Uproving UHF 2 reception

[paris1129]

Not sure why it worked, but I changed the channel number that the TV2 signal came in on, and once I changed channels, it cleared up perfectly!!

 

[vegassatellite]

Not sure why it worked, but I changed the channel number that the TV2 signal came in on, and once I changed channels, it cleared up perfectly!!

You may have been getting co-channel interference on the former channel you were using. If you had ghosting, rolling horizontal lines (venetian blinds), etc., then that was probably the case. Moving to a channel with no nearby interfering channels would fix it as you have appeared to have done. Connecting the antenna just provided a means of gaining signal from that co-located channel thus causing the interference.

 

[aegrotatio]

I have tried this solution of splitting the lines and putting the antenna in the TV2 room, but as soon as I connected the antenna to the splitter in the bedroom, the picture on the tv became extremely distorted with snow. If I unplug the antenna, the picture is almost perfectly clear, but when I connect that antenna, poof- bad picture. I can see that the remote does work in this case, but its not useable due to the bad picture. Am I doing something wrong?? Has anybody experienced this and has any ideas??? Please help!!

There is a channel being broadcast over-the-air either on the same channel or near the channel you're using for your DISH receiver's TV2-out channel.
It's most likely a digital channel.

Try going to http://www.antennaweb.org/ and seeing what UHF channels are free to use in your area.

I tried combining my over-the-air antenna with my coaxial feeder with both my receivers' TV2 feeds and discovered that most of the channels have interference from UHF stations in my area. I really had to search around to find channels that were not snowy.
The same problem happens when I use the TV2-splitter-remote-antenna trick! The over-the-air UHF channels get into your TV2 feed and interfere with the channel you choose.

It's hard to find a free channel on UHF if you do not have an HDTV over-the-air receiver. The digital channels appear as "snow" almost just like blank channels do.

.

 

[kb7oeb]

37 is empty almost everywhere

 

[ericha]

To resolve this issue, you need to move the antenna for the TV2 into the room with the TV2 remote - but not with a real long cable strung through the hallway!

For this you need two splitters.

One goes behind the receiver:

Remove the remote antenna from receiver.
Add coax from the "Remote Antenna" port on the receiver, to one "Out" port on the splitter.
To the other "Out" port on the splitter, use coax to send the "TV2 Out" signal.
Connect the "In" port of the splitter to the TV2 back-feed, the one headed to TV2.
The resulting combined signal paths are then sent to TV2.

The second splitter goes at the TV2 location:

Disconnect the TV2 coax from the TV2.
Connect the TV2 line to the "In" port on the splitter.
From one "Out" port of the splitter, use coax to re-connect to the TV2.
At the other "Out" port, attach the remote antenna.

Now the UHF remote only has to get it's signal to the antenna, across the room, instead of through the entire house!

Some pictures here:

TV2 Tips & Tricks

This is a VERY bad idea--you are now transmitting the signal from your receiver to everyone in the neighborhood! Not only are you showing everyone what you are watching, you are also now an illegal broadcasting station.

However with some modifications this could be okay. You need some way to keep the signal from the receiver getting to the antenna. This could be a filter, an "isolator" (not common at UHF), or an amplifier (which has gain in one direction, but loss in the other direction). The amplifier might cause other problems, such as overloading the input of the remove TV or making co-channel interference; this can be fixed with a filter or perhaps an attenuator, or perhaps just using a different channel for the output to TV2 (to eliminate co-channel interference).

 

[vegassatellite]

This is a VERY bad idea--you are now transmitting the signal from your receiver to everyone in the neighborhood! Not only are you showing everyone what you are watching, you are also now an illegal broadcasting station.

However with some modifications this could be okay. You need some way to keep the signal from the receiver getting to the antenna. This could be a filter, an "isolator" (not common at UHF), or an amplifier (which has gain in one direction, but loss in the other direction). The amplifier might cause other problems, such as overloading the input of the remove TV or making co-channel interference; this can be fixed with a filter or perhaps an attenuator, or perhaps just using a different channel for the output to TV2 (to eliminate co-channel interference).

Yeah but since the broadcast at best would be about -46dbm, its unlikely anyone would pick it up and so any complaints are unlikely to be made.

 

[ericha]

Yeah but since the broadcast at best would be about -46dbm, its unlikely anyone would pick it up and so any complaints are unlikely to be made.

While -46 dBm (about 1 dBmV) sounds pretty small, many receivers can pick up -90 dBm signals. While a signal this low won't go very far, probably everyone on your block could see it. Depending on what you are watching, and on what channel, this could either be a very small problem, or a pretty big one. Since things like what you are watching & what other use there is for a channel tend to change with time, it's a bad idea to set something up like this--maybe it's okay today, but in 6 months or 5 years it becomes a problem that's a real pain to solve.

 

[vegassatellite]

While -46 dBm (about 1 dBmV) sounds pretty small, many receivers can pick up -90 dBm signals. While a signal this low won't go very far, probably everyone on your block could see it. Depending on what you are watching, and on what channel, this could either be a very small problem, or a pretty big one. Since things like what you are watching & what other use there is for a channel tend to change with time, it's a bad idea to set something up like this--maybe it's okay today, but in 6 months or 5 years it becomes a problem that's a real pain to solve.

Anyone want to hook up the UHF remote antenna to TV2 out directly and broadcast it and then put a TV 10 feet away and see what they can get?

 

[Scott6760]

Anyone want to hook up the UHF remote antenna to TV2 out directly and broadcast it and then put a TV 10 feet away and see what they can get?

I tried that once in an upscale apartment where the customer didn't want the cable going from the rcvr to TV2...TV was on the other side of the wall. I had some extra antennas so I put one on the TV itself and one on the TV2 output of the receiver. The TV was maybe 3 feet from the box but seperated by a brick wall. Didn't work at all. Maybe if I used a better antenna on the TV it would have worked, but I ended up just going through the brick.

 

[vegassatellite]

I tried that once in an upscale apartment where the customer didn't want the cable going from the rcvr to TV2...TV was on the other side of the wall. I had some extra antennas so I put one on the TV itself and one on the TV2 output of the receiver. The TV was maybe 3 feet from the box but seperated by a brick wall. Didn't work at all. Maybe if I used a better antenna on the TV it would have worked, but I ended up just going through the brick.

Good enough for me. I doubt the neighbors would have complained.

 

[gernskin]

If uhf antenna is not working try this, put a antenuater between reciever and the antenna. I no it sounds like it would weaken your remote but it work for me. I guess it filters out what ever is interfering.