Splitting signal from second Sky+ feed?

Wuffers

Hi

My current system is as described in my member description.

My wife now wants to add our old Sky box to our living room Sky HD setup 'cos not all channels are on my son's FTA box and we are sometimes turfed out of the living room while he watches our Sky box. (I have run the output from the HD box around the house - all bedrooms, kitchen, family room, etc. Only room we don't have it is the loo. )

Having twin cables feeding the HD box, I thought that I might be able to make use of one of them. I disconnected one of the cables from the HD box and connected it to the old sky box. It worked fine. All FTA channels came in clear. Thinking that I was now set up to add the old box to the setup, I then bought a 'Philex Satellite Splitter 5-2400MHz' from B&Q, connected the cable to the 'in connector,' on the splitter and connected two 'out' cable feeds - one to the HD box and one to the old Sky box.

No satellite signal received on either box.

I'm new to all of this. One of the output connectors on the splitter is marked 'power pass.' I've no idea what this means but it made no difference anyway. I connected the cables to all four outputs in turn. None of them worked.

Am I missing something really obvious here? Do I need to do something else, apart from splitting the signal?

Thanks for reading.

Analoguesat

Dont try splitting cables - you need to put a 4 output lnb on the dish then run a new cable from the dish to the new receiver.

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Wuffers

Thanks for quick reply. I already have four outputs on the LNB - please see member info. So, no good for splitting the cable feed then?

PaulR

No, splitting won't work as both receivers need to be able to control the LNB - or at least have an outlet each.

What you need is one of the eight output (Octo?) LNBs that are recently available. My $ly installer friend has had them on his van for several months now.

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PaulR

As I get older I find myself thinking about the hereafter - I go into a room and then wonder what I'm here after.

Wuffers

Oh well, shoot! (Anybody want to buy an 'as new' satellite splitter then? )

At the risk of exposing my stupidity even more thank I have - what exactly are these splitters for then?

Thanks guys - I appreciate your patience with a satellite virgin (well near virgin, as my dear ol' nan used to say. )

Analoguesat

No - a split cable will never work properly so run the cable.

Satellite channels operate in one of 4 bands,

Horizontal low
Vertical low
Horizontal high
Vertical high.

H/V is switched by a 13/18volt system low/high is switched by a 22khz tone.

Suppose you want to watch ITV1 London which happens to be vertical low band. Then somewone on the other box wants to watch sky news which is vertical high band.

The 22khz tone switch will push the lnb to high band, and you will not be able to watch anything in low band until the second box drops to a low band channel or is switched off.

The same sort of thing happens with H/V

and once you get all 4 states involved it gets horribly complicated very quickly

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Analoguesat's message to the world Analogue forever!

Wuffers

Really not my day: I posted a reply and got the 'you can post just as soon as you are registered' message. Oh well!

Thanks guys, I appreciate your replies. Totally new to anything beyond the Sky EPG :-)

Incidently, what are the satellite splitters for anyway?

Wuffers

Nevermind, not that important - just curious as to what I've just wasted my money on. Thanks anyway, you've both answered my main query. Guess I'll have to invest in an octo LNB. :-)

PaulR

AFAIK the splitters are so that you can split off a terrestrial TV signal out of a combined satellite and TV cable system such as found in a block of flats. As it's a resitive splitter there is inevitably some signal loss for both so they both need to be strong signals.

I think that they are also used in c a b l e TV systems somewhere, at least that's what I've been told. You can also use them to split an ordinary TV aerial cable into two but, again, it needs a strong signal.

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PaulR

As I get older I find myself thinking about the hereafter - I go into a room and then wonder what I'm here after.