# How to wire RF Modulator?



## DishTim

I've got a Joey in my bedroom and would like to mirror this to my kitchen TV.
How do I wire in an RF Modulator?
My Joey is currently connected to the TV with the component out of the Joey.
The RG6 cable comes from the Hopper to the Joey.

Thanks


----------



## mdavej

Connect Yellow/red/white RCA composite cables from the Joey to the modulator. Since you already use Red/white, you need to pick up splitters for those from radio shack or use HDMI to the tv. Next, run a new coax cable from the modulator to the kitchen tv. Then tune to the channel selected on the modulator (3 or 4). Since you have to run a new cable anyway, you could just run RCA directly from the joey to the kitchen and not use a modulator at all and the picture quality will be better.


----------



## harsh

mdavej said:


> Since you have to run a new cable anyway, you could just run RCA directly from the joey to the kitchen and not use a modulator at all and the picture quality will be better.


It is much easier to run one coaxial cable than it is to run a coax and two audio cables.

More often than not a modulator is a better solution unless the cable run is short (<15').


----------



## DishTim

mdavej said:


> Connect Yellow/red/white RCA composite cables from the Joey to the modulator. Since you already use Red/white, you need to pick up splitters for those from radio shack or use HDMI to the tv. Next, run a new coax cable from the modulator to the kitchen tv. Then tune to the channel selected on the modulator (3 or 4). Since you have to run a new cable anyway, you could just run RCA directly from the joey to the kitchen and not use a modulator at all and the picture quality will be better.


The installer told me to run the composite from Joey to RF modulator and then run RG6 to my TV in bedroom and to TV in kitchen. so the incoming rg6 from hopper would plug into joey and then I would need a splitter to go to both TV's from the coax out of the rf modulator. is this correct?


----------



## harsh

DishTim said:


> My Joey is currently connected to the TV with the component out of the Joey.


Unless something changed recently, the Joey does NOT feature a component output.

You may be best served to connect a modulator to the Joey RCA outputs and run both TVs RF.


----------



## harsh

DishTim said:


> The installer told me to run the composite from Joey to RF modulator and then run RG6 to my TV in bedroom and to TV in kitchen. so the incoming rg6 from hopper would plug into joey and then I would need a splitter to go to both TV's from the coax out of the rf modulator. is this correct?


Yes, that's what I recommend as well.


----------



## DishTim

harsh said:


> Unless something changed recently, the Joey does NOT feature a component output.
> 
> You may be best served to connect a modulator to the Joey RCA outputs and run both TVs RF.


My TV now is connected to the Joey via the yellow, red and white cables.


----------



## mdavej

OK, that's composite not component. So the installer and harsh are correct. If tuning to ch 3 or 4 doesn't work right away, you'll also need to do an analog channel scan on each TV after everything is connected. If your modulator is like my Dynex, you won't used the antenna connection at all, just the Y/R/W input and the coax to TV output. What model is your bedroom TV? Does it have a DVI input by chance? If so, you can get an HDMI/DVI cable, gain HD and not have use RF for it.


----------



## bnewt

harsh said:


> Yes, that's what I recommend as well.


can this signal be combined with an ota signal via a backwards splitter & just run 1 cable to the distant tv...much like using the home distribution setup on a 722?


----------



## harsh

bnewt said:


> can this signal be combined with an ota signal via a backwards splitter & just run 1 cable to the distant tv...much like using the home distribution setup on a 722?


That depends on whether you have a local channel that broadcasts on the channels that your modulator can send on. If you've got a strong station on either channel, the modulator signal may be interfered with.

The good news is that since the digital conversion most areas don't have low VHF channels. You need to check with tvfool.com and see of there are any "real" channels in the area of 3-4.


----------



## Snydley

DishTim said:


> I've got a Joey in my bedroom and would like to mirror this to my kitchen TV.
> How do I wire in an RF Modulator?
> My Joey is currently connected to the TV with the component out of the Joey.
> The RG6 cable comes from the Hopper to the Joey.
> 
> Thanks


Since you're already using the composite connections for your TV you need to go to a local electronics store and buy 2 composite "Y" cables with 1 male and 2 female ends on each, then connect them to the Joey, the TV and an old VCR or RF modulator for the kitchen TV. I mirrored a Hopper by connecting an old VCR's composite input to the Hopper's composite output, using the RF modulator in the VCR instead of buying a dedicated RF modulator for the setup. You just have to be sure to change the VCR's input to AV1,(or whatever it's called on your VCR), and pressing the TV/VCR button on the remote, or the unit itself, so that it's changed to VCR. This works great and I didn't have to buy a separate RF modulator for the Hopper. Lastly run a coax cable,RG6, to the kitchen TV from the VCR or RF modulator's RF coax output.You can do the same thing with a Joey. Most of us still have an old VCR laying around.


