Do I need a PoE Filter?

[rpmartinez1987]

I have a friend who wants a better WiFi signal in his detached Garage, on top of the garage he has an OTA Antenna.
The Antenna's coax cable comes down into the inside of the Garage, is connected to a coupler and then that cable is buried and goes about 30 feet into the inside of the house.

His ISP is Spectrum and that coax cable is located inside the office in his home and is directly connected to his Modem. Is the ISP coax cable the only location that I need to place a PoE filter?
Or do I also need to place one on the OTA antenna's coax cable. See diagram below of what I think needs to be done.

 

[Crimliar]

PoE - Power over Ethernet!
Are you powering the MoCA boxes using PoE, in which case you would need an injector (not a filter) on the ethernet leading to each MoCA device.
*Im in the UK so MoCA is incredibly rare here, so if I'm wrong I will yield!

 

[rpmartinez1987]

In this case I meant a Point of Entry filter.

 

[sfx2000]

In this case I meant a Point of Entry filter.

You only have to consider the PoE filter for the demarcation point - where the CableCo run enters the house.

 

[degrub]

and only if you are putting MOCA signals on that piece of coax, either directly attached or via a splitter.

 

[krkaufman]

Do I need a PoE Filter?

You’d need a “PoE” MoCA filter anywhere that MoCA signals have a path to escape the home. Typically, this would be at a cable TV/Internet signal point-of-entry, but an OTA antenna does offer an alternate means of egress. So where are the MoCA signals actually flowing and where might they escape the home?

The Antenna's coax cable comes down into the inside of the Garage, is connected to a coupler and then that cable is buried and goes about 30 feet into the inside of the house.

His ISP is Spectrum and that coax cable is located inside the office in his home and is directly connected to his Modem. Is the ISP coax cable the only location that I need to place a PoE filter? Or do I also need to place one on the OTA antenna's coax cable. See diagram below of what I think needs to be done.

Per the above (and diagram), with the ISP feeding directly to the modem, no MoCA signals would be present on that coax line, so there shouldn’t be any MoCA filter sitting between the ISP and modem — future-proofing the setup for DOCSIS 3.1+.

So MoCA signals should only be flowing on the coax running between the garage and home, so you’d only need to be concerned about blocking MoCA signals from hitting and emanating from the antenna. (Though neither the OP or diagram justify the antenna being connected at all, given no indication of any endpoints requiring the OTA signals. Either the antenna can be disconnected, or the detail on coax connectivity is lacking.)

With the “PoE” MoCA filter added to the garage junction, you’d likely want to reorient the 2-way splitter to feed the OTA signal via the input port, through the “PoE” MoCA filter positioned to optimize its reflective performance benefit. Absent need for the antenna signal, the filter and splitter could both be skipped and the adapters direct-connected, using 3 GHz F-81 barrel connectors, where needed, to join coax lines.

 

[krkaufman]

With the “PoE” MoCA filter added to the garage junction, you’d likely want to reorient the 2-way splitter to feed the OTA signal via the input port, through the “PoE” MoCA filter positioned to optimize its reflective performance benefit.

In this situation (OTA+MoCA), you can also use antenna/satellite diplexers (example; specs) or MoCA adapters with RF pass-thru ports, to strategically direct signals, accruing slightly less signal loss than would be incurred using simple coax splitters. (related)

example diagram:

​

 

[OzarkEdge]

In this situation (OTA+MoCA), you can also use antenna/satellite diplexers (example; specs) or MoCA adapters with RF pass-thru ports, to strategically direct signals, accruing slightly less signal loss than would be incurred using simple coax splitters. (related)

example diagram:

View attachment 57651​

Thanks for the tip!

I replaced the two PicoLINK MoCA 2-way splitters that came with my Screenbeam 2.5 MoCA adapters (-3.5 dB insertion loss) with the suggested Holland DPD2 diplexers... and got a noticeable improvement in signal stength and quality according to the simple HDHomeRunConfigGUI app that reports signal strength and quality, and symbol quality. In general, signal strength improved about 10 percentage points and signal quality also improve 2-10 points for various channels. Subjectively, TV picture and tuning speed seem a touch improved.

I have a modest preamp on the TV antennas... this diplexer upgrade helps to dismiss any notion of considering more amplification.

Looks like this:

Garage attic:
TV antennas1&2 <> combiner <> LTE filter <> preamp <...

Garage shop:
...> preamp power injector <> MoCA filter <> VHF/UHF Holland DPD2:
Holland DPD2 SAT <> MoCA 2.5 adapter <Ethernet> RT-AX86U node
Holland DPD2 IN/OUT <...

House media center:
...> IN/OUT Holland DPD2:
Holland DPD2 UHF/VHF <> TV tuners
Holland DPD2 SAT <> MoCA 2.5 adapter (master) <Ethernet> RT-AX86U Pro router

I had to reboot the master and other MoCA adapters.

OE

 

[krkaufman]

Good info; thanks for looping back with an example. Depending on specs, you would seem to have shaved around 5+ dB from the antenna signal/tuners path.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Good info; thanks for looping back with an example. Depending on specs, you would seem to have shaved around 5+ dB from the antenna signal/tuners path.

After a few days, I'd say every little dB helps... well worth the effort to swap in the diplexers.

OE