942 and Powered OTA from VOOM (Wineguard Sensor II) ?

[bookwalk]

The Wineguard Sensor II (amplified via 12 volts from VOOM box)--if it can be used to integrate with the new 942 HD-DVR, does the 942 pass 12 volts to it like the VOOM box or how will the OTA antenna be connected?

Is this something the Dish Installers will try to fix, or do I need to be finding another amplifier for this Antenna before the 942 gets installed? Will they charge extra for hooking up the OTA--or moving it as it is where the 2nd Dishnet Dish will go?

How should this be set up? Separate coax from the OTA through a power amp, then to the 942 or?

 

[rickaren]

I second this request> Have my install scheduled for the 13th, and have just ran four additional (some extra) R-6 cables to supply video feed from two new DISH antennas. Plan to keep my VOOM OTA antenna on separate cable, that is still connected to my VOOM receiver and dish, and works great. How have new DVR 942 owners hooked their units to an OTA antenna? Sure there will be a lot of us Ex-Voomers wanting to know what works. THANKS!

 

[shanewalker]

I'm currently in the midst of trying to get my OTA (5ft Winegard antenna, unpowered) to work properly on my new 942. The E* boxes do NOT supply power, as far as I know. I just had my first follow-up service visit since my install last weekend, whereupon the tech checked all my connections/diplexer hardware...still dropping out/pixellating on several channels, channels that come in just fine in the two other rooms on 811 recievers.

The issue seems to be either tuning software related (not properly filtering, etc.), or 942 tuner hardware related. It's been suggested that it may be quite sensitive to mulitpath interference when the OTA and satellite signals go through diplexers...which is my current setup. I have a 2nd follow-up service call where both the subcontractor and the E* CSR seem to be on board with running a separate antenna line down and running through a new wall-punch so as to avoid multipath on the antenna in.

I hope this works and the installer does things right...seems every one has complained they don't have time/equipment to do things to the full degree (reason today's visit was unresolved). I also hope that putting a splitter on the antenna on the roof doesn't cut the signal too bad, i.e. cut lock on all rooms. Other postings suggest this is probably the issue/fix path for the 942 OTA issues you're wary of. I tried to be clear with E* CSRs prior to my install, but seems their arrangement with installer subs is all about volume and not about getting the details right.

I hope for all of us coming off of a seamless Voom OTA integration experience that the 942 and Dish don't let us down. The 942 DVR functionality is great and I've watched a couple of recordings so far that looked stunning, so if we can get this OTA issue then E* will have some happy ex-V* customers and some glowing word-of-mouth.

 

[Minsk1]

No,

you will need a separate power supply. I did temporarily disconnected the signal input box from Voom receiver. Then connect antenna output to 942 OTA input, satellite output to Voom satellite input. Turn on Voom box - you have your PS. It works well with very good OTA tuner at 942. However, OTA tuner for 811 is not as good. In my case it breaks on two low power chanells. So I end up using Voom box for OTA instead 811. That is OK for now until all stations go full power.
Also I am going away from this Voom antenna. I installed Chanell Master 4228 in the attic and it is great. Got all locals as Voom rooftop antenna. But the same problem with 811 remains.

 

[Brad37]

This is my first post so I hope I'm doing it right. I had a 942 installed a week ago and the OTA input is labeled 12 V, 150 mAmps. The antenna is the standard powered one supplied by Voom. I disconnected the Voom LNB from the switch at the dish, left the OTA antenna connected and moved the cable from the Voom receiver to the OTA input of the 942. It works at least as well as with the Voom receiver. One channel that came in sometimes with the Voom receiver locks in all the time with the 942 but another channel that was good with Voom breaks up with the 942. All other channels are the same. Picture quality is better with the 942 on both standard and high definition broadcast than with the Voom receiver. I don't have the Voom channels yet so I can't compare picture quality between Voom and E*.

Brad

 

[shanewalker]

Those of you having good luck with the 942 tuner...are you diplexing? If not, how are you wiring to your 942 to your antenna and sat for the 942s two tuners and other rooms as well? Seems like a LOT of wires.

My signal strengths are fine (in fact, one key channel that won't come in clear is consistently at 94 strength), so I don't think I need to amp the antenna, but I'm still getting lost locks and block scrambling--which suggests that the assertions that it is sensitive to the multipath interference may be the culprit.

 

[BrianK]

I'm using the ChannelMaster diplexer from my Voom install and then a single wire each to the 942 and 625 with separators. The Dish tech originally installed a new diplexer but I wasn't able to pull in all my locals so I moved everything back to the old diplexer so I could get power to the antenna. For me, the 942 OTA tuner seems to do a better job of pulling in the local stations.

