I kept this pic of your media center from a previous post by you to serve as my ideal setup. Since my box is too small for all components, I’m going to confine it to only TV — Televes “power inserter,” Tablo, WD HDD and HD Homerun (serves as backup only). Modem, router and switch will sit outside. And my labels will never be as cool as yours.
sorry for the repost but I thought it would help show how to integrate the Televes Avantx into a setup.
Yes I have looked into both of those. Being the type of person I am I would do this just because. Mostly because it would be a fun project. A few years ago while shopping at a local 2nd hand store I found a spool of 820 feet of RG6 cable for $9.99, so I certainly got that covered LOL. But my setup works great as it is so I’m not sure what the benefit would be other than it would be fun and very satisfying. I don’t know, we’ll see. And with nextgen TV (maybe) coming some day what will change? I will not pay for any TV. Could my sophisticated antenna setup become useless?
That is the Million Dollar Question 
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Actually, everything including antennas, cabling, fittings, amps, and processors like the Televes units operate solely in the RF world. ATSC 3.0 should not change this. Same FCC approved frequencies, etc. ATSC 3.0 is the “spec” for the digital data being carried on these frequencies. The various RF devices involved in gathering/distributing the RF signals don’t care about or affect what’s being carried on the signal.
The thing I actually bought the Avantx for was to help me deal with all of the duplicate virtual channels coming from 2 different directions on different RF frequencies in my area. My original antenna was omnidirectional, so it gathered up all of these duplicates. In fact, the exact virtual channel duplication was almost 100%. I used the Avantx assignable filters to essentially pick the RF transmitter frequencies I preferred such that my TVs only saw the ones I wanted to let through. This eliminated all of the exact duplicate virtual channels from my channel scans and cleaned everything up.
The other thing I use it for is leveling all of the signal levels and setting the final output level to my various room drops and the Tablo.
I subsequently switched to a highly directional antenna (Televes Ellipse Mix) and focused my attention on using it to grab everything from one set of towers, and reject all the duplicates from the other set of towers. This worked well enough that I could use everything from one set of towers, but still picked up 2 transmitters from the duplicate towers (almost 180 degrees the opposite direction), so the Avantx was still useful to exclude those 2 duplicates from my channel scans.
In your case, I expect you would use either of these devices to 1) power the amps in your 2 antennas, 2) do a proper digital combining of your 2 antennas, 3) allow you to select which specific transmitters you want in your “channel plan”, and thereby exclude any others, 4) balance the RF levels across all desired transmitters, and 5) set your final RF output level to all of your device tuners.
Note these 2 devices are very similar. However, the Avantx is more of a commercial level indoor device that is programmed via usb-c connection to your pc and a free software app from Televes. The SmartKom is more of a consumer level outdoor antenna mast device that is programmed via Bluetooth and your smart phone. Also, the SmartKom does not allow RF channel reassignment, where the Avantx includes this capability (which most would never use). The Avantx also is capable of higher RF output levels for larger distribution systems (like a multi-family building). There are other differences, but for most home use they don’t really matter.
Let me know if you have any questions as I am very familiar with the Avantx, and my brother is experienced with the SmartKom.
Still a little lost but I think it will click for me once I see the meter. Connections will make more sense. Appreciate all the info and help!
You’re welcome, @Andrea. Basically, the Homeworx tuner I have is the same type of device as the TabloTV but with far fewer features. It includes a real-time signal meter, whereas the TabloTV device does not. Not sure about the AntennaMan signal meter because he hasn’t released much yet.
Thanks for all the info classicrockguy. Yes I know my antennas will work as they are for Nexgen TV. But if it becomes mostly pay TV service my antennas will be mostly useless to me because I will not pay for any TV.
This just came to me now. It happens when you’re old. What I was planning to do (a while back) was take some of that 820 feet of coax and run separate equal length (70 to 80 feet) cables from the antennas to the basement. Then hook up the 2 separate power inserters, one for each antenna, into combiners in the basement, from there to the two Tablos. I’m using just one of the power inserters to power both antennas currently. That really wouldn’t cost me any more than a few hours of time. Which I have. I wonder if this would give me any benefits?
I don’t know the answer to that one, except I sort of doubt there would be any benefit. I think those power supplies have plenty of headroom to power two antenna amps. In fact, I think the SmartKom uses the same power supply, which in turn powers the SmartKom and up to 3 antennas.
I doubt it. I would be more concerned of combining out of phase signals (channel x from ant A and channel x from ant B) if your antennas don’t have good front to back ratio. If they are quite directional then this is all moot.
I just got “Antenna Man” tv signal meter - I don’t know how to connect it to my Tablo!
Can anyone help me out?
Welcome to the Community! It does not connect to and is not used with the Tablo.
It connects separately to a second coax cable (if you have one) connected to your antenna and then via HDMI to your TV. If you don’t have a second coax, then temporarily install the antenna man signal meter in place of your Tablo, point/adjust your antenna, then put your Tablo back in place.
What you’re testing is the antenna alignment to get the best signal from the tower(s). Once that’s done, your antenna should be set and you shouldn’t need the signal meter again unless you need to re-align the antenna or test your signal strength.
If you need the signal meter to be connected full-time so you can adjust your antenna with a rotor or some other method, then you’ll probably need a splitter and a second coax to connect the signal meter to.
I should add - if you choose to temporarily replace your Tablo with the signal meter and you’re not close to a TV, then just use a computer monitor via HDMI. You probably won’t need sound.
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Thank you for the quick reply. It was not what I wanted to hear/read!
Is there an address or phone number that I can use to request the return of the unit?
I am a 76-year-old man who requires a walker to do anything - this unit is way above my capability to use.
Thanks again for any help contacting the company since there is no information on the instruction sheet or the box.
Very sad this doesn’t do what I need it to do… 
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I’m sorry to hear that. You should be able to send an email to theantennamanpa@gmail.com. There’s also a form on his antennasignalmeter.com website ( Contact – Antenna Man)
If I remember correctly, that signal meter has a coax IN and OUT. You surely could connect the antenna to the IN and then connect the Tablo to the OUT. Then you would only need to connect an HDMI cable from the signal meter to your TV. Does it have instructions inside?
This may be the solution you’re looking for.
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Does that work? If this is just a digital converter box, the RF out is probably analog channel 3 or 4. Does the Tablo tune analog channels?
Oh - I believe I mistakenly thought of it as a pass-through. Yes, it’s probably a ch3 or ch4 and NOT a pass through. My mistake. Although, I’m not sure how the Antenna Man Signal Meter works.
I emailed Tyler the Antenna Man regarding the RF OUT on his signal meter. This is his response:
The RF out doesn’t pass through the signal. It only outputs analog video on either channel 3 or 4, mainly for an old TV. For this reason, you cannot use the signal meter in conjunction with the Tablo. You can either disconnect the antenna from the Tablo and temporarily connect to the signal meter to use as a guide to adjust the antenna, or use a splitter to connect both and switch the input on your TV to HDMI whenever you want to access the signal meter.
What a great feature it would be if it were pass-through. I guess it would be about the same as adding a splitter.
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Agreed. This was one thing I missed when leaving TiVo. TiVos have a signal meter screen where you can check the signal strength of an antenna channel.
I contacted the Antenna Man with this exact question. His reply, you cannot connect the signal meter to Tablo. Connect the antenna to signal meter, then connect signal meter to a TV via HDMI. Adjust the antenna for the best signal then remove signal meter and reattach the antenna to the Tablo.
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