With the return of CHCH to VHF, I have an issue to sort out with the inlaws. :o

Their set up is 100% UHF - original 4221 antenna and CM 7775 pre-amp (now discontinued) in the attic. I built a folded dipole channel 11 antenna for them but the challenge is to integrate it with what's there. I see most UVSJ's are VHF power pass only, but I found 2 that are UHF power pass:

Radio Shack 15-2586
Antennas Direct EU385CF

Any one have experience with either of these? :confused:

robman50, the 7777 will combine a VHF antenna and a UHF antenna. Is this what you have ? If not, then you will need something else in front of your 7777 to combine them before getting in the preamp. A splitter/combiner, for example.
Does this splitter (between the antenna's & preamp) have to have power pass capability?
Also, does digital signal reception get affected by a strong (read close) tv transmission tower... or was that only a problem with analog?

El Grande Chico,

See post 1191 in this thread.

I should clarify. (I'm not combining U/VHF) I have 2 - 4228's on a tower (one above the other). The lower one points at Toronto aiming 47 deg., the upper one points to Buffalo aiming 130 deg..
The Hamilton tower is approx. 73 deg and 5.5 miles distant. Will this proximity to Ham. require a filter for CH. 11 because both ant. can/are picking up Ch 11, or can the digital tuners handle this now?
Regarding "power pass" splitters, I guess my real question is; does power get sent to the actual antenna or does it stop at the pre-amp?
Thanks in advance

I guess my real question is; does power get sent to the actual antenna or does it stop at the pre-amp?

The pre-amp will block any DC power from going to the antenna itself.

Also, does digital signal reception get affected by a strong (read close) tv transmission tower... or was that only a problem with analog?

If anything, it's worse with digital than it was for analog. On analog, a overloaded picture was easy to identify so it may be corrected. On digital, an overloaded amplifier or tuner typically just says "No signal" since the tuner circuitry cannot decode any of it.

I'll answer the original question, instead of telling you to do something different.

Combining is easy. Any cable tv splitter used backwards is a combiner.
It might be a good idea to use a UHF/VHF bandpass splitter/combiner or else you might have phasing issues on the high VHF.
These are readily available at the souce, home depot and most dollar stores for a buck.

Now, my 2 cents. I don't use VHF, all the available stations are in digital on UHF, so, like the other posts, why bother with analog?
I just purchased a 2-way 5-1100 mhz splitter/combiner at the Source to combine the two 4-bay antennas on my home built DB8 FOR 19.99

BTW, if I connect only 1 balun to the splitter, regardless if it is on the IN or OUT side, it STILL does not allow the UHF signal to pass thru my splitter/combiner to the ATSC tuner on my TV


I currently receive all the available UHF channels "loud and clear" when connecting to either 4BAY balun soldered to my DB8 BUT it drops all my UHF channels when I combine the two baluns when using my new splitter/combiner; however it does combine the two VHF-HI signals on 7.1 and 13.1 properly....why?

Do I need a 2400Mhz splitter/combiner instead? They sell those at the source as well but are $29.99......both said they are "Digital READY" on their packages.

JTJB, If both antennas work separately, but not when combined, it sounds like an out of phase problem, flip one of the baluns and try again.
Good Luck.

JTJB, If both antennas work separately, but not when combined, it sounds like an out of phase problem, flip one of the baluns and try again.
Good Luck.
Thanks Tom F1 for the quick reply BUT...I must reiterate...."if I connect only 1 balun to the splitter, regardless if it is on the IN or OUT side, it STILL does not allow the UHF signal to pass thru my splitter/combiner to the ATSC tuner on my TV....only the VHF frequencies.

Therefore the balun is not the culprit in this instance, but the splitter/combiner. I did this on purpose as to exercise the process of elimination.

Kind Regards, Jason

He said to flip the BALUN, not the splitter. Flipping one of the baluns reverses the phasing of the signal coming off that antenna.

I have two coax cables coming from my roof, each plugs into a different tuner card. ONE of the cables continues to feed the rest of the TV's in my house, the other does not.

