Do I need a new distribution amp?

cw-kid

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Hello

I am planning on getting Sky TV installed for the first time. I plan to buy an IO Link and some magic eyes to distribute the Sky signal in to two bedrooms upstairs. I don't trust the Sky engineers to do a decent job judging by the state of their installation on the house next door and I don't want the cable just slinging over my gutters and roof, so I have just ordered some Webro WF65CU twin cable which I will route through the loft from one side of the house to the other and I have some existing Webro WF100 cable to put in a new return feed cable from the living room back up to the loft etc, I've also ordered a new wall plate for the living room. I am fairly happy on how to do all of this but..

I have just looked at my Wolsey 334038 Distribution amplifier in the loft and it appears it does not support Sky IR Pass. So I think I will need a new amplifier. Possibly this one? Wolsey 334024.

Is this my only option to purchase a new amp? With the IO Link and magic eyes its getting more expensive than I had planned for. Not sure why Sky took off the RF1 and RF2 ports on their new set top boxes.

The only other question is these Wolsey amps have two inputs VHF and UHF. The existing digital roof aerial connects to the UHF port and I am assuming the Satellite return cable from the living room / IO Link will connect to the other VHF input on the amp?

Many thanks
 
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Just a bit more information. I initially planned to have it wired liked diagram #1 with the aerial connecting directly from the roof to the back of the Sky box / IO Link.

SKY-Diagram1_zps0e10ac2e.jpg


But then I read if the distribution amp has two inputs I should be able to wire it something like diagram #2. Where the aerial remains connected to the UHF input on the amp and one of the output ports going to the living room connects to the Sky box / IO Link. And the new return cable would connect to the second VHF input on the amp etc.

SKY-Diagram2_zpsa7fcea3c.jpg

Thanks
 
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Hello

I don't trust the Sky engineers to do a decent job judging by the state of their installation on the house next door and I don't want the cable just slinging over my gutters and roof,

I have just looked at my Wolsey 334038 Distribution amplifier in the loft and it appears it does not support Sky IR Pass. So I think I will need a new amplifier. Possibly this one? Wolsey 334024.

Is this my only option to purchase a new amp? With the IO Link and magic eyes its getting more expensive than I had planned for. Not sure why Sky took off the RF1 and RF2 ports on their new set top boxes.

The only other question is these Wolsey amps have two inputs VHF and UHF. The existing digital roof aerial connects to the UHF port and I am assuming the Satellite return cable from the living room / IO Link will connect to the other VHF input on the amp?

Many thanks

If Sky used engineers for installations they might do a decent job but as they use installers on a tight timescale you get jobs like next door.

There is no such thing as a digital roof aerial. An aerial receives radio frequencies and cannot differentiate between analogue, digital, colour TV, black and white TV, or HD.

The VHF input of the amplifier is for, guess what VHF signals. (FM and DAB radio). So why would you connect the UHF from the satellite return cable to it? You will have to combine it with the UHF aerial feed and connect to the UHF port.
 
Hi. thanks for the reply, so I need a combiner to connect the aerial and the sat return into the single UHF input on the distribution amp. Something like this one here?

And presume I still need a new amp that supports Sky IR Pass etc.

Cheers
 
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OK many thanks, I can buy this one from Screwfix which is just down the road.

Cheers
 
Hi

Just an update - I used a splitter like this one, to connect both the TV aerial on the roof and the Satellite return feed cable in to the Wolsey 334038 distribution amplifiers single UHF input.

Navigator-3-Way-Splitter.JPG


I then bought an I/O Link adapter from Amazon here which is a "Sky4Less iO-LINK IO-BOX Modulator"

SkyIOLink.jpg


I connected the RF OUT port on the IO Link to the SAT return feed cable and after also turning ON the RF Outlet Power Supply in the Sky STB settings and re-tuning the TV upstairs, I now see the Sky picture, its on an analogue channel 68 and only has mono sound but the picture is decent enough and is clear etc.

I then bought a Triax Compact F-Type Digital Link Eye (370228) for the upstairs TV.

Triax%20Compact%20F-Type%20Digital%20Link%20Eye.jpg


When this is connected to the coaxial cable in that bedroom the light on the Digital Link Eye does not come on, no power.

As a test, If I connect the Digital Link Eye to the end of return feed cable in the loft directly, it lights up and I can change channels. And if I connect it up via the 3-way splitter as well it also lights up and works.

So I assume my existing Wolsey 334038 Distribution amplifier is the problem and not allowing the Sky IR Pass to work.

So my next step is to order a new Wolsey 334024 Distribution amplifier which does support Sky IR Pass and I then hope everything will be working as expected.

This is how I have everything wired up currently:

Sky-Wiring-Diagram.jpg


Thanks.
 
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As a test, If I connect the Digital Link Eye to the end of return feed cable in the loft directly, it lights up and I can change channels.

Does it still work if you connect it to the IN port of the NSS7513 signal splitter/combiner?
 
Hi

Yes if I connect the Triax Digital Link Eye to the IN port on the 3-way splitter the green light on the Triax Digital Link Eye unit lights up and if I change the channel with the sky remote it does change the channel. So that would mean that the 3-way splitter is OK and not the problem right?

