# Anyone ever heard of hooking up an outdoor antenna to the satellite dish?



## ld323 (Sep 13, 2007)

I'm trying to get all my local channels for free (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX, CW) instead of paying the extra $5/mth, and the indoor antenna rabbit ears are not doing the trick. I mean it works well for NBC, FOX, and CW. But PBS has snow, ABC has static, and CBS is totally unwatchable. 

I just spoke with a broadcast engineer at my local CBS station and he advised me to hook up a cheap outdoor TV antenna to my satellite dish. This signal would ride on the same coax going into my house. Apparently he's done this before and it allowed him to get all the free local channels with much better reception.

Anyone here ever heard of this?


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

Search the forums for "diplexer" and you'll learn a lot.

My two cents: The clip-ons aren't that great. Spend a few more dollars and get a standalone antenna for better performance. YMMV.


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## Bijou Media (Jul 28, 2007)

Don't get the clip ons, they are junk. Invest in a good quality antenna.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

The clip on antennae are not only junk but they are likely not any cheaper than a real antenna.

Diplexing is no longer trivial in the DIRECTV realm. It can be done with care. DIRECTV is working on equipment to make things better/easier again; look for the SWM (single wire multiswitch) to be available later this year.

Cheers,
Tom


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## ld323 (Sep 13, 2007)

The problem I have with a stand-alone outdoor antenna is that I will have to drill another hole in the house for the coax...


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

The complexity of combining the OTA into the sat cable is dependent on your setup. What type dish do you have. Do you get HD? If you have only an SD setup, diplexing the OTA into your cable in not very difficult. If your have an HD setup with the new HD channels from the new satallite, then it is a little more complicated.


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

ld323 said:


> The problem I have with a stand-alone outdoor antenna is that I will have to drill another hole in the house for the coax...


In a word, nope.

To elaborate, the goofy clip-on dishes require diplexers to piggyback their signal through the existing satellite cable. If instead you erect a "real" OTA antenna on the roof ... it should be able to use the same sort of diplexers the same way. There's nothing magic about clip-ons!


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## ld323 (Sep 13, 2007)

lwilli201 said:


> What type dish do you have. Do you get HD?


DISH Network without HD, just basic... I guess SD means standard definition?


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## ld323 (Sep 13, 2007)

FTA Michael said:


> To elaborate, the goofy clip-on dishes require diplexers to piggyback their signal through the existing satellite cable. If instead you erect a "real" OTA antenna on the roof ... it should be able to use the same sort of diplexers the same way. There's nothing magic about clip-ons!


Actually my DISH is pole mounted and quite a distance from the house. So putting an external antenna on the roof wouldn't be advantageous. Can't I just tie a small antenna to the same pole?

Where should I go to purchase a "clip-on" and "diplexer" .. ? Radio Shack, Frys?


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