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Topic:
Sat and OTA over same cable?
This thread has 10 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Sunday January 30, 2000 at 08:30
David B.
Historic Forum Post
I use a Terk50 OTA antenna in my attic for local channels. It came with a set of diplexing adapters that claimed to combine OTA with the SAT signal outside the house, then split them apart inside to go seperately to the TV and SAT receiver.

I've tried, but no matter how these are hooked up my SAT receiver claims "Short in Dish Cable" and refuses to work. I use a Sony SAT A3 and a Sony SAT A4. Same problem with both. I only intend to use the diplexers with the A3 in the bedroom, since I have a seperate cable path for OTA near the other receiver.

Both the SAT and the TERK put DC current on the cable, and I suspect there is either a polarity conflict or a voltage incompatability that the SAT receiver detects and rejects.

Anyone succeeded in using diplexers for OTA with SONY DSS receivers? I'd LOVE to know what the "trick" is.

Dave
OP | Post 2 made on Sunday January 30, 2000 at 21:32
greg
Historic Forum Post
I can only tell you that I am using my di-plexers on a standard outdoor antenna and they are working fine. I have a hughes receiver.
OP | Post 3 made on Monday January 31, 2000 at 21:12
Scott Funk
Historic Forum Post
How do you have your antenna & diplexer(s) hooked up? How many of them do you need?

I want to place an antenna in my attic and "feed" the OTA signal AND SAT to all the TV's in the house over the same RG-6 cable.

What do I need? How do I hook up?

Thanks!
OP | Post 4 made on Tuesday February 1, 2000 at 10:03
DanKurts
Historic Forum Post
David:
Normally, you cannot run a DC pre-amp powered antenna and satellite over the same cable for the very reason you've already stated, they both are trying to send DC up the cable to power their respective devices, thus the two power supplies fight each other. The Sony is smart enough to realize this and gives you a SHORT error message. This is a general message, which occurs for a number of short/voltage problems, but bottom line is you've got a problem. Also, it may not clear the error untill you unplug AC power to the Sony. The supplied Terk antenna and splitter, however, is designed for this application by passing the Sony DC power on to the Terk, thus powering them both. The Terk has been designed to run on the varying voltage from Sony, and it won't affect the Terk pre amp gain. I believe your problem stems from trying to still use the Terk power supply as well. It is NOT needed in this application. I also assume you are using a standard 2-way splitter from your bedroom to the other TV for the Terk signal. This is fine as long as it's after the diplexer in the bedroom, on the UHF/VHF antenna output.
Scott:
I assume you have more than two sets, so you can still use the Terk by also purchasing a voltage switch. Most have a UHF/VHF antenna input as well as two inputs, one for each output of the LNB on the satellite dish. In this case, on one of the leads between the dish and the voltage switch, you would insert the Terk diplexer at each end. One would add the signals together at the dish and the other break them apart again just before the voltage switch. The two signals would then be connected to their respective inputs on the voltage switch (Sat to Sat, Terk to UHF/VHF). Now that the two signals are mixed together in the switch, you can send the signal to each room as needed one one cable. If the room has both Satellite and TV receivers, then you need a diplexer to break the two signals apart. This keeps the voltage output from the Satellite receiver from being shorted, which would happen if you just used a regular 2-way splitter. If the room has only a TV, then you still need a diplexer, because there's voltage on the lead from the switch that feeds back from the other Satellite receivers. Just put a special, made for Satellite, 75 ohm terminator (blocks DC, still gives signal 75 ohm load and doesn't short power from Satellite receiver) on the unused output of the diplexer. This keeps the system balanced and noise from entering the signals. Also terminate any unused outputs on the voltage switch with the same special terminator.
Sorry for the long note, but wanted to make it clear. Let me know if you still have questions, with an e-mail. I don't always have time to surf this great site, but do read mail daily. I'll post your question/answer here.
Take care.

OP | Post 5 made on Tuesday February 1, 2000 at 17:32
David B.
Historic Forum Post
Dan,

Thank You! Eliminating the terk power supply did the trick. I was even impressed to discovered that when the Sony DSS receiver is turned off, it is still sending DC current to the terk, keeping it active for the TV tuners in the house. It took a little experimenting, but now I've got both OTA from the terk and DSS coming in thru one cable to the bedroom. In the attic, I split off one leg of the terk thru a DC block into a 4way splitter. The splitter then sends OTA signals to four cable jacks scattered thruout the house.

Technology is wonderful... when it works!

Thanks again, Dan.

Dave
OP | Post 6 made on Tuesday February 1, 2000 at 18:13
DanKurts
Historic Forum Post
David B.
Great! They keep the Sony powered up so it won't have to take so long to "boot up" and the small amount of heat keeps the LNB from iceing up in winter. If you ever have to disconnect the bedroom satellite receiver for any reason, just hook up the original Terk power supply and the rest of the house will still be On-Air.
Technology 'Smazin, never bored !
OP | Post 7 made on Tuesday February 1, 2000 at 22:34
David B.
Historic Forum Post
Gee, those Sony designers are always amazing me. And then the screws things up by deleting ALL the clever features in their newer A50 receiver. No discrete codes. No simultaneous IR and RF control. I have both these features in my A4. Go figure.

Dave
OP | Post 8 made on Wednesday February 2, 2000 at 08:33
DanKurts
Historic Forum Post
David B.
Hang in there, my friends at the local TV store say that the Sony HD satellite receiver will be out in late March or early April, supposed to have many new (read, stuff they used to have but left off) features..... notice I'm not holding my breath. My gauge of Sony wierdness is checking out the new TV's menus. None have the features of my older 32XBR100. I got the clue they marched to the beat of a different drummer in 1968 when I was stationed in Tokyo. They were the 1st people I knew of putting a car on display stuck to the side of their main headquarters bldg, about 3 stories up! What was even wierder was it was a Nissan President with Left-Hand drive, which is a domestic car only, never exported! To answer your rhetorical statement, I never figure anymore, just smile and wait for the next "improvement" !
OP | Post 9 made on Wednesday February 9, 2000 at 19:21
CharlesA
Historic Forum Post
Your next challenge is to get the Satellite signal into the rest of the house without interferring with the OTA channels.

That way you could watch OTA or Sat on any TV. Unless you have UHF remote you will have to go into the main room to change Sat channels.

Interested? Use a video modulator on the RCA outputs of the Sat receiver and combine it at 4 way distribution block feeding all the sets.
OP | Post 10 made on Wednesday February 9, 2000 at 19:35
Scott Funk
Historic Forum Post
Why not just use diplexors & A-B switches @ each set?
OP | Post 11 made on Wednesday February 9, 2000 at 22:39
CharlesA
Historic Forum Post
Scott, While reading this thread it seemed to me you are facing an installation/distribution issue in your system. I'll be glad to help anyway I can. I'm not a top ranking expert or EE but I do have a bit of experience in this type of thing, and might be able to offer a suggestion or two.


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