How to combine HD9095P (UHF) with MS-2002 Omnidirectional?

[whiskey]

What type of equipment do I need to join the signals from my existing HD9095P antenna with a recently acquired MS-2002 Omnidirectional? These antennas will be on separate masts and approximately 6 feet apart. It's probably a good 100 feet from top of my house into basement where I have my first splitter which I plan to replace with a distribution amplifier. I'm worried that combining the signals from these antennas may be a problem. Here are my channel lineups and frequencies:

Antenna Type | Call Sign | Channel | Network City | Compass Heading | Miles From | Frequency

* yellow
vhf | KFME-DT | 13.2 | PBS | FARGO, ND | 172° | 12.3 | 13
* yellow
uhf | KVLY-DT | 44.1 | NBC | FARGO, ND | 337° | 11.1 | 44
* yellow
uhf | KFME-DT | 13.2 | PBS | FARGO, ND | 172° | 12.3 | 23
* yellow
uhf | WDAY-DT | 6.1 | ABC | FARGO, ND | 173° | 12.6 | 21
* yellow
uhf | KXJB-DT | 38.1 | CBS | VALLEY CITY, ND | 312° | 8.6 | 38
* red
uhf | KVRR-DT | 19.1 | FOX | FARGO, ND | 123° | 58.5 | 19
* red
uhf | KVRR-DT | 19.1 | FOX | FARGO, ND | 123° | 58.5 | 19

Please follow up with any information on equipment that may be needed to combine the signals for these two antennas. I want to be sure and have the right equipment before I scale the roof of my 2 1/2 story house. Thanks.

whiskey

[winegard]

Good morning Whiskey,

Here is the information I received back from our Technical Services Manager.

Trying to combine these two antennas may be a problem in the fact that you have a omni directional and a directional antenna collecting signals and trying to them together can cause multiple signals on the same channel arriving at the tuner at different times. Depending on the signal strengths and the time delay between the signals the tuner may not know which one of the signals to lock onto so it is constantly searching for signal or displaying no signal found.

The only way you can combine these antennas is through coupler such as the Winegard CC-7870. The CC-7870 uses actual transformers in its circuit to isolate and combine the signals which gives you better performance than a common 2 way splitter. If the HD9095P does not have a preamplifier on it you can install the CC-7870 coupler on bottom of one of the masts. If it were me I would run separate leads in to the house and do my combining head of your splitter system. This would make things much easier than running up and down the roof if we have to change any connection etc. The MS-2000 antenna must be connected to the Antenna 1 side and the HD9095P will attach to the Antenna 2 side. The reason for this is that Antenna 1 side is AC/DC passive and will allow the DC power from the MS-2000 power supply to pass through and reach the MS-2000 antenna. If the HD9095P also has a preamplifier on it then you will need to install the CC-7870 coupler after each of the antennas power supplies down in the house.

If the CC-7870 coupler does not work combining the 2 antennas then only thing you can do is run a separate lead from each antenna to an infra red A/B switch at each TV set to select which signal the tuner sees.

[whiskey]

winegard

Thanks for the information. I am going to run that separate line and try the cc-7870. I ordered another item from a different manufacturer that may work for my setup also. I'll give you a shout back and let you know what worked and what didn't when I complete my installation. Thanks for the quick response.

whiskey

[whiskey]

Just thought I would follow up on this post and let you know what worked for my installation.

I never tried to install the MS-2002. My neighbor has the MS-2002 and he was having trouble maintaining a strong signal with the local CBS affiliate. I returned the MS-2002 I had purchased and picked up a HD-4400. I combined the HD-4400 with an existing HD-5030 on the same mast. The HD 4400 is pointed in the down direction approximately 3 feet below the HD-5030 and faces the CBS affiliate tower. I combined these two antennas with the Winegard cc-7870. In order to employ my existing HD-9095p to pick up the local fox station which is 58 miles away I had to special order a Join-Tenna (Model 0585)from Warren Electronics, which basicly limits that HD-9095p to only pick up the signal from the fox station which broadcasts to channel 19. You can special order these for whatever channel you need. This HD-9095p is on a separate mast approximately 6 feet away from my other mast. The join-tenna has a channel specific in lead for the HD-9095p and an in lead for the combined signal from the cc-7870. The downlead off the join-tenna will go to your interior installation setup. I would also recommend using a multimedia drop amplifier if you need to go to more than one tv. With this setup I am getting the fox affiliate signal at approximately 80% and all other affiliates at 95% + signal strength. I love free OTA HD. Hope this helps some of you out there.

[whiskey]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here is my antenna setup. Hope it gets displayed, if not just delete this post. Thanks.

antenna_setup.jpg

[KNP 2516]

You have some really nice antenna's there, but you would get better reception if you would mount them both on the same mast and put the UHF antenna above the VHF and have the UHF about 10 feet above the roof and use a antenna rotor.

On the right day, with the right point of aim, there is no reason why you shouldn't have 100 percent signals for some of your stations.

[whiskey]

You have some really nice antenna's there, but you would get better reception if you would mount them both on the same mast and put the UHF antenna above the VHF and have the UHF about 10 feet above the roof and use a antenna rotor.

On the right day, with the right point of aim, there is no reason why you shouldn't have 100 percent signals for some of your stations.

I have no doubt that what you say is true, but a rotator http://www.starkelectronic.com/nterotor.pdf is not the answer for my installation. A rotator is great if you are planning on watching TV on only one television in your house. I have 5 rooms wired in off the multimedia drop amplifier, so it is rather important for me to have a strong signal from all stations at the same time. It is my understanding that with the DTV signal you pretty much get it or you don't. If the signal is say less than 70% you may have problems where as if you are receiving signal above that threshhold the picture and sound quality difference between 70% and 100% signal is probably hard to notice. Also, the higher you go with an antenna the better, but also at a cost. Where I live the winds get pretty wicked at times and I would be real hesitant to erect anything higher than what I have on my existing mounts. This system works for me. I'm sure it could be better, but hey it works so I'm happy.