best solution:

at the top of the roof, at the antenna, bring the 300 ohm connections down to 75 ohm. (Flat antenna wire is 300 ohm. it loses a lot of signal per foot compared to 75 ohm coaxial cable.)

then, from the antenna straight into the DTV converter box. the converter box has a coax out that will go to the input on the VCR. Now might be a good time to decide to forget the VCR. however, if there are low power stations, he's likely to want to tune them through the VCR or perhaps even the TV tuner.

unless he is using the TV tuner to pick up low power UHF stations, or UHF stations that will remain on until June, you can forget about the 300 ohm connection between the VCR and the TV set. (again, labeled "flat antenna wire.")

consider a switcher (as answered above) to select between the Video / audio outs from the DVD player and the DTV tuner before it goes to the RF modulator. however, the DTV box has its own RF modulator, and the good news is, this can feed the VCR. it will output either CH 3 or 4 on the RF coax that we send to the VCR, then turn off the VCR (or toggle the VCR / TV switch on the VCR remote) to pass that straight to the TV tuner. (or, eliminate the VCR!)

next best: keep the 300 ohm antenna wire from the antenna to the rat's nest on the way in to the VCR. Substitute the rat's nest with a single balun (not a UHF/VHF filter-spliter ... a balun at radio shack won't be more than $5.00) and go straight from the balun into the DTV tuner INPUT. From the DTV OUTPUT, go straight to the VCR IN. from the VCR out, go to the VHF in on the tv set.

ignore the UHF in on the tvset.

keep your eyes on the side of the road as you drive around. you're likely to find a better set than this guy is using. pick it up, then sell it to him for $15.00 ... my guesses: 1) he doesn't want to know it was garbage and 2) he won't want to take it from you for free.

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