VOOM STB FAQ (Motorola DSR-550): Post-VOOM Edition

[grey13]

winegard sensar

i am curious how well the "winegard sensar II" antenna will work for analog reception without the voom receiver(1-2 mile unobstructed view of towers). can you you recommend a power inserter? can satellite signal(secondary output from receiver) be diplexed with this amplified signal ?

quoted from earlier reply


Note, that if you do not have a diplexer but have an amplified OTA antenna, you will need to get a power supply (power inserter). Power inserter is normally included with Stealth, but may not be included with other types of antennas, like Winegard Sensar II. The Winegard Sensar II antenna shipped by VOOM normally relies on power comming from the diplexer and doesn't come with a separate power supply, which means you either need to use a diplexer, or you have to buy the power supply yourself.
In a diplexer setup the two connectors are combined with a small square-shaped snap-on diplexer module, and there is only one coax cable for both dish and OTA antenna (see picture below). For OTA-only applications, unlock and then remove the diplexer. (If you have an amplified antenna, make sure you have a stand-alone power supply, as the OTA connection does not supply voltage when the diplexer is removed.)

 

[Ilya]

i am curious how well the "winegard sensar II" antenna will work for analog reception without the voom receiver(1-2 mile unobstructed view of towers). can you you recommend a power inserter?

Here is a power supply that Winegard recommends:


PS-9370

can satellite signal(secondary output from receiver) be diplexed with this amplified signal ?

Not sure if I understand your question correctly, but the power inserter should normally be used when you have a single cable run from the antenna without any diplexers.

 

[grey13]

say tv #1 is running off of sat rec#1 , rec #1 also runs a tv#2 in another room. is it possible to diplex sat rec#1 and the ota signal to run on tv#2 which also has a "voom" receiver.

 

[Ilya]

Ok, so you have an RG6 cable going from your satellite receiver to another room and you are asking if you can combine OTA signal with the receiver output on that cable? Yes, this should be possible, though you cannot use diplexers for that purpose. Diplexers are for combining high-frequency satellite signal with low-frequency OTA signal. In your case, you simply need to insert a single output channel of the receiver between OTA channels (in the same low-frequency range). Some satellite receivers actually have a pass-through input just for that purpose. What kind of receiver do you have?

 

[grey13]

it is a dshnetwork 811. i did try dplexing the signals. only one side of it worked. the dc passive side. would i need a diplexer with two sides that are dc passive? i went to the winegard website to see some specs on the sensar II. not much info on gain etc.

 

[grey13]

another afterthought. should i go with the winegard ps 9370(power supply) should i remove the diplexer from the rear of the voom receiver?

 

[Ilya]

grey13, I am confused a bit. What exactly are you trying to do?
811 is a single-TV receiver and it doesn't have an RF output as far as I know.
How are you going to run TV#2 from it? If you could provide additional details about your current wiriring, it would make it easier for me to answer your questions.

 

[grey13]

i am already running tv #2 thru an rf modulator via composite rca cables. thanks for your patient persistence

 

[Ilya]

I got it now! I didn't realize you were using an RF modulator!
Anyway, as I mentioned above, you cannot use satellite dipexers for combining two UHF/VHF signals. You need something else for that purpose.
A signal combiner, like this one perhaps (you need to find out which one works with your modulator):



Make sure to put the power-inserter before the combiner.
Once the signals are combined you run them to the second TV and then split them there: connecting one cable to the OTA input of the VOOM box (remove the attached diplexer first!), the second connection should go to the TV set directly. The reason you need the second connection is because the signal sent by your RF modulator is analog, not digital. The VOOM box does not have an analog tuner in it, so you need to use the tuner in your TV set to tune to the output of your RF modulator and also to receive analog OTA stations if you want to.

Hope, this helps.

 

[grey13]

sounds good i will try it

 

[grey13]

yet another afterthought. currently the ota antenna is routed through a splitter. will the power supply(winegard ps-3790) work with the splitter or does it need to be removed? also can you recommend a splitter for the signal at tv#2

 

[Ilya]

The splitter is near TV#1, correct? If so, just put the power supply before the splitter (closer to the antenna). There should be no splitters between the power supply and the antenna.
For TV#2 any cable splitter should work, nothing special. Just don't forget to remove the diplexer to avoid any voltage being sent to the splitter.
And again, before you purchase it, make sure the combiner is compatible with your RF modulator. For example, is your modulator set to channel 3?

 

[grey13]

oops did i type splitter? duh! i meant the switch that was in operation with the voom system. any signal split should be after the power supply? so i take it if the rf mod is set to channel 3 then the signal combiner should also modulate to channel 3.

 

[grey13]

i removed the splitter added the signal combiner and the power supply for the winegard ant. everything works perfect except for the multipath but that is a different issue

 

[Hoopnoop]

I now have two Voom boxes set-up at my house thanks to your help Ilya!

There is one area in which I am still confused. I have tried to use the program guide and the program planner without success. Obviously, there is not information downloaded from the satellite but I had assumed in reading the basic discussion of the box at the beginning of this thread that you could somehow still access the guide and do program planning (that it would give you channel listings and times but no program information). Am I wrong about that?

 

[Ilya]

It's been awhile since I touched my VOOM box, but as far as I remember you can open the PG, but it will be empty, since the PG info no longer comes via satellite. So, the PG is pretty much useless now...

 

[Hoopnoop]

Thanks Ilya! I'm primarily wanting to use it for the program planning feature as I have the Voom box outputing to a Pioneer DVR. So, I want to make sure that the Voom boxes changes to a particular channel consistent with the recording that I want. But whenever I call on the program guide for the Voom box it says that it will take a few minutes to download from the satellite but the guide never comes up.

 

[Ilya]

I don't remember if there was a manual timer option somewhere in the menus.

 

[Hoopnoop]

thanks! I will search for a manual timer option and let you know if I find it. Otherwise, I will remain happy with my set-up!

 

[snaggerbob]

Hoopnoop, Is your DVR on the pioneer Tivo? I could do a manual time recording when I had Voom and wanted to record OTA. You had to trick the Tivo but I'm not exactly sure how I did it. I found out how to do it from a thread on this site. Do a Voom Tivo search and see what pops up. I will look also.