This will only work this way if you have two receivers or less. Hope this helps!

 

[shanewalker]

Yeah, I have 3 receivers, so I suppose you're saying that your setup won't work for me. And, I'm surprised, that the V* issue diplexer will work with the 942? The original installer pulled it and it's sitting in my basement as I type...he insisted that it WOULDN'T work. Maybe he meant with the number of rooms, y'think? How would I have to have them rig things with a 942 and two 811s? Two diplexers, one for the 811s (their issue) and one for the 942, split from the antenna on the roof? Or should I split from the antenna, run one feed through the existing diplexer that feeds the line running to the 811s, then from the other split feed straight antenna to the 942, with two parallel lines from the LNB for each tuner?

Sorry, but this is new territory for me and it'll be the installers 3rd trip out and I want it to work this time...Thanks in advance.

 

[bookwalk]

This is my first post so I hope I'm doing it right. I had a 942 installed a week ago and the OTA input is labeled 12 V, 150 mAmps. The antenna is the standard powered one supplied by Voom. I disconnected the Voom LNB from the switch at the dish, left the OTA antenna connected and moved the cable from the Voom receiver to the OTA input of the 942.
It works at least as well as with the Voom receiver. One channel that came in sometimes with the Voom receiver locks in all the time with the 942 but another channel that was good with Voom breaks up with the 942. All other channels are the same. Picture quality is better with the 942 on both standard and high definition broadcast than with the Voom receiver. I don't have the Voom channels yet so I can't compare picture quality between Voom and E*.

Brad

So the VOOM receiver is not even in the setup at all? Since you said you moved the input coax cable that was plugged into the back of the Voom box over to the OTA input of the 942? So, the power IS coming from the 942--but there is still a diplexer out at the OTA antenna, with the wiring that was disconnected from the VOOM dish LNB? Anyway to make a drawing and post it here or email to me?

 

[Brad37]

Bookwalk,

That's right. The Voom receiver is out of the circuit and the power comes from the 942. I have not directly checked for 12 volts at the connector but the antenna works as it did with the Voom receiver and, as I previously said, 12 V, 150 mAmps is written below the connector. The coax from the antenna goes to the Channel Master 4032IFD diplexer at the Voom dish and the coax from the diplexer goes to the TV Antenna/"Cable in" connector on the 942. The coax from the LNB is disconnected. After the local channel scan, I had the same 15 channels that I had with Voom. I asked the E* installer if the connector was powered and he didn't know. It was the first 942 he had installed so we walked through it together. The installer did an excellent job, by the way.

 

[BrianK]

shanewalker,

I'm no expert either. All I know is this is what is working for me.

As for the diplexer, a diplexer is a diplexer, right? As long as they both have the same stated bandwith one should be as good as the other... or I could be frying my 942 and not know it!

On my 942 I have one cable coming in from outside and then a diplexer for the satellite and OTA and then a separator for the satellite feed to both tuners.

 

[bookwalk]

Bookwalk,

That's right. The Voom receiver is out of the circuit and the power comes from the 942. I have not directly checked for 12 volts at the connector but the antenna works as it did with the Voom receiver and, as I previously said, 12 V, 150 mAmps is written below the connector. The coax from the antenna goes to the Channel Master 4032IFD diplexer at the Voom dish and the coax from the diplexer goes to the TV Antenna/"Cable in" connector on the 942. The coax from the LNB is disconnected. After the local channel scan, I had the same 15 channels that I had with Voom. I asked the E* installer if the connector was powered and he didn't know. It was the first 942 he had installed so we walked through it together. The installer did an excellent job, by the way.

So this whole setup is entirely unconnected to the new Dish satellites--i.e. a separate input is on the 942 for the OTA antenna coming from the diplexer/OTA setup and then the separate input from the Dish satellite itself? So there is no diplexer combiner as was the case with the VOOM box--as there was only one input for that box?

I don't have the 942 yet, so am just guessing at how it is set up. Again, then, the diplexer out at the OTA Wineguard antenna is ONLY connected to the coax coming into the 942 and NOT to the Dish satellite system? Why is the diplexer left in place at the OTA if it is not being used with the Dish satellite system?

 

[Brad37]

Bookwalk,

The diplexer is left in place only because I haven't had time to run a continuous cable from the antenna to the receiver. I'm using the existing cables from the Voom installation. The OTA antenna is on the roof, the dish is on the deck and the diplexer is straped to the dish mount. Neither existing cable is long enough to reach from the receiver to the OTA antenna. At this time the diplexer is functioning as nothing more than a splice between two lengths of cable.

