How do I know if an amp goes both ways?

Rather than answering your question directly, I'm going to ask you to think about what sort of hardware would be required to do that. You can then figure it out for yourself, and you'll have learned something in the process.

What do IR signals have to do with RF amplifiers? Light vs Radio waves... I don't see the connection. Please enlighten me to what you are trying to do.

Mike

Some video distribution systems allow for "relayed" IR remote control, from the viewing point back to the signal source (e.g. from a bedroom TV, back to a DVR or VCR in the living room).

This generally requires an IR receiver at the viewing location, whose output is then modulated onto a low-level RF signal that is mixed onto the video distribution coax. At the "sending" end of the video signal (e.g. living room) the RF signal is tapped out of the coax, demodulated into a baseband signal, and used to drive an IR LED which then is "seen" by the remote-control receiver on the device being controlled. [A somewhat similar trick is used by the infamous X-10 "black pyramid" IR repeater systems, which do a similar IR->RF->IR repeating trick over the air (and are so prone to pick up RF interference that they don't work very well and can even block in-room IR control signals).]

If you try to use this system with an RF distribution amplifier in-line, it may or may not work, depending on the design of the distribution amplifier. A simple "downstream-only" RF amplifier (e.g. one based on a simple MMIC circuit) is likely to have rather high rejection in the reverse direction - the modulated RF signal from the IR repeater's receiver will be blocked when it hits the output of the amp, and won't continue to travel back "upstream" to the source.

Whether it would work, would depend on several things, including the specific RF frequency being used for IR repeating, and whether the distribution amp has some sort of "bypass" circuit which allows this particular frequency to "flow around" the amplifier without being blocked (or amplified and fed back downstream, which would create a feedback loop that would surely result in oscillation).

I'd guess that you'd need to buy an IR repeating system, and amplifier, which were specifically designed to work together in this way. Most off-the-shelf distribution amps are unidirectional and probably do not have any sort of duplexing "bypass" circuit in their design.

--
Dave Platt                                    AE6EO
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You can buy a "Powermid" transponder system for $27 postpaid on eBay. It's RF, so you're probably limited to 30' or 40' feet, but that might be enough.

I use mine to control my SACD player, which sits to the side of and behind the listening position, where the remote can't directly reach it.

PS: If you already own one... The best performance is /not/ always achieved with the receiver antenna directly in line with the transmitter. I don't know why.

Find datasheets or specifications for each product and read them, like anyone else has to.

--
For the last time:  I am not a mad scientist!  I m just a very ticked
off scientist!!!

Well, I understand your desire to make this a learning experience for me**.

I did think about it quite a bit, even before calling the company, and I couldn't figure out how to do it, which is why I thought his answer would be No, nothing else works. It occured to me but didn't seem likely that there were two amps going in the opposite direction, one for the RF and one for the IR

**Back in 1964, my cousin had turned 80 and he gave me his '50 Oldsmobile. At the same time, he also gave me a 1amp battery charger. The battery went dead every night, and I had to borrow my mother's car to get to work. After trying one night (from 5:30 to 10:30 to fix it) I tried to find someplace that had the wiring diagram, and eventually I did, but he wouldn't lend it to me, or even show it to me.*** I don't know if that was his real reason, but he said I needed to do it the hard way and learn something. I spent 4 nights in a row unscrewing connectors and putting them back. For test equipment, I had only a 110volt lightbulb and an ice pick, to pierce insulation. One or two days in, I found what I thought was a short between two wires and was very excited, and maybe it was that I disconnecting both of them, but the battery still went dead. I finally figured out that the wires weren't "shorted" but they had a shunt between them which was connectded to the ammeter, in parallel. The shunt had low resistance that my 110v lightbulb didn't show. This may be when I decided I had to have a wiring diagram or I'd never fix it.

There were no quick connectors then and not very many fuses, so I had to unscrew wires, and I'd keep disconnnecting things until the test light showed no continuity. After 4 or 5 disconnects, I got that, and I figuered the last thing I had disconnected was the problem, but I'd reconnect it and there would still be no short, and I'd reconnect the previous thing, and the previous thing and I'd be at the top when there was a short again. So I'd start disconnecting, probably in a different order, and still it would take 4 or 5 disconnects to get rid of the short, and back up again, to the top, and down and back up.

Finally I found the problem. I guess at every critical point, I had opened the

***(My recollection is that I wanted to make a copy and bring it right back, although now I can't imagine how I intended to make a copy in 1964. Maybe I was just going to draw a copy.

Sorry it took so long to reply. I was going to try other things and then give a full reply.

In principle, you've convinced me. I got graduallly sucked into the plan in the original post here. I definitely need the 5425 or something like it, but then I saw for 30 dollars more I could get the

5525 with the IR. But I have to buy a wall plate for each room, for about 36 dollars each, and maybe a set top box for 42 dollars each, or at least a sensor is extra too, and I have the kitchen, the basement, the office, and the bathroom. But I thought maybe I should live large for once.

I also just noticed that these ChannelPlus devices convert stereo to monaural. I don't care much, but I care a little. Hmmm. I checked and the simple Belkin modulator I'm using now, channel 3 or 4 only, also puts out monaural.

What I used for a few years, years ago, the Leapfrom IR-45. It's little and sticks on the front of the remote control, and the only receiver is not on the TV but near the VCR or DVR, so one is enough for everywhere in the house. I stopped using it for a few years, and now the range isn't enough. It reaches to within 7 feet of where I sit (but probably won't work in the basement or first floor at all, even though it used to) I replaced the 5-year old little 6-volt battery with a new one, and the range was no better. I have been buying these from ebay, so I'd have one for every floor. I have to try another receiver but i'm dubious.

EVen when holding the remote in my hand, I've noticed that the Philips DVDR is more picky than the VCR I had. I have to point it just right to get the DVDR to do anything. So I'm going to get an emitter that will plug into the Leapfrog receiver. Maybe that will do it.

Anyhow, if this doesn't work I'll get a Powermid like you like. Even if I have to buy 4 sets for 108 dollars, it will be less money and less effort than the ChannelPlus.

Right now, Jeopardy that I was recording is over and the DVDR is about to turn off**, and I have to go to the bedroom to stop that. ...Too late!

**One of the flaws of the Philips. It turns off after a scheduled recording, whether it was on or off when the it started to record.

Check the battery in the DVDR remote.

I require a supplemental emitter to "hit" the SACD player. The transponder receiver sits too high.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure it's been that way from the start, and also when I replaced the battery. But I'll pay closer attention.

Uh huh. Okay.

Thanks