What's the best way to wire my house?

[ig888ack]

I am a recent Dish subscriber. Let me start by showing my current setup and then I'll explain what I want to do. I'd like some advice on the best way to do it. Current situation: Dish on top of the roof (i dont' know what model it is, let me know if I need to find out to get help with what I'm wanting to do). One coax runs from the dish down to the place where the line goes inside my house. That coax runs directly to my 722k receiver with a splitter looking thing right before the receiver that connects the one coax to the 2 Sat IN ports. I also have an OTA antenna in the attic with a single coax running to an amplifier and then into the OTA module of the 722k. My HDTV connects to the 722k via component cables and TV2 is run off of the modulated output so a single coax runs to my 4 way cable splitter where all the other TVs in the house connect. Please see the attached wiring diagram called "Current Situation". I'd like to make 2 changes to my setup. First of all I'm not getting great reception of my local channels so I'd like to put the OTA antenna on the roof. I am also getting another HDTV so I'd like to get another receiver for it. I'm not exactly sure how to wire this up however. I have attached a diagram of how I think it might work but I am very new to SAT technology so I'm not sure at all that I've got it right or what other equipment I might need. Please let me know if this is correct or if I need something else or wired a different way. The piece I'm not sure about is the splitter that takes it to the 2 different receivers. I think the rest will work from the research I've done so far. Thanks!

 

[al]

You need to run an additional cable from your dish antenna to your new DISH receiver. What you term "SAT Splitter" is actually a seperator, which allows a dual tuner receiver such as the 722k the ability to use both tuners with one wire. It DOES NOT allow you to split a satellite signal between two receivers.

The best thing to do is to also run dedicated cables for your OTA. This will allow for the least loss in your OTA signal. Barring that, the diplexer solution will be the way to go. Based upon your diagram, your OTA antenna is not amplified, so based upon that assumption, I would split the OTA into two signals, and diplex into each individual satellite run, and seperate OTA from the SAT signal at each receiver. If your antenna signal is amplified, you will need to make sure that your preamp is powered properly. The use of regular splitters and diplexers will not allow your preamp to power correctly. In the setup described, you can power the preamp using power passing splitters and diplexers to direct power to the preamp.

Good Luck

 

[ig888ack]

You need to run an additional cable from your dish antenna to your new DISH receiver. What you term "SAT Splitter" is actually a seperator, which allows a dual tuner receiver such as the 722k the ability to use both tuners with one wire. It DOES NOT allow you to split a satellite signal between two receivers.

The best thing to do is to also run dedicated cables for your OTA. This will allow for the least loss in your OTA signal. Barring that, the diplexer solution will be the way to go. Based upon your diagram, your OTA antenna is not amplified, so based upon that assumption, I would split the OTA into two signals, and diplex into each individual satellite run, and seperate OTA from the SAT signal at each receiver. If your antenna signal is amplified, you will need to make sure that your preamp is powered properly. The use of regular splitters and diplexers will not allow your preamp to power correctly. In the setup described, you can power the preamp using power passing splitters and diplexers to direct power to the preamp.

Good Luck

Thanks for the quick response. So as for the OTA antenna - I think it is amplified but I'm not sure about a preamp. It is a Terk HDTVo which comes with a little thing that I plug the coax into that plugs into a power outlet which I think is an amplifier. Unfortunately I'm very new to the whole satellite world so I don't even know what a preamp is. Since Dish just sent a contractor to install the Dish, I don't even know what connections are on it. Does it have another port that I can run a line to for my additional receiver? Is there no way to combine those signals so that I can use the cable already going through the side of my house instead of having to run another line in somewhere? If not, I can run the extra coax for the SAT and the coax for the OTA into the attic and then down to the place in the master bedroom closet where it all comes together. This is where I'm planning to put the new receiver. It is not hard to run new lines to this location but it will be very tough to run another coax to the 722k in the living room. So I have attached another possible solution. In this diagram I have used the already existing line from the dish, and added a line from the dish to the attic to the closet. I have also split the OTA signal at the closet and used a diplexer to utilize the coax run already there from the closet to the living room. Should this work? If so, would I put the amplifier for the OTA before the splitter?

Thanks!

 

[al]

Your diagram is correct. It sounds like you do have an amplified antenna. The power inserter for the antenna needs to be placed in between the antenna and the splitter shown in the diagram.