 

[bookwalk]

Bookwalk,

The diplexer is left in place only because I haven't had time to run a continuous cable from the antenna to the receiver. I'm using the existing cables from the Voom installation. The OTA antenna is on the roof, the dish is on the deck and the diplexer is straped to the dish mount. Neither existing cable is long enough to reach from the receiver to the OTA antenna. At this time the diplexer is functioning as nothing more than a splice between two lengths of cable.

OOOOOOKKKKK--great--we can take the diplexer out, as I assume it will not be needed with the 942/Dish installation then.

What about grounding the OTA outside?

 

[Brad37]

The short answer to how my Voom OTA antenna is grounded is that it isn't grounded because the Voom installation didn't include a ground. No particular reflection on the Voom installer because the fellow who did my first E* install over eight years ago and the installer who did my upgrade to a Dish 500 three years ago also didn't install a ground.

The E* installer last week replaced all the E* equipment and did connect a ground to the same wire used to ground the house electrical service. Unfortunately, the dishes are on the South side of the house and the electrical service comes in the North side. The E* installer ran three conductor cable (two coax cables and a ground wire) from the E* dish, above the dropped ceiling to a ground block on the North side then back to the South side to where the 942 is located. He ran a separate cable for each of the satellite receivers in the 942. He said that Dish would send an inspector around and he would be fired if the system wasn't properly grounded.

I don't know the best way to ground the OTA antenna. I don't want to start another grounding thread. There's no shortage of opinions on grounding but there doesn't appear to be much agreement between all the postings I have read in the forums. House ground, grounding rod, ground loop problems etc. I would appreciate any solid information also.

 

[sallgdon64]

I checked the OTA input on the 942 with a meter. It provides 12 V DC just as labeled. I replaced diplexer on the roof with a simple male-male splice fitting and removed the Voom dish and diplexer, to simplify the setup. I was concerned that the LNB on the Voom dish in conjunction with the draw on the winegard sensar II would exceed the 150 milliamps that the 942 is rated for.

 

[rickaren]

I added two new R-6 lines for my May 13th install. I plan to have the VOOM OTA antenna ran directly to the 942 with out any diplexers. Are you saying that the 942 will power this line to the OTA just like the VOOM receiver did? I was very pleased and still using the VOOM receiver (one line) to watch OTA in HD. Hope to still receive as before. Should I receive the same great Local HD picture using three lines, now?

 

[SimpleSimon]

Brad37:

One thing I can GUARANTEE there will be no argument about, and that is if the installer ran the cable from the dish across the house INDOORS to get to a grounding point, IT IS WRONG.

As for this V* OTA, diplexer, power supply stuff, I'm no expert, but the ONE V* diplexer I've seen has 5 ports. OTA IN which also is regulated power out. The power for this comes from the satellite feed. The ratings on this unit (sorry, I don't remember the model number) indicate that it WILL work with DishPro as both a diplexer and power tap for the antenna amp.

When used in a DishPro system with external switches, this fancy diplexer would have to be closer to the receiver than the switch, and must NOT be on port #1 of a DPP44 or SW64 unless it is farther from the switch than the switches power inserter.

At the receiver end, a standard simple diplexer is used to route the OTA signal to the appropriate place - either on the E* receiver, or another tuner device.

 

[DaculaThrasher]

I guess that I got lucky. Voom gave me the channelmaster stealth. It is run straight into my 942 without diplexors and I am getting 90+ strength on all my OTA locals that are about 40+ miles away.

My retailer had told me that diplexors would not work on the 942 so the stealth would not work. He was trying to sell me on the Channel master Bow Tie

 

[ocgrant]

did the same thing as you with a 942, left my winegard on the roof mount hooked up the 942 and got all my locals but having problems here in LA with 007-1 (ABC)...Installer has tried everything, new dedicated line for the dish and OTA, no diplexers, re-aligned as per signal strength and still having problems with 007-1 pixel-ating and breaking up.... Now heres where it gets strange....connected a spliter (monster cable w/voltage pass through) to the OTA with voltage pass through to the old Voom box and the other to the new 942....the voom box get 007-1 perfectly, the 942 is still pixelating and broken up....?????? My signal strength on the 942 for ch 007-1 shows 86-93 which is higher than some of the other channels I get that are not having any problems.....I called Dish and they are not sure what is going on but they don't understand how the old Voom box picks it up fine and their 942 doesn't??? They said they would get back to me.....Anyone else in the LA or OC area have a 942 and get ABC (007-1) with a OTA???? Some insite here would be great.....as for now I am using a DVI switcher from Gefen to switch back and forth (voom to dish) when I need ABC.....but not to wife friendly if you know what I mean....