Sending RTE aerial and Satellite dish down same cable?

jasonc5432 · 24-02-2010 5:11pm #1

Hi
I currently have a sky dish and 4 sky set top boxes (1 plus, 3 standard). I am looking at getting a terrestrial outdoor aerial to get the Irish channels when I disconnect from sky. I want to use the sky boxes for the 'free' channels but need to sort the Irish ones out with the extra aerial. It seems from previous advice that an outdoor aerial is the best solution. I am wondering is it possible/advisable to look into sending the new aerial signal down the same cable as the current sky cable, as it runs to all 4 tvs on wire that is only 11 months old?
If this is possible, are there drawbacks?
Bear in mind that I want to have a system able to handle the 'digital changeover' in the next few years, rather than have to go doing a new job

I am based 10 miles east of Athlone if that is any help. I want the best possible reception, as RTE, TV3, TG4 are the most watched channels

All advice is very welcome.

Mike 1972 · 24-02-2010 5:19pm

AFAIK you would be within range of the Cairnhill transmitter. In which case a single UHF aerial (Group B or Wideband) would probably be sufficent

jasonc5432 · 24-02-2010 5:22pm

Thanks Mike, so would that serve as both an analogue and digital (DTT) aerial?
Is it possible/advisable to send the signal down the same wires as the current sky ones?

Cheers

Alun · 24-02-2010 5:29pm

jasonc5432 wrote: »

Is it possible/advisable to send the signal down the same wires as the current sky ones?

Yes, see http://www.freesat.ie/index.php?cat=Connectors___Splitters&ActinicSID=8f4c757f5d2eaec34ad15ab59a7f4d2f (look down towards the end of the page for "TV/SAT combiner") You'll need two, one to combine the signals and another to split them again.

Sam Russell · 24-02-2010 5:33pm

I just put those in yesterday, no degradation to sat or aerial. Very cheap solution in the end. They cost me about €4 each [you need two, one at each end]. Becareful to turn off the satbox, as it produces a DC voltage that would/might be shorted in the connection process.

coylemj · 24-02-2010 5:42pm

The terrain in and around Moate is at a good altitude so you should have no problem picking up Cairn Hill. Most of the folk in Athlone (same distance from Cairn Hill as Moate) use cheap contract (wideband) UHF aerials to pick up Cairn Hill but to get the best reception you should put up a Group B UHF aerial, this is recommended for both analog and digital.

glog · 24-02-2010 6:45pm

How would this work if i have a masthead amp on my UHF aerial (DTT).

Would the Sat reciever power both the LNB and the Mast head amp.
Or would i need to use a power supply also at TV ? (Not sure how this would work as you would have SAT voltage and PS voltage up the 1 cable)

Thanks in advance.

Sam Russell · 24-02-2010 7:09pm

glog wrote: »

How would this work if i have a masthead amp on my UHF aerial (DTT).

Would the Sat reciever power both the LNB and the Mast head amp.
Or would i need to use a power supply also at TV ? (Not sure how this would work as you would have SAT voltage and PS voltage up the 1 cable)

Thanks in advance.

No, the combiner would only allow the power to the sat cable. The masthead amp only needs 12v, so it is the right voltage, but the combiner only passes dc to the sat cable. A special cable arrangement would be needed at the aerial end, not sure how easy it would be to fabricate without creating losses of signal. I do not think they are commercialy available.

Antenna · 24-02-2010 7:10pm

glog wrote: »

How would this work if i have a masthead amp on my UHF aerial (DTT).

Would the Sat reciever power both the LNB and the Mast head amp.
Or would i need to use a power supply also at TV ? (Not sure how this would work as you would have SAT voltage and PS voltage up the 1 cable)

Thanks in advance.

Install powersupply for UHF amp in the attic. Output of that goes to the combiner. (I assume the existing cable is or can go through the attic anyway)
Combiner is also protected from the weather by having it in the attic.

I'd prefer to run seperate cables if possible.

Sam Russell · 24-02-2010 7:20pm

Antenna wrote: »

Install powersupply for UHF amp in the attic. Output of that goes to the combiner. (I assume the cable is or can go through the attic anyway)
Combiner is also protected from the weather by having it in the attic.

I'd prefer to run seperate cables if possible.

The power supply would have to be between the combiner and the masthead amp so the voltage does not interfere with the LNB.

so you would have

TV

!........................................!

LNB
.........Comb

Comb
SAT ---!........................................!----PSU----MASTHD---Aerial
.................................... Mains

!
If that comes out OK.

Signifies

DC voltage
......... are just to get the space right.
Hope that helps:)

GerardKeating · 24-02-2010 7:53pm

Sam Russell wrote: »

I just put those in yesterday, no degradation to sat or aerial. Very cheap solution in the end. They cost me about €4 each [you need two, one at each end]. Becareful to turn off the satbox, as it produces a DC voltage that would/might be shorted in the connection process.

Where did you get them for €4 ??

ta

Antenna · 24-02-2010 7:54pm

Sam Russell wrote: »

The power supply would have to be between the combiner and the masthead amp so the voltage does not interfere with the LNB.

that's what I meant

Sam Russell · 24-02-2010 9:05pm

From ebay, postage extra. I also got a quad LNB for £10 from this site.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190268272274&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

You can also get them from www.tvtrade.ie @ €3.50 + vat.
http:www//tvtrade.ie/show/251,Sat-and-TV-indoor-Combiner-ALLTRADE

glog · 24-02-2010 10:14pm

Sam Russell wrote: »

The power supply would have to be between the combiner and the masthead amp so the voltage does not interfere with the LNB.

so you would have

TV
!........................................!
LNB
.........Comb
Comb
SAT ---!........................................!----PSU----MASTHD---Aerial
.................................... Mains
!
If that comes out OK.

Signifies
DC voltage
......... are just to get the space right.
Hope that helps:)

Thanks for time taken to describe.

The Cush · 24-02-2010 10:23pm

At the room end you could use a Wallplate diplexer, might be a bit tidier.

http://tvtrade.ie/show/250,Wall-Plate-Sat-TV-outlet--Wolsey

jasonc5432 · 24-02-2010 10:32pm

Alun, Sam Russell, Antenna, so on the web address Alun gave, I would need one Quad TV/Sat combiner, at the source, and then 4 individual TV/Sat combiners for each of the 4 output points (each consisting of a TV to take the analogue (and in time DTT) signal and a Sky box for the freesat).

Would I need to set up a power source at any point? Do I need signal boosters or anything?

Thanks Coylemj for advice on aerial. Have you any ballpark figures that I should expect to pay for a UHF Group B aerial? Would you recommend a specific aerial on the market now?

Antenna, you reckon I should look at running separate cables? There are some very very old cables from a set up at the house about 20 years ago. Should I consider using these? Would the splitter cause poor signal or something do you think?

Sam Russell · 24-02-2010 10:44pm

You would need a quad LNB if you do not have one already.
For each sat cable you would need 2 combiners, one at each end.
For the aerial, you would need to split it into 4, so you need a four way splitter. With that amount of split, you would need to amplify, so either a masthead amp ahead of the split or an amp with 4 outputs. Only one output from the amp needs power. If the cable is old, it probably needs replacing with sat rated cable, in which case you could pass a second cable down at that time.

Hope that helps.

Sending RTE aerial and Satellite dish down same cable?

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