Antenna and Dish

[Melandernie]

Here I go - we just moved to a new home that obviously has an antenna in the attic (a part we are having trouble accessing) - we also had dish installed as we moved in. We have one Dual Tuner Receiver and one regular box. We live in an area where network channels are not offered through DISH - thus the previous owners had both the satellite and the antenna - Whe DISH was installed they did not set it up to use the antenna on all three tvs - and when called to come back out I was told that the installers were satellite installers and not antenna people and there would be a considerable charge for fixing this. So we would like to try to fix this ourselves. We have one main box that the antenna and dish run through in our basement. There are several diplexers and splitters there and on the dual receiver tv - any suggestions on how to get the antenna and the dish on all three tvs? Or where to go to get this help?
Thanks so much

 

[Jim5506]

Run a solid line from the antenna to your receiver.

You have already lost 1/2 your signal by having the antenna in the attic, diplexers will loose you another 20%.

Also add a pre-amp to the antenna - if you are close than 20 miles from the towers, use a Winegard HDP-269 to prevent overloading the tuner, but still get enough amplification to split the signal. Be sure to put the power injector between the splitter and the pre-amp or no power will be passed through to the pre-amp = no signal at all.

 

[Agonizing Fury]

Run a solid line from the antenna to your receiver.

You have already lost 1/2 your signal by having the antenna in the attic, diplexers will loose you another 20%.

Also add a pre-amp to the antenna - if you are close than 20 miles from the towers, use a Winegard HDP-269 to prevent overloading the tuner, but still get enough amplification to split the signal. Be sure to put the power injector between the splitter and the pre-amp or no power will be passed through to the pre-amp = no signal at all.

As Jim suggested a solid line from the antenna to each receiver is your best bet, however I understand that most new houses can be difficult to impossible to run a second line to certain locations. Before I can assist you I need to know a few things. You will need to trace the line from the antenna to the main box to check for a power inserter or line amp.

1. Model number of each receiver.

2. Is the dual tuner you mentioned running two televisions?

3. Does the antenna have a built in pre-amp? (power inserter somewhere in the mix)?

4. How good is the OTA signal at the locations it is currently running to?

5. is it possible to run a second cable to any of the locations?

6. is there power available at the location where all of the wires come together?

After you post this information I will attempt to describe what you will have to do to get OTA signal to each location. Note that it may not be possible to get a good signal to each location with only one cable. There are solutions that you can use to get a signal to all locations, but they do not always result in a quality picture.

 

[yobomba]

Run a solid line from the antenna to your receiver.

You have already lost 1/2 your signal by having the antenna in the attic, diplexers will loose you another 20%.

Also add a pre-amp to the antenna - if you are close than 20 miles from the towers, use a Winegard HDP-269 to prevent overloading the tuner, but still get enough amplification to split the signal. Be sure to put the power injector between the splitter and the pre-amp or no power will be passed through to the pre-amp = no signal at all.

Would you have it in this order.........Antenna, splitter, power injector, pre amp, DISH receiver?

 

[Agonizing Fury]

Nope - Antenna, Pre-Amp, Power injector, splitter, (Diplexers or new cable), receiver.