Just moved into an apartment pre-wired with DTV. Need help...

[RDSport323]

Hopefully some of you gurus can help me out with my situation. I will try to explain my situation in detail, so that you may understand the exact setup at my apartment.

I live in an apartment community that is pre-wired for DTV meaning, there is either 1 dish on the roof or a few dishes on the roof, which feed all 500 apartments. I was told from the provider that Theres one dish, thats connected with fiber optic cables, and from there, it is then split to all of the apartments.

So this is how it is setup in my apartment. There is one RG-6 cable that comes into the wall from the satellite on the roof. From there the cable is connected to a 3-WAY SPLITTER -100dB RFI (ALL PORTS POWER PASS DIODE PROTECTED).. That would split the signal into two, one for the living room and one for my bedroom. When I had the provider install the service for me, I only had the living room setup because I did not want to have to pay $40 more to have him do something I should know how to do. From the splitter, the installater connected a DOWNCONVERTER INPUT 5-2025 MHZ (i assumed it was your ordinary diplexer). And from the diplexer one cable went into the satellite input and the other went into the regular ANT input. So, now, my living room is wired with DTV. All the channels are functional, signal strength is around 75%. All is well.

Now, the installer told me that in order for my bedroom to be wired, I would need to purchase a DOWNCONVERTER. He told me that they were somewhere along the lines of $100-150. So, after doing a little research and finding out that the converter was actually a diplexer, I went to my Radio Shack and bought an RCA Diplexer. Just by looking at the two diplexers, the RCA one seemed more flimsy and cheap, whereas the DOWNConverter was heavy and big. So I went home and plugged the RCA diplexer into the line that went to my bedroom and voila, the channels worked. But, as I was flipping through the channels, I noticed that a lot of my channels were "searching for signal". And when I had my RCA diplexer plugged in, the one in the living room would start to lose channels as well.

I came to the conclusion that the RCA diplexer I bought is a POS. I have tested numerous setups but all had problems. Here are the setups I tried:

1) Satellite Line -> DOWNCONVERTER -> 3-WAY SPLITTER -(2)-> Receiver 1 & Receiver 2. with this setup, I would have to be on the same channel in both rooms in order to get some channels.

2) Satellite Line -> 3 WAY Splitter -(2)-> One line into the DownConverter and the other into the RCA Diplexer -> Receivers. This one showed that the RCA diplexer wasn't working up to par with the other Diplexer.

Now my question is... How or what are my options in terms of being able to get 3 satellite inputs, all working properly receiving all the channels. I need 3 because the receiver in my living room is a UTV, and I wouuld like to use the PIP and recording 2 shows at the same time option. I was considering using a multiswitch, hoping that it would work. Would it?

If I can use a multiswitch, how would I plug it in? Would it be:

Satellite Line -> 3 WAY Splitter -> 2 into Multiswitch -> 3 out to receivers?

or would it be

Satellite Line -> 3 WAY Splitter -> Diplexer/Diplexer -> Multiswitch -> Receivers?

Another question is.. is it technicallly possible to split the signal that many times, or is that one satellite line coming into my apartment, able to support 3 receivers?

I reallly need some advice or help. I thank you for taking your time and reading my lengthy post. I hope to hear from someone soon

Kind Regards,

[waydwolf]

Originally posted by RDSport323
Hopefully some of you gurus can help me out with my situation. I will try to explain my situation in detail, so that you may understand the exact setup at my apartment.


    Seems kind of straightforward. So far. I'll assume you're a total newbie to all this so if you aren't, don't get angry. I work mostly with people for whom AOL is technowizardry. They just want their TV.


I live in an apartment community that is pre-wired for DTV meaning, there is either 1 dish on the roof or a few dishes on the roof, which feed all 500 apartments. I was told from the provider that Theres one dish, thats connected with fiber optic cables, and from there, it is then split to all of the apartments.


    What satellite it is looking at is the key. Since it is one dish, and an MDU prewire, it almost certainly is looking only at the 101 satellite.


So this is how it is setup in my apartment. There is one RG-6 cable that comes into the wall from the satellite on the roof. From there the cable is connected to a 3-WAY SPLITTER -100dB RFI (ALL PORTS POWER PASS DIODE PROTECTED).. That would split the signal into two, one for the living room and one for my bedroom. When I had the provider install the service for me, I only had the living room setup because I did not want to have to pay $40 more to have him do something I should know how to do. From the splitter, the installater connected a DOWNCONVERTER INPUT 5-2025 MHZ (i assumed it was your ordinary diplexer). And from the diplexer one cable went into the satellite input and the other went into the regular ANT input. So, now, my living room is wired with DTV. All the channels are functional, signal strength is around 75%. All is well.


