FYI on Diplex w/ new Dish

[ChrisClearman]

I already had an older HD box and was getting locals through an outside antenna diplexed into the same coax as the sat signal.

I was told w/ the new 5 LNB you could no longer diplex at all.

That isn't exactly true. You can NOT diplex on the coax running to the new MPEG4 boxes, but you can still diplex on the coax going to the other boxes.

Helped the installer today, he didn't have to run any new lines.

 

[Teronzhul]

You're not going t have too much fun when they flip on the rest of the ka sats. You should have let him run the additional lines.

 

[ChrisClearman]

why? what's the reasoning here?

i'll be adding another HR20 end of the summer which will need another dish, so maybe I'll have them run the additional line then. BTW, I already have the coax at the wall, just need to run an extra coax from the OTA to my mux box.

 

[Teronzhul]

If all of your receivers are connected to the same ka/ku dish, then all will be prone to interference from the ka-lo band (250-750mhz). This is introduced at the LNB and won't matter which receiver is connected.

Since few (if any) transmissions are making use of ka-lo currently, diplexing right now could work flawlessly. Once ka-lo is being used constantly, then you'll be experiencing interference across all of your diplexed lines. Even though your older receivers won't be accessing ka-lo, the signal will likely still be there provided by the dish.

It depends on exactly when/how the ka-lo is accessed, via 22khz etc, but it would have been far safer to go ahead and get the extra lines if only because D* says it won't work.

 

[ChrisClearman]

thanks for the info. I'll have them run a new line then...shouldn't have let him convince me that it wasn't necessary.

 

[lou_do]

It is always better to run two separate lines, the diplexers create signal loss, and with two separate lines you will have higher signal levels on both your Satellite signal and your OTA signal.

 

[cheebs]

i'll be adding another HR20 end of the summer which will need another dish, so maybe I'll have them run the additional line then. BTW, I already have the coax at the wall, just need to run an extra coax from the OTA to my mux box.

This comment got my attention. Why would you need another dish just to add one more HR20? You can just get a bigger multiswitch and keep using only one dish. There are several manufacturers that are building Ka/Ku switches with up to 16 ports.

 

[ChrisClearman]

I thought I read that the 5 LNB only supported 5 sat lines. If not, that's great.

 

[lou_do]

I thought I read that the 5 LNB only supported 5 sat lines. If not, that's great.

Actually, I think it is just 4 before you have to use a multiswitch.

 

[ChrisClearman]

Thanks. DTV is coming back Saturday to run a new line for the OTA, so that should fix that issue.

I'll have them worry if I need a new dish or not next time I order equipment.

 

[cheebs]

I thought I read that the 5 LNB only supported 5 sat lines. If not, that's great.

Check this bad boy out:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=WB68

 

[iwc5893]

Actually, I think it is just 4 before you have to use a multiswitch.

That's correct.

 

[ChrisClearman]

I ran a new line for OTA and it didn't help at all. Ended up just moving the antenna a bit to get most of the channels back...still can't get one though.

ah well, it's better this way anyways for the future.

 

[lou_do]

I ran a new line for OTA and it didn't help at all. Ended up just moving the antenna a bit to get most of the channels back...still can't get one though.

ah well, it's better this way anyways for the future.

This is just a shot in the dark, but once I was having trouble with stations pixelizing and dropping out. I moved the antenna around and tried everything you could imagine. I finally changed out the 300 ohm to 75 ohm transformer at the antenna, and it almost doubled out the signal strength of my OTA antenna. The one I had on the antenna was bad.