any average 900 MHz splitter will work.

I get mine the the $ store.

Yeah, any regular splitter will work since none of the frequencies used for OTA are above 800 MHz.

BUT... if you're looking to add additional tv's to your setup, you might want to consider a signal amplifier installed ahead of your splitter (and preferably at the antenna). Each split in the signal reduces its power by 1/2 (roughly 3.5 dB). Split the split signal again and you're down 7 dB from the originating signal. That's quite the drop and could give in lousy results on your other tv's.

Thanks for your input.:)

thanks totallyr for asking these questions, and mr weather and TomF.1 for answering them, as my set up is similar to totallyr's. As a novice I had one question about cable. Like Totallyr I have 2 TVs. I already have in house 75 ohm cable-tv cable from the splitter to the TVs, and I plan to run a cable from the OTA antenna on the roof to the splitter--a distance of 30 feet. There will be a signal amplifier at the antenna. A friend suggested I use dish antenna cable from the antenna to carry the full hdtv signal to the splitter. I am wondering if that is worth while if it is going to connect to 75 ohm cable from the splitter to each TV--a distance of 5 feet in one case and about 30 feet for the other TV. Or is 75 ohm cable ok on the run from the antenna to the existing in house wiring?

LMO

All consumer CATV cable is 75 ohm so I wouldn't worry about impedance.

The advantage with using "dish" coax (i.e., RG6) is that it is rated to 2.2 GHz and has lower loss than RG59 (the stuff that's probably already installed in your house).

I've got RG6 running from my antenna to my one tv mostly because a had about 100' of the stuff laying around.

I see nothing wrong with mixing cable types. Bring the signal from you antenna to the splitter using RG6 and hook the rest of the house up as normal. Having an amp at the antenna will help immensely with the resultant signal loss from the splitter.

thanx Mr Weather, RG 6 it is.
LMO

All consumer CATV cable is 75 ohm so I wouldn't worry about impedance.
Just to add to mr weather's point....
All of the following common cables are 75-ohm cables: RG-11, RG-11U, RG-59, RG-59U, RG-6, RG-6U, RG-6QS. So if you have any of these in your house, they can all carry OTA signals but some are better than others.

I have a question regarding multiplexing OTA signals from an antenna (Channel Master CM 4228A, which I am going to pick up from X Tek next week). The antenna will connect to the HDHomeRun which will in turn feed the media servers on the network.
I want to use a splitter outside and connect the dish and the antenna to the same coax coming into my house. Is this possible?

Hi myriad, I've moved your post into this thread that covers diplexers and you will find all the info you need in here. :) Let us know if you have any further questions.

I want to combine analogue cable channels with digital antenna channels....

so i already read about how splitting the internet is best before the internet to make sure the signal is good.

my question is, what kind of splitter do i need to put both CABLE and ANTENNA into my reciever? Do i need a switch and manually change it or is there a way to put both and combine it into 1 input??

My knowledge is that frequencies change after channel 13 for cable so what are my options here??

thanks for the help!

Edit: I just noticed a few posts above that say i need a switch. In that case, what is the price like and where can i get one?

OTA and cable can't combine because some of the frequncies are the same and will interfere with each other.


Edit: I just noticed a few posts above that say i need a switch. In that case, what is the price like and where can i get one?

cheap and home depot and canadian tire have them.

was at home depot yesterday.
an A/B switch was $11 i think?
Cheaper than the one I got from source for like $15
They had 25dB amps for $40 too.

My knowledge is that frequencies change after channel 13 for cable so what are my options here??

You are correct. The channel band plan varies when you are using cable vs. OTA. For example, channel 14 UHF is found at 470 to 476 MHz while cable 14 is found at 120 to 126 Mhz. Tin Lee has a chart (http://www.tinlee.com/FreqChart.php?active=) showing the differences.
Depending on your receiver/set-up, you might find you will have to rescan when switching from cable to OTA. This is likely the case only if you are using the same device (i.e. TV) for analogue cable and digital OTA. Most TV's will prompt you as to whether you are scanning "cable" or "antenna". This is so the set knows which frequencies to look for a signal.
Some newer TV's that have both an integrated analog and a digital tuner, will remember all the scan results from:

analog cable
analog OTA
digital OTA
QAM (unencrypted digital cable - not really applicable in most of Canada)

In my case I no longer have cable but with dual analog tuners in my TV, one was tuned to the cable band plan and the other analog tuner to the OTA channel. My digital STB has memorized the applicable digital OTA channels. I now have sat. service so the cable band plan is no longer applicable.
In my in-laws case, their new LG HDTV has the capability of simultaneously storing the results of channel scans of all plans in the list above. Switching from one to the other is easily done with the remote, but since the set has a single F-connector input, there is still a requirement for using an A/B switch to prevent broadcasting cable out of the antenna! This is another very important reason to use an A/B switch (and not a splitter/combiner) and is discussed earlier in this thread.

I see Tin Lee is selling an A/B switch that is controlled by an rf remote. It would be interesting to see if a rf learning remote could control it! :D

Tip: when scanning analogue cable, if you are presented a choice of "STD", "HRC", or "IRC", try "STD" first. These are merely different variations of cable band plans.

cheers

was at home depot yesterday.
an A/B switch was $11 i think?
Cheaper than the one I got from source for like $15
They had 25dB amps for $40 too.
Rona also has pretty good stuff at good prices too.

For those wondering about the difference performance-wise between RG6 and RG59, here something to share...

I needed to extend the original cabling to my 2nd tv/atsc tuner. I had a 25' piece of RG59 in place (I use RG6 exclusively on my HDTV) but I'd noticed that since CTS went live in digital, I couldn't lock it on that tuner but I lived with it since I don't watch CTS very much, if at all (all other atsc channels were fine). When the Omnis were testing earlier this week, the same thing happened for Omni 1 (both CTS and Omni1 are fine on my HDTV).

So last night as an experiment, I took some spare RG6, put it in place of the RG59 and WOW, I was get both CTS and Omni1 at 7 bars!!

El Grand Chico,

Thanks for sharing that. It seems all too often that people report a problem with their antenna or tuner without looking at what is in between!

cheers

I'm considering a subscription to Bell ExpressVU and their 9200 (or 9242) PVR. I live in a condominium building which has a dish setup on the roof. I would like to use the second tuner of the PVR for a second TV set, but my condo's built-in wiring would be carrying the incoming SAT signal from the roof, and running a second cable to TV #2 is not an option either. Is it possible to instead use diplexers with the existing line, and output the signal from tuner #2 back through the same (incoming SAT) line so that it reaches TV #2 using the existing cable outlet?

I haven't been able to get an answer from Bell about this, and I imagine this is a situation that must arise with condo dwellers with some frequency (no pun intended :D).

Just another question,
I have a very long Back yard (140'). If I move the antenna away from the house on to a mast 100' away, I could potentially get less of an obstruction from the apartment Building that is 1/4 km from me and hit the american stations. My question to this is, how far of a distance (with a pre-amp by the Antenna) can the cable travel? Would the signal loss be too great for a distance of 150'?

Thanks,

D

dandaling using a preamp like a 7778, 7775 etc has enough gain that with a 150' cable run there is no real signal loss.

Have done a few installs that the cable run is between 150 and 175' with also a splitter with excellent results.

Good luck.

Awesome!
Thanks Yaamon.
Is there anyplace other than Nutech in hamilton that sells them for a reasonable price?

Not sure you have to check under the vendor theads and see if there is another dealer that is closer.

Maybe they can ship to your house rather than spend the time to drive if they are not close and convient to get there.

Good luck.