Bringing OTA and Sat in the house on single coax.

[cruiser83]

Okay, I need some help from the experts. I did some searching but have not had much luck finding the answer I need. I want to know if it's possible to combine an outside OTA antenna and the dish sat feed currently coming into the house on that single coax? I have the VIP722K and recently installed the OTA tuner.
I know outside there is currently a diplexer installed and at the box in the house I have a triplexer, I assume these are in place to get the Sat signal to TV2. Given this current setup is it possible to add an OTA outside antenna w/out running a new coax into the house? If so, what do I need to do?

 

[navychop]

ViP series, yes. Two splitters, one at each end of the single coax. Make sure at least 2MHz, preferably 3.

 

[cruiser83]

ViP series, yes. Two splitters, one at each end of the single coax. Make sure at least 2MHz, preferably 3.

Yes, it is the VIP722K. By splitter do you mean adding diplexers?

 

[Claude Greiner]

Is Tv2 being back fed on the satellite wire?

It's possible, but I think your going to loose a lot of signal by going through multiple diplexers.

Maybe if you where not back feeding Tv2, I think honestly your better running a separate wire, especially if your using a powered antenna.

I would rather use an indoor set of rabbit ears before I go through the mess that you propose using with the splitters and diplexers.

With OTA, try to keep the signal pure as possible. Limit your splitters, amps, and diplexers as much as possible.

 

[navychop]

Do not backfired TV2 AND run sat signals AND run OTA signals all on the same coax.

 

[cruiser83]

Is Tv2 being back fed on the satellite wire?

It's possible, but I think your going to loose a lot of signal by going through multiple diplexers.

Maybe if you where not back feeding Tv2, I think honestly your better running a separate wire, especially if your using a powered antenna.

I would rather use an indoor set of rabbit ears before I go through the mess that you propose using with the splitters and diplexers.

With OTA, try to keep the signal pure as possible. Limit your splitters, amps, and diplexers as much as possible.

Ok, that's what I thought, with TV2 already being ran through I diplexer I was confused how I would hook up additional diplixers for the OTA antenna. Sounds like it's more hassle than it's worth I guess. I have an indoor antenna that does fair, but I don't get all locals w/ it and was recently given an outdoor antenna I wanted to try and hook up without running a separate wire. The location of the TV makes running a new wire a royal PITA so it's not high on my list to take it that far.

edit to add: I assume TV2 is being backfed, although I am not to familiar with the terminology, but pretty sure that's what the diplexer outside the house is doing, with a cable running from it, under the house to TV2.

 

[Bob Haller]

seperate wires always work better.

put up the outdoor antenna, hide the coax along a downspout, run it outdoors along the foundation if necessary to get it in a easier location......

i knew a fellow who was so hyper about a cable down the outside of his home, he snaked the cable thru a unused chimney flue........

 

[truckracer]

If possible it is better to run a separate coax. Diplex separators lose signal.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[richeydog]

If you have a couple of splitters lying around you can try it. It only takes a few minutes to see if it works or not. I run OTA and Satellite on a single coax to my 722k. The signal to TV2(backfed) isn't strong enough to pull in a lot of channels. I can only get 2 or 3 to come in. TV1 has no such problem.

 

[cruiser83]

If you have a couple of splitters lying around you can try it. It only takes a few minutes to see if it works or not. I run OTA and Satellite on a single coax to my 722k. The signal to TV2(backfed) isn't strong enough to pull in a lot of channels. I can only get 2 or 3 to come in. TV1 has no such problem.

Well I would be willing to give it a try, but I am not real sure about the diagram of hooking things up, On the existing diplexer outside, which input/output would I disconnect to hook up to the new splitter? Same question in the house at the box, what input/output do I disconnect from the triplexer to add the new splitter? I am sure this is pretty basic stuff but I am not to familiar with this technical satellite stuff.

 

[richeydog]

Can you take a photo of your diplexer and triplexer and show us here?

The outside diplexer should be labeled vhf/uhf and satellite. Unhook the vhf/uhf cable from the diplexer and connect it to the "out" of the splitter. Connect the antenna/ota cable to the other "out" of the splitter. Connect a third cable from the "in" of the splitter to the vhf/uhf of the diplexer.

The triplexer is a bit more complicated for me. I've only used diplexers. I probably need a photo to diagnose further.

 

[sam_gordon]

It's important to note a diplexer and a splitter are NOT the same thing and will not work the same way. A diplexer will either combine/separate two frequency bands (in this case satellite and VHF/UHF). A splitter will simply split all the signals (at a 50% signal loss for every split... ie: a 2 port splitter will split 50%, a 3 port splitter will have one leg at 50% and the other two at 25%, a four port will have them all at 25%, etc).

How a diplexer would be hooked up:

 

[JS_racer]

Do not backfired TV2 AND run sat signals AND run OTA signals all on the same coax.

worked perfect for me for 8 years.
i did use diplexers, and my own modulator, not the one on the 722k, and a a channel vision 8x with modulator input.

 

[navychop]

It's important to note a diplexer and a splitter are NOT the same thing and will not work the same way....

Yes, I misspoke. But someone corrected me quickly.

I've used diplexers and two coax in the same installation at different times with no discernible difference. But I live in a high signal area.

 

[cruiser83]

Can you take a photo of your diplexer and triplexer and show us here?

The outside diplexer should be labeled vhf/uhf and satellite. Unhook the vhf/uhf cable from the diplexer and connect it to the "out" of the splitter. Connect the antenna/ota cable to the other "out" of the splitter. Connect a third cable from the "in" of the splitter to the vhf/uhf of the diplexer.

The triplexer is a bit more complicated for me. I've only used diplexers. I probably need a photo to diagnose further.

You described the diplexer hook up perfect. The triplexer at the box looks like this:

The Sat 1 and 2 from the triplexer go into the corresponding Sat inputs on the box, the UHF/VHF goes into the "home distribution" on the box.

 

[richeydog]

You described the diplexer hook up perfect. The triplexer at the box looks like this:

The Sat 1 and 2 from the triplexer go into the corresponding Sat inputs on the box, the UHF/VHF goes into the "home distribution" on the box.

You need to split the uhf/vhf connection on the triplexer.

1) Run a short coax from the uhf/vhf of the triplexer to the "in" on the splitter.
2) Connect the "home distribution" to an "out" on the splitter.
3) Connect the OTA MODULE to the other "out" on the splitter.

 

[cruiser83]

You need to split the uhf/vhf connection on the triplexer.

1) Run a short coax from the uhf/vhf of the triplexer to the "in" on the splitter.
2) Connect the "home distribution" to an "out" on the splitter.
3) Connect the OTA MODULE to the other "out" on the splitter.

Cool, Thanks for the advice, I will go dig around the garage for some spitters and give it a shot. If I can't find 2 I will just go buy one. Is it recommended to unplug the receiver when fiddling with connections like this?

 

[richeydog]

I never unplugged the receiver when I did this but it's probably better to be safe than sorry!

 

[cruiser83]

I found a splitter labeled 5-890mhz and a 3 way splitter 5-900mhz. I don't imagine a 3 way splitter will be a big deal just for test purposes. If this works I will buy a new single splitter.

 

[cruiser83]

The OTA antenna I have is an amplified antenna, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I should not run power to it for this set up.