiners to finish it all off.

Thanks to all for the input.