I'd like to combine the signals AFTER my main HTPC and suffer no "reflections" backwards into same. Is this possible without getting into attenuators - maybe with a couple distro amps or something?

To use the body as an example - the arteries have valves that prevent backflow. Does a distro amp perform the same function (in addition to amplifying the signal)?

I draw a diagram if I have to lol. I realize I may have to get into attenuators anyway, due to Toronto signals leaking into the Buffalo-pointing antenna.

Do they come from different antennas? If so the simplest way would be to use a coupler/combiner but that does result in some signal loss.

You can of course split one line to go to multiple sets. Amplifiers are useful when you have a lot of line for the signal to travel along. You might want to look into an amplified splitter.

I was originally planning on using an HLSJ to make sure I cut out any low-VHF blowtorches prior to the DTV transition, but by the time I actually got on my roof to install it (and a CM 7778 preamp), the DTV transition was almost over.

After the transition, I was utterly unable to pick up CTV 9.1 (RF 9) here in Toronto with the HLSJ installed. Once I removed it, directly connecting my 4221HD to the 7778, my reception of 9.1 came right back.

I wonder if my cabling or HLSJ is bad? Or maybe the nominal 0.5 db insertion loss was enough?

Hi,

So, I've got my stealth hawk in the attic doing a great job and I have a dish receiver that outputs on channel 60.

I've got one TV that I use a manual switch to switch between a coax feeding the channel 60 and a coax from my stealth hawk (via an amplifier).

Is there a way I can combine the dish output into my stealth hawk before the amplifier? How would you do this - some sort of filters ?

Thanks,

Alan

I use diplexers and feed the RF output of my Bell receivers though the satellite feeds (RG6) then out using a diplexer at each TV/Receiver along with the OTA.

Just pick a channel that is not near any OTA you are receiving that may interfere with the adjacent channels, I have not had to use any filters, just a line tap and I go through a distribution amp.

After the transition, I was utterly unable to pick up CTV 9.1 (RF 9) here in Toronto with the HLSJ installed.

If you were feeding through the "H" port with the "L" port properly terminated, the HLSJ should have had almost no effect on the VHF 9 signal unless it was defective.

I have a splitter so I can run to two tv's. The other day I noticed something, I was watching CKCO ch 13-1 and happened to have the signal meter on the screen. I was getting 19 db and then my son turned on the tv in the other room and my signal dropped to 17 db. I got him to turn it off and the signal jumped back to 19 db. Is this normal? I always thought the splitters caused signal loss regardless of whether both tv's were on or not. It could be an issue because 19 db gives me a more stable signal than 17 db. It's only really an issue with this channel because all the other locals I get have stronger signals. It's an old radio shack splitter, do I need a better quality one? I forgot to mention the tv I was watching is about 40 feet of cable downstream from the splitter whereas the tv my son turned on is only 6 feet of cable from the splitter.

The other set might be generating RF noise that raised the "N" portion of the SNR.

Might be a flaky cable carrying the added RFI or might be inadequate isolation between the ports in the splitter.

Bark, I would try a different splitter. I have some Channel Master ones if you want to try them.

Panamark, I had a look last night and it's an older RCA splitter. I wouldn't mind trying one of your channel master splitters just to see if that is the problem. Maybe you could PM me and we can work something out. Thanks

I have a similar problem - turn on DVR, kills ch 13 on TV. Turn on TV, affects channel 13 on DVR. Turn on either TV or DVR or both, affects laptop tuner....

Only on VHF, though. My splitter is an old Archer (all metal) from sometime long ago. My cable is also cheap stuff with cheap connectors, so that could be the issue, but from my tests, it would appear not. I also tried two other splitters; same thing (not that they were much better quality, mind you). I suspect that it is simply interference coming across the house's wiring (it's a cottage, with all of the TV devices on the same circuit on the cheapest, worst quality circuit breaker panel available in 1980 according to the electrician).

This only occurs on VHF, where noise is more prominent. Is there something you can plug a device into (like one of those 3 prong --> 2 prong adapters) to eliminate the interference coming across wiring?