Hi guys new member here w/ questions

[antenaman]

First of all this is a great site! Looks like a great helpful community in finding out anything to do with dish/sat.

I have an online business dealing with TV antennas. I pretty much know everything on that end but have multiple q's concerning my customers wanting to integrate an ota antenna with their Directv dish. I have talked with a few Directv contractors out on the street in past days. I was told I need to use a "multiswitch" to add an ota antenna. I understand how the multiswitch plays it's part except the dish side of it. I was a given a multiswitch "eagle aspen MS3X4WB-P" model. The input side of it is marked 18v sat and 13v sat. Does this always mean that a dual LNB dish is needed on this side...can a single LNB dish be used on this model and if so what volt side would I use and can the other input just be "capped off"? If not what model multiswitch would I need for single LNB dishes? Same goes with dual and higher LNB dishes. I'm hoping there would be only a handful of multiswitches that I would have to select from on any application. I realize there are tons of different setups. But the majority of my applications would all be located right at the dish itself being that the antenna would be nearby. I'm thinking (may be wrong) that whatever the case in the house is (as far as # of receivers) if I can intergrate the ota antenna at the dish itself with the right multiswitch..I would be good to go... other than diplexers at each receiver. Am I wrong. Any info would be truly appreciated!

Thanks in advance guys!!

 

[antenaman]

Did some more research..I'm thinking this is what I would need at both ends of main drop on a single LBN dish...am I correct?
Perfect Vision DIRECTV Approved Dual Port Power Diplexer (PVDP2PP)

 

[William1]

Yes. That diplexer is needed. One at the location you want to join in the OTA and another at the receiver to seperate the OTA back out.

You do not need a multiswitch unless you need to split the sat signal to multiple receivers.

 

[antenaman]

Thanks William1, truley appprieciate your help!

a few more q's
The diplexer mentioned above looks to be for power passing for both the sat side and the ant side. Will all applications always be "power passing" with regards to the sat side?
I noticed that there a 2 types of these diplexers when it comes to the ant side. One type is non power passing and other is power passing for ant side. I understand these types but I do need to know this. There are two ways that amps are used in ant set ups. One type is a pre amp mounted on mast at antenna and the other type of amp is the one mounted usually in the basement integrated with the splitter. With either of these amps mounted in just ONE of these two different areas of the circuit do I always use the power passing diplexer? Just wanted to know if where the amp is located in the ant system tells me if power or non power diplexer is needed! Also...these diplexers I'm mentioning are for single LBN sat's...when it comes to multi LBN sat's how do I integrate an ota ant so all TV's in house get the ant signal. I'm guessing that these applications will always have a multiswitch somewhere in system...if so, do ALL multiswitches have "ant in" ports? If so this would be where ant enters system then all I would need is just diplexers at each TV then. Thanks so much for anyone's help!

 

[antenaman]

sorry guys...brain fart!
Just realized I would never need a splitter if multiswitch is already in use. So amp/splitter will never be in a system with multiswitch. So the only application with an amp would be a pre amp mounted at the antenna itself. Can ALL multiswitches handle a pre amp in the ant circuit or do I need to know the type of multiswitch a customer has to determine if can handle powered ant.

 

[Glenn]

I'm going to piggy-back onto this thread, so I hope nobody minds...

I'm investigating whether to switch from Dish to Direct (news of the latest TiVo suit has me a little worried), and this looks like a good place to ask this question: does the Direct HD-DVR receiver have a seperate input for an ota antenna connection, like my Dish receivers do?

 

[William1]

First, you cannot 'split' a satellie signal. If you have a SWM, you can use a special splitter though.

If you use a multiswitch, the feed out of the switch goes into the diplexer, the OTA signal goes into the diplexter. The cable runs to the receiver, a dilpexer is attached, the OTA of the diplexer goes to the OTA input of the receiver, the Sat to the Sat input of the receiver.

If you run a powered antenna, you have to install the power inserter before the diplexer. Most power inserters will only feed the DC one direction.

 

[William1]

I'm going to piggy-back onto this thread, so I hope nobody minds...

I'm investigating whether to switch from Dish to Direct (news of the latest TiVo suit has me a little worried), and this looks like a good place to ask this question: does the Direct HD-DVR receiver have a seperate input for an ota antenna connection, like my Dish receivers do?

The HD-DVR's do not have an OTA tuner. You can acquire an add on tuner (nearly integerted though) called a AM21.

 

[Glenn]

Thanks, William! That's good to know.

 

[antenaman]

"If you run a powered antenna, you have to install the power inserter before the diplexer. Most power inserters will only feed the DC one direction."...

you mean as the signal is going TO the receiver?..so the cable coming into the house from the dish the power inserter would be before the diplexer and receiver or after the output of the diplexer before going in to "ant in"??