    Here's where terminology is very important. A "downconverter" refers usually to what is also called a "destacker". Normal DirecTV looks at 12.2Ghz-12.7Ghz Left Hand Circular Polarization for odd transponders or Right Hand Circular Polarization for even transponders and switches from the former to the latter based on an increase of operating voltage from around 13VDC to 18VDC.

    The signal is "downcoverted" in the other usual sense used in satellite technology, from 12.2Ghz-12.7Ghz down to 950Mhz-1450Mhz.

    In a "stacked" system it feeds 18VDC to the second port on the LNB to get both sets of polarizations and thus transponders, and "upconverts" the second feed of RHCP/even transponders from 950Mhz-1450Mhz up to 1550Mhz-2050Mhz and diplexes it in with the first band. This is often called "wideband" in DTH/DBS.

    At the other end, the higher band is "downconverted" and the feed chosen depending on the usual switching voltage from the receiver.


The installer told me that in order for my bedroom to be wired, I would need to purchase a DOWNCONVERTER. He told me that they were somewhere along the lines of $100-150. So, after doing a little research and finding out that the converter was actually a diplexer, I went to my Radio Shack and bought an RCA Diplexer. Just by looking at the two diplexers, the RCA one seemed more flimsy and cheap, whereas the DOWNConverter was heavy and big. So I went home and plugged the RCA diplexer into the line that went to my bedroom and voila, the channels worked. But, as I was flipping through the channels, I noticed that a lot of my channels were "searching for signal". And when I had my RCA diplexer plugged in, the one in the living room would start to lose channels as well.


    It sounds to me like you have *ONE* satellite feed which may not be stacked but fed to a multiswitch for your floor or group of floors as the case of the MDU distribution may be, and the splitter would work only if the feed was actually stacked and you had actual stacked MDU downcoverters or so-called wideband receivers which can downconvert or destack the high band themselves.

    You cannot split a switched system. ALL receivers must have a home run to their own port on the switch. Even stacked systems are good for one satellite and more than one requires something else to choose satellites like the 22Khz tone used in DirecTV multisat switching.

    Why separate ports? Because if Receiver One wants a signal on an odd transponder and Receiver Two wants a signal on an even transponder, then Receiver Two will send 18VDC to the switch through the power passing splitter and tell the switch to look at the wrong set of transponders for Receiver One.


I came to the conclusion that the RCA diplexer I bought is a POS. I have tested numerous setups but all had problems. Here are the setups I tried:

1) Satellite Line -> DOWNCONVERTER -> 3-WAY SPLITTER -(2)-> Receiver 1 & Receiver 2. with this setup, I would have to be on the same channel in both rooms in order to get some channels.

2) Satellite Line -> 3 WAY Splitter -(2)-> One line into the DownConverter and the other into the RCA Diplexer -> Receivers. This one showed that the RCA diplexer wasn't working up to par with the other Diplexer.

Now my question is... How or what are my options in terms of being able to get 3 satellite inputs, all working properly receiving all the channels. I need 3 because the receiver in my living room is a UTV, and I wouuld like to use the PIP and recording 2 shows at the same time option. I was considering using a multiswitch, hoping that it would work. Would it?

If I can use a multiswitch, how would I plug it in? Would it be:

Satellite Line -> 3 WAY Splitter -> 2 into Multiswitch -> 3 out to receivers?

or would it be

Satellite Line -> 3 WAY Splitter -> Diplexer/Diplexer -> Multiswitch -> Receivers?

Another question is.. is it technicallly possible to split the signal that many times, or is that one satellite line coming into my apartment, able to support 3 receivers?

I reallly need some advice or help. I thank you for taking your time and reading my lengthy post. I hope to hear from someone soon

Kind Regards,

    If yours is a single satellite system which is NOT "stacked" then your single apartment line feed goes then to a port on a multiswitch and CANNOT be split.

    If it is a single satellite stacked system, then you need a 950Mhz-2050Mhz minimum power passing splitter with wideband receivers that destack or normal receivers with destackers/downcoverters.

    A diplexer is there just to mix two signals of different bands together, normally the sub-band/return path, VHF, UHF, cable at 5Mhz-800Mhz+ and satellite from 950Mhz-1450Mhz or 950Mhz-2050Mhz. Ratings past those nominal bands are simply part of their marketing and whatnot. You're not going to care what's at 2067Mhz so a splitter clean to 2300Mhz isn't that much better than a splitter that starts to drop performance at 2200Mhz.

    I hope this helps. I bite at ASCII art or else I'd have illustrated some of the schemes.