# One cable, two receivers - can I just use a splitter?



## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

So my dish has 1 cable coming out of it into my HR23.

If I wanted to connect an HR21 to that same cable, could I just add a splitter to the single cable and split it into two?

Not being familiar with satellite receiving, I don't know if it is just as easy as that.

And if it is ok to do, anyone have a recommendation for a splitter? Is there something I should avoid, or anything specific I should look for ?

TIA


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## Tobashadow (Nov 11, 2006)

No, the cable line running to the lnb on the dish also carrys DC voltage at multiple levels (I belive 12v & 18v) and on directv a 22khz tone to switch between the polaritys and lnb switch. 

Adding a second reciver would confuse the lnb and would cause voltage to be back fed between the receivers. 

Not knowing your dish/lnb setup I can't tell you what you need but if it's a 101/110/119 three lnb oval dish which is common there will be atleast one other output in the lnb just follow the coax and remove the lnb carefully without unbolting the dish or moving the dish and add a second line.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Actually, you have given us enough clues to determine that yes, indeed you can use a splitter. The key is that you say you have one cable coming from the dish and you are asking about HR2x DVRs. The one cable tells me that your dish is what is sometimes referred to as a "SWMline" - this is shorthand for a dish that has a built-in Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) module - DirecTV is using these in most new installations nowadays.

The advantage of SWM is that a single feed from the dish can serve multiple tuners and that it can be split using splitters that are designed appropriately. For example, this one.

Here's the test to see if you really have SWM. Can you record two shows at once with the one feed? If so, then you're golden.


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

Yes, I currently have 1 cable coming into the HR23, and can record 2 shows at once.

Thanks for the link!


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