However when the Triax Digital Link Eye is connected to the coaxial cable behind the TV in the bedroom and the SAT return feed is going through the Wolsey distribution amp (See wiring diagram in my last post) then the green light on the Digital Link Eye unit does not come on and it does not work.

Cheers
 
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Yes if I connect the Triax magic eye to the IN port on the 3-way splitter the green light on the Triax magic eye unit lights up and if I change the channel with the sky remote it does change the channel. So that would mean that the 3-way splitter is OK and not the problem right?
That would be my interpretation, although it's still a "bodge" and could be problematic.
 
A "bodge" in what respect? The way I have it wired up? Or just that the IO Links are not brilliant to begin with?

Thanks
 
You might need to do a Ctrl+F5 in your browser, as I updated / edited my wiring diagram after I added it to that thread post. (Assuming your on a PC that is).

Thanks
 
I see, I think... so I have currently wired it up the "bodge" way using a splitter in the loft. The cable from the aerial on the roof comes in to the loft in to the splitter, the SAT return feed cable comes from the SKY STB / IO Link in the living room and back up to the loft in to the splitter, the splitter then connects to the single UHF port on the amplifier. The Sky picture I was getting upstairs in the bedrooms however was a decent picture quality.

So to do it the "proper" way, the aerial from the roof should go direct to the Sky STB first? I have got an unused aerial wall plate in the living room where the Sky STB is located. This has a coaxial cable coming from the loft to the wall plate in the lounge. So I could connect the aerial on the roof to this down cable that goes to this wall plate and then use that to connect the aerial in to the Sky STB ?

In which case the wiring diagram would be more like this one and no splitter would be required.

SKY-Diagram1_zps0e10ac2e.jpg


Either way I still need a new Wolsey distribution amplifier that supports Sky IR Pass I think.

Cheers
 
So looking on the back of the Sky STB there is no port for the aerial to connect too, other than to the RF IN port on the IO Link Adapter (Which is currently not being used). I could try and wire it the "proper" way then. Just depends if my wall plate is compatible? The page you linked too says

"Any wall plate must be a "non-isolating" type."

The unused wall plate in my living room says TV and Radio on it and there is only one coaxial cable behind it. I think the wall plate is this one here.

Triax TV & Radio Wall Plate Diplexed DC Pass 304118

TV_Radio_Diplexed_Wallplate.jpg

The reason this wall plate is currently unused is because it is located low down just above the skirt board.
I have a wall mounted HDTV and there is another second coaxial cable from from the amp in the loft to the back of the TV on the wall for Freeview etc, which is why this wall plate was not being used.
 
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That's how it's designed to work so that the Freeview signal (digital) gets piped round the house together with the selected Sky programme (analogue) and the Digibox can be controlled remotely.
 
You might have a problem with that diplexed plate. It might not pass the 7 MHz "magic eye" signal back to the digibox. Where's the radio aerial on your diagram?
 
The product page for this wall plate states

"Diplexed (2 way) with DC Pass for sky magic eyes"

So sounds like it will be OK.

So what is the advantage of doing it the "proper" way? A better quality picture on the bedroom TVs ?

If I do it the proper way it won't be a single cable from the aerial to the Sky STB it will have joins in it and be going through this wall plate etc.

Thanks
 
I don't have a separate aerial for Radio just one big fat aerial on the roof.
 
OK, so you are picking off the VHF radio signal from the UHF aerial. Another "bodge" but if it works...

Yes, I did at one point actually connect the Radio port on that wall plate to my Denon AVR for Radio channels and it was using the UHF not the VHF, which there is nothing connected to that VHF port on the Wolsey amplifier. I guess I could add some kind of radio aerial in the loft into that VHF port then?

That's how it's designed to work so that the Freeview signal (digital) gets piped round the house together with the selected Sky programme (analogue) and the Digibox can be controlled remotely.

At the moment with the "bodge" wiring I am getting digital Freeview as I normally would and then to see the Sky channel I have to switch the TV from Digital TV to an analogue channel.

So when wired the "proper" way the Sky picture would be on one of the digital channels? and I would not have to switch the TV to an analogue channel to see the Sky Picture ?

I'm confused, or how I presumed it would work -- on the "bodge" wiring setup or the "proper" wiring setup you always need to change the TV from Digital TV to the analogue channel.

Cheers
 
Still confused lol

The page you linked to earlier says

"The Sky Digibox combines its selected channel (analogue) with the aerial signals (digital) (if aerial is connected to the Digibox aerial input) and feeds them out of its RF1 and RF2 output sockets."

The selected channel presumably being #68 which is the default in the Sky STB RF OUT settings.

So then on the TV upstairs what happens? You just use that analogue channel to see the picture from the Sky box and change the channels of the Sky box with the magic eye.

If I'm downstairs watching Sky then in the bedroom upstairs that person will need to use the normal Digital TV (Freeview) only. Or they can watch me channel surf via the Sky analogue channel.

If I'm not watching Sky downstairs, then the person upstairs can use the Sky channel (analogue) and change the channels of the Sky box as they wish.

I am failing to see what the difference / advantage is of wiring the "proper" way over the "bodge" way? Seems to do the same thing?

Thanks.
 
= You always pick up the Sky channel on analogue.
 

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