Antenna + cable switcher?

[tallco]

Hi! Love the site, newly registered, but have lurked on the forums off and on over the years. Have a question about using antenna for HD and Insight Cable for all others. Former home owner left a Radio Shack Antenna in the roof, wired into the house, so when we got our new TV we hooked it up to see if it would work. Picking up all local HD channels with ocassional pixeling, probably due to weather conditions. (Live in SE Delaware County just west of the WOSU tower.)
Have a 42" Olevia 542. It has the HD tuner built in, and lots of inputs, but only one coaxial connection. We are currently using that coaxial connection for the HD antenna. Which means we've had to connect the Insight Digital Cable box with RCA cables, and that reduces picture quiality. I'm an old school purist, don't want to pay extra for Insights DVR and HD channels since HD is free over b-cast.
Need to know if anyone knows of an A/B type switcher box we could get to plug in cable tv coaxial and antenna coaxial? Then plug that into the TV. Thanks for replies!

[tallco]

We did try a common cable splitter to combine the antenna and the cable but that didn't work.

[Scott]

Welcome to the forum tallco! I know you have tried a splitter, but have you tried an A/B coax switch? They are really cheap and I remember using them to switch our old RCA from Atari to Antenna in the good ol' days:

http://www.skyvision.com/store/mi3000011.html

http://www.skyvision.com/store/media/3000011.jpg

[tallco]

Thanks for the link. That's what I had in mind... or a box of some type. I had looked on-line at Radio Shack earlier this year for that type of splitter, but they must have been updating their site because they weren't showing any splitters with a switch on it.
I checked Radio Shack again today and found a remote controlled A/B switch box for $39.99. Then called the Polaris Mall store to see if they had them in stock and they had three...two now because I bought one. We'll hook it up tonight or tomorrow and let you all know if it's worth the price.
They also list an A/B box for $14.99 that's suppose to be shielded, (no remote) but reading the reviews on that page it doesn't last more than 9 months and then it fails. Glad I read the reviews before I spent money on that one.
Happy Viewing! Tallco

[tallco]

After installing the A/B box from Radio Shack, we lost all HD and analog channels. Grrr. Decided to try an antennae amplifier to boost the signal (bought the amp at Radio Shack, $59) put the two together and now it works. Interesting note: the A/B box from Radio Shack seems to be wired in reverse (no surprise). So, problem solved. We'll see how long the Radio Shack stuff lasts.