Analog to Digital converter

[Tom-NC]

Today I installed my converter above the Winegard Switcher and it works just great. I am using the Zenith DTT900 and the programming and picture is great even though I only receive 9 stations right now. Some of the stations do not fill the screen on the Sny TV but it is fine.

To explain how I did it will follow:
1 - I removed faceplate from Switcher and inverter disconnecting the speaker switch.Next had to pry up switcher from shelf. Then I disconnected antenna input to Switcher and connected it to the input side of a two way splitter that passes DC
2 - I connected the pass thru side of splitter( which is indicated on splitter by a "L" line) back to Ant in of switcher.
3 - The left over port of the splitter I connected to the Ant in of the DTT900.
4 - The port for the TV input on the converter I connected to the Aux input of the switcher.
5 - The AC plug from converter I connected through a tri-tap to the Inverter. The VCR Ac Plug was there which I plugged into the tri-tap. Note the tritap has to be a small one and not the rectangular type.
5 - I attached the converter to the switcher with velcro on the four legs. Then I pressed the switcher back down into existing velcro strip.
6 - Next I removed from the faceplate the leather that was folded over and recut it.Then I cut out the metal faceplate so that the converter front panel would be visible. I made it 1.5 inches shorter than the switcher on one side and the other side was even with the switcher and 1.5 inches high ( THIS DEPENDS ON THE TYPE OF CONVERTER YOU ARE USING). I hope that is clear. Cutting was done with a jig saw with a metal cutting blade. The leather was previously cut so that it would fit over the cut edges. I glued the leather with regular glue. Make sure you clamp it while glue dries.
7 - Next step was to remount and reconnect speaker switch and to mount faceplate where it came from making sure that switcher and converter stayed in place. I did have a little bit of problem with existing velcro but with a little pressure I got it to hold.

Wish I could send picture of it but no such luck. I guess I could take a picture of it and email it to anyone who wishes.

Next I sat down and watched a few of the programs by pushing in the AUX button of switcher and setting TV to channel 3. Switcher power has to be on. Positioning the antenna is critical, however with a little trial and error it will come in crystal clear. I also tried the bedroom tv by putting it on channel 3, putting rear tv button in AUX position and it displayed the same as the front tv.

Needless to say I am quite happy with the installation and now I am ready for digital TV and can also use analog if I have to.

Good Luck on your installation.

 

[Tom-NC]

Today I installed my converter above the Winegard Switcher and it works just great. I am using the Zenith DTT900 and the programming and picture is great even though I only receive 9 stations right now. Some of the stations do not fill the screen on the Sny TV but it is fine.

To explain how I did it will follow:
1 - I removed faceplate from Switcher and inverter disconnecting the speaker switch.Next had to pry up switcher from shelf. Then I disconnected antenna input to Switcher and connected it to the input side of a two way splitter that passes DC
2 - I connected the pass thru side of splitter( which is indicated on splitter by a "L" line) back to Ant in of switcher.
3 - The left over port of the splitter I connected to the Ant in of the DTT900.
4 - The port for the TV input on the converter I connected to the Aux input of the switcher.
5 - The AC plug from converter I connected through a tri-tap to the Inverter. The VCR Ac Plug was there which I plugged into the tri-tap. Note the tritap has to be a small one and not the rectangular type.
5 - I attached the converter to the switcher with velcro on the four legs. Then I pressed the switcher back down into existing velcro strip.
6 - Next I removed from the faceplate the leather that was folded over and recut it.Then I cut out the metal faceplate so that the converter front panel would be visible. I made it 1.5 inches shorter than the switcher on one side and the other side was even with the switcher and 1.5 inches high ( THIS DEPENDS ON THE TYPE OF CONVERTER YOU ARE USING). I hope that is clear. Cutting was done with a jig saw with a metal cutting blade. The leather was previously cut so that it would fit over the cut edges. I glued the leather with regular glue. Make sure you clamp it while glue dries.
7 - Next step was to remount and reconnect speaker switch and to mount faceplate where it came from making sure that switcher and converter stayed in place. I did have a little bit of problem with existing velcro but with a little pressure I got it to hold.

Wish I could send picture of it but no such luck. I guess I could take a picture of it and email it to anyone who wishes.

Next I sat down and watched a few of the programs by pushing in the AUX button of switcher and setting TV to channel 3. Switcher power has to be on. Positioning the antenna is critical, however with a little trial and error it will come in crystal clear. I also tried the bedroom tv by putting it on channel 3, putting rear tv button in AUX position and it displayed the same as the front tv.

Needless to say I am quite happy with the installation and now I am ready for digital TV and can also use analog if I have to.

Good Luck on your installation.

 

[Bill Adams]

Does anyone here have any idea what Tom-NC has done and/or why?
I am totally lost!

 

[FlyingDiver]

He installed the DTV converter using a splitter on the antenna side of the VCC, routing the output of the converter to his Aux input on the VCC. That way he doesn't need passthrough, as he can do analog OTA using the TV input on the VCC, or Digital OTA using the Aux input.

The DC pass/block splitter is to keep the power from the VCC going to the antenna booster from frying the converter.

Some of the instructions are also specific to the install in his RV, specifically modifications to the cabinet and the switcher (VCC).

I think.

joe

 

[skigramp]

Bill ...

Tom-NC carried out exactly what Frank(Wires) suggested on June 01 in this thread

Frank's earlier Post

The main thing that Tom was describing was how he modified the facade that covered the selector .... he made the opening larger so that the face of the converter also shows through

 

[Bill Adams]

I am just glad that someone understood what the heck was going on.
Back to bed for me!