----------



## tcatdbs

Old thread, but I need to mirror my Hopper to another room, prewired with coax. Don't have an RF Modulator, but the VCR idea got me thinking. Can I hook up my Panny recorder via component, and then use the RF out on the recorder to the other room? Kills 2 birds... and don't need to buy a Modulator.



Snydley said:


> Since you're already using the composite connections for your TV you need to go to a local electronics store and buy 2 composite "Y" cables with 1 male and 2 female ends on each, then connect them to the Joey, the TV and an old VCR or RF modulator for the kitchen TV. I mirrored a Hopper by connecting an old VCR's composite input to the Hopper's composite output, using the RF modulator in the VCR instead of buying a dedicated RF modulator for the setup. You just have to be sure to change the VCR's input to AV1,(or whatever it's called on your VCR), and pressing the TV/VCR button on the remote, or the unit itself, so that it's changed to VCR. This works great and I didn't have to buy a separate RF modulator for the Hopper. Lastly run a coax cable,RG6, to the kitchen TV from the VCR or RF modulator's RF coax output.You can do the same thing with a Joey. Most of us still have an old VCR laying around.


----------



## P Smith

Try and tell us if it working for you .


----------



## john payne

most vcr's will do that for you, but you have to leave the vcr powered on and set to line 1, or whichever input you hooked up to.


----------



## garys

tcatdbs said:


> Old thread, but I need to mirror my Hopper to another room, prewired with coax. Don't have an RF Modulator, but the VCR idea got me thinking. Can I hook up my Panny recorder via component, and then use the RF out on the recorder to the other room? Kills 2 birds... and don't need to buy a Modulator.


I believe you mean the composite (yellow, red, white), component would be Red, Green and Blue for video and red, white for audio. Most vcr's do not have component connections, but the setup you describe should work.


----------



## tcatdbs

You're right... I saw the RGB on my recorder and "thought" they would work... but they are outs not ins. Yellow it is since the Hopper has no S-video. Had too many other things to do today, will try it tomorrow. Should be a great way to feed video to all other prewired coax in the house (garage, outdoors, kitchen)... if I had that many TV's  Would seldom get used, so having the DVD recorder on isn't a big deal.



garys said:


> I believe you mean the composite (yellow, red, white), component would be Red, Green and Blue for video and red, white for audio. Most vcr's do not have component connections, but the setup you describe should work.


----------



## mdavej

I'm all for doing things on the cheap, but an RF modulator is only $10 and has a stronger signal for the kind of distribution you're talking about.

One place you can save a few bucks is remotes. Since you'll need new remotes at all those locations, you can usually pick up 32.0's on ebay a lot cheaper than new 40.0's.


----------



## rtroeh

Assuming the tv near the Joey has both composite and coax inputs, is it better to split the composite before the modulator, or split the coax after the modulator?


----------



## P Smith

Afer modulation


----------



## gov

Regarding the 'backwards splitter' to be used as a combiner to add a modulator channel to OTA, I have had much better performance using a high frequency splitter as a combiner (2400 MHz) instead of a regular splitter (900 or 1000 MHz). There is less loss and/or a more efficient coupling of the 2 inbound signals to the output.

Also, if all your OTAs are UHF, and your modulator is a channel 3 or 4 unit, a simple (although harder to find) VHF/UHF band splitter works great too.

As for combining your signals before or after any RF amp you have, you'll just have to try both and see what works best. One nice thing about quite a few of the new ATSC HD sets is a pretty good signal strength meter in the TV menu somewhere. it can be a very handy feature when doing work on your OTA system. Just leave meter on, and modify your set up one step at a time and review your results as you go. You make a mistake, and you'll know immediately and can fix it. If you change 10 things all at once and nothing works you might be troubleshooting a while before you find that one coax connector with the little whisker in it, or the short center conductor that is killing your set up.

The Sammy's just have 8 or 10 bars (don't recall off hand) but some Sonys have real nice ones with 0-100 scale, and even S/N ratio or capture (again don't recall precise menu terminology).


----------



## harsh

rtroeh said:


> Assuming the tv near the Joey has both composite and coax inputs, is it better to split the composite before the modulator, or split the coax after the modulator?


"Splitting" line level usually involves using a distribution amplifier so I generally don't recommend it unless your distances are short enough to avoid modulating.


----------

