Home Distribution Advice Needed

[darms]

Guys I'm in need of some advice......

Here goes, my plan at the moment is ....(see pic below)



All cables (CT100) have been laid round the house, so before I get them plastered into the walls I have a few questions.

I’ve spoken to a few so called professionals regarding my requirements most of whom have advised me that I should connect the main aerial (DAT45) to a run of CT100 directly to the main TV without any breaks, additional amplification or distribution units. Then have the return from the SAT box to go back into the loft which would then be fed into an amplifier/distribution unit for the rest of my televisions.

1. Would this be the best method?
2. Which amplifier/distribution unit would you recommend? (loftbox/Televes/other)

Finally, I live in a extremely bad reception area therefore I’m thinking of keeping the aerial pointing the Relay just in case I receive ghosting on the DAT45 pointing to Crystal Palace. The black box in the diagram above is a wide band combiner to join the signals form the existing aerial and the DAT45. Would this cause any problems?

Please don’t shoot me down if I’ve got anything wrong here, I’m a real novice and am going on only what I’ve read. You’re help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[Otto-Mate]

1. Would this be the best method?

Thats pretty much exactly how I did it. Aerial comes into node 0 and passes straight to AV room - thru dvd recorder - tivo - sky box. Output of skybox splits 1 to TV and the other back out of AV room to N0 where it goes into input of amp...

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/image...cctvpc_mod.jpg

2. Which amplifier/distribution unit would you recommend? (loftbox/Televes/other)

I used Fringe electronics amp as shown in photo. Loftbox may be more suited to your application though.

M.

[vex]

Darms,

What you have drawn and proposed shows a very good grasp of what you can do with RF signals.

However the loftbox (global), atticbox (televes) do make it a little easier for you in terms of cable runs.

If you take all the 'input' feeds to the Node Zero location for the amp either of the above will combine the Sat, Tv, FM, DAB and CCTV (modulated) feeds onto a single cable run down to the main tv location.

This is split out by a 'Triplex' wall plate and fed to the relevant receivers.

The RF2 output of the Sky box can then be connected to a second coax cable which will return the signal to the 'loftbox' type device, where fm and dab will be added back to it and the distributed throughout the rest of the house.

Either of these devices will power and pass thier own type of IR 'eyes' which you plan at the remote tvs.

I will try to attach globals diagram which I used in my seminar at the smart home show last month.

Nope, can't post it in here, will be on next post.

Chris

[vex]

Oh, and I would allow an additional feed to run from the dish, via node zero down to the tv plate to allow you to upgrade to Sky + in the future.

In fact some of my installer add an extra cable in from NZ to allow of damage as well.

Heres the diagram.

[darms]

Thanks for your comments.......

Loftbox looks good - but would having the main antenna go through the loftbox to the main tv cause signal loss?

Also just told to go for a Vision 48 Element one rather than Televes DAT45 - Opinions??

[vex]

There should not be any loss through these devices as they are active ie, amplifying.

Typically they will offer unity gain (what you put in is what you get out) or even a little bit of a boost.

Check out the Cai web site for the approved antennas and what are the best performers for the signal levels you are in.

www.cai.org.uk

Go to the benchmaked aerails button. Knowing the market and looking at the approvals they are the same rating and I guess he will make a bit more money selling you the vision version.

Chris

[darms]

Cool.......

Looks like you may be right why they recommended one aerial over another.

I recon I'll take the DAT45 (with MRD) and a loftbox. Is CPC the best place to get it all from?

Would there be any problems joining my existing aerial signals with the new DAT45 using some type of combiner?

Thanks once again guys. :lol:

[vex]

darms,

What does that lot come to at CPC, with VAT and Delivery? and where are you based?

One of my installers might be able better that for you (and anyone else).

Combining the two antennas might cause you problems as the majority of digital aerials are wideband. This is because some of the digital multiplexes are actually out of the signal group for your transmitter. If you combine this and the original grouped aerial you could cause interference with the traditional off air channels.

I would recommend you either remove or disconnect the older aerial.

Chris