 

[-Gramps-]

This past weekend a friend at the Workhorse rally who owns a Suncruiser, told me he had a Winegard convertor with the two f connectors installed back in June. Since then his cable connection would not work to the living room TV. It sounded like the convertor was not passing analog signals from the cable connection. I said I would take a look at it. The cable from to tv1 had been moved from the switcher to the output of the convertor and the input went back to the to tv1 connection. I moved the to tv1 cable back to the to tv1 input on the switcher. He wasn't using a vcr so I used the short coax jumper he already had and connected the output of the convertor to the to vcr input on the back of the switcher. I then used a second coax jumper cable and connected from vcr out to the input on the convertor. So once ant is selected for the vcr, the power boost is turned on, and vcr is selected for tv1 the convertor works fine. If cable is selected for tv1 that works as well. If ant is selected for tv1 then the analog off air tv signals still work for now. Pretty simple really.

Later my friend and his wife came over to our coach for a good game of Mexican Train. He brought me a six pack of Mikes Hard Lemonade for my convertor fix. I was happy with that.

 

[J Stemler]

Getting ready to add converter to my coach...do not quite understand all these different connection setups I have been reading about. I plan to purchase a converter with analog passthrough...my question is....can I just disconnect the ant from the ant in on the back of my switcher...connect it to the in side of the converter..then connect the ant out on the converter to the ant in on the switcher...all I would be doing is putting the converter in line on the ant. Then I would plug in the converter...set the tv to channel 3/4 and use the converter to change channels. Anyone think this will work.

 

[Tom-NC]

This is in reply to Bill Adams question as to why I did what I did.

Since I use my antenna in the Rv to receive TV in my RV as of Feb 2009 I need to convert that from Analog to digital. And that is what I did and I did use Frank's idea but I had that before he posted it. So it is not a new idea.

I don't have Sat in the Rv as I have in our home just yet but will have it down the road so that is another reason, Bill.

Also my RV doesn't have Digital TV sets in it and I wasn't going to purchase them when there is nothing wrong with the TV's I have now. Plus the converter only cost me $9.95 a lot less than a TV.
The final reason I made the post is maybe I could help someone else who is trying to convert their Tv signal.

So Bill now you know why I posted that post and I'm sorry that I confused you.

 

[Tom-NC]

J Stemler, The pass through may work but only if it passes the DC Voltage required to power the amplifier in your Bat Wing Antenna on the roof.

I think if you go to FIND at the top of this page and type in Digital converter you might find something about the pass through system.

One thing that would puzzle me is that Digital converter output goes on channel 3 of TV set and you change channels on the converter much like a cable box, however when you are in Analog you use the TV to change chanels.

The splitter I used passes the DC voltage to the antenna and the TV button on the switcher still would give me analog signals normally where as the AUX switch would give me Digital signal.

I hope this answers your question.

 

[Rocket Heart]

I didn't want to watch the same program on both sets , so I opted for two separate boxes - works great.

 

[J Stemler]

I understand the reason for the splitter and connecting the converter to the aux position. however my aux position is alredy used for a dvd player I installed, that is why I just wanted to install the converter in line on the ant feed.

 

[Bill Adams]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">This is in reply to Bill Adams question as to why I did what I did. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I never asked why you did what you did. That part is quite understandable as most folks are going to want to use a Digital to Analog (not Analog to Digital) converter to allow their legacy analog TV's to work properly.
It's all the construction info in there that got things a bit convoluted for me. I didn't understand that you were describing BOTH how you installed the converter and how you modified your cabinetry to make it fit.

 

[FLYTYER-WO]

This thread is very interesting and informative.

I am reminded about a post I made several months ago about the digital conversion boxes and their hook-up and use in an RV. Each RV model can be so different that some ideas about how these boxes can be connected and used just may not work in all cases. There may be no generic solution that fits all. For some of us, adaptation may be needed.

I am pleased to see that many have figured out how to get it done in a manner that works for them.

More importantly, thanks for sharing what you did and telling us how it is working !!

Keep it coming !!!

 

[Tom-NC]

Bill Adams.

In your original question you did ask why I did what I did and what I did which I explained. The converter does convert Digital signal to Analo g TV's and on that point you are correct.

 

[Tom-NC]

J Stemler,

You can not install the converter in the antenna circuit like you want to because you would block the DC Voltage required by the antenna amplier. If you install it in the line coming from the splitter going to the TV then cable or Sat would not work.

You might be able to connect the way you want if you use an external 12vdc source to power ant. Maybe someone else could tell you if this will work as I'm not sure and don't want you to damage converter. You might have to install a blocking capacitor on input to converter.

 

[Bill Adams]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">In your original question you did ask why I did what I did </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Right you are! Sorry. That's not really the way I meant to post the question so that's my bad. I knew you were doing something with a converter I just didn't understand why you were giving some other details until it finally got the part about you modifying the cabinet to make the converter fit.
I did not mean to imply "why were you doing what you were doing with the converter". Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Tom-NC]

Thank you all for your replies to my post on the Converter installation that I did on my Winnebago.

I sure hope I was able to help anyone who had questions about installing the converter and Frank Wires installation was what I used as that is the switcher I have. I felt a narrative was the right way to go and like I said hope this helps your installation.

Lastly just remember that the Antenna on the roof requires DC Voltage for the amplier in it.

This will end my post and hope everyone travels safe.

 

[wagonmaster2]

Still waiting for my coupons, but glad to read all the posts about problems with the converters. Hopefully I'll be able to install mine when I get it.
Wagonmaster2

 

[Frank (Wires) & Jean]

If your rear TV has video line in on it. Just add spliter and use the video out from the converter box. Standard TV is just like it was. DTV just set the TV to video line in with the remote. Besure to set the convert box set up menu to video out not channal 3 or 4.