NativeNewYawker

Here's my situation:

When the transition hit, many channels that were great before had spotty reception. On top of that, I found to my disappointment that a channel we should've been able to get post transition never came through (WLIW-DT).

I was initially going to write off the spotty reception as nothing more than the " DTV transition gone wrong", but then I found it a bit suspicious that the brand new HDTV was having more reception problems than the craptacular 25+ year old analog. So I double checked the 4-way splitter and I discovered sure enough that when I bypassed it, not only did reception problems end for the one television that was directly connected to the TV, 21 came in loud and clear.

So OBVIOUSLY the reception problems had nothing to do with the antenna itself. But now I'm uncertain of what the problem could exactly be and what direction to go in next. Is this a matter of either getting a new splitter (the current is a Radio Shack), an amplifier (which I've never used before) or both? And if so, what are the best types of splitters and amplifiers? Any specs I should be looking for while shopping around? Brands?

How do you hook up an amp in the first place? Directly to the antenna itself or to the cable before you hook it to the splitter?

Thanks in advance!

1inxs

Welcome to the DTVUSA Forum. I would replace the 4 way splitter. If you currently have the 4 way connected and sending signal to four rooms, purchase a 4 way splitter/amplifier. If you only send out the signal to two, you may be able to save some money and purchase a 2 way splitter. What is the distance from the splitter to the TVs?

NativeNewYawker

Thanks for the warm welcome.

The distance is not at all that far for three of the TVs-- between 8' and 15'. The last one is very far; it's at the other end of the house and located in the basement.

Piggie

I am assuming you have some type of outdoor antenna? If so, do you know the type, model, make?

How far is it from the antenna to the splitter?

I have the distances above for the splitter to TV so that is good.

Last but not least, can you do a TV Fool plot and past the link they give you back here?
Be sure to put in the approx height of the antenna also.

Could be you live far enough away, splitting the signal 4 times, that an amp at the antenna may give you the more reliable signal.

But I hesitate to suggest anything absolutely with out a TVFool plot so the best answer is suggested.

1inxs

Because you said the signal was sufficient when you eliminated the splitter. It sounds to me the antenna should be good. I would go with your first instinct and purchase a new 4 way amplifier/splitter. Let us know when you solve your issue. Thanks

Aaron62

Don't have too much to add other than covering your quiestion on where to install the amp. Don M has a pretty good explanation here on distribution amps - http://www.dtvusaforum.com/dtv-recep...html#post17931

Piggie

1inxs, the reason I avoid recommending an indoor power splitter is they seldom list their noise figure. So you don't know if you might add noise to the system.

In his case it appears (unless the splitter is bad and most likely not, hence assuming it's good), the added 7 db of loss through the splitter is pushing them behind the digital cliff. This means it's cutting it very close even without the splitter in there to receive the channel. Since there is 40 to 50 feet of coax before the splitter, about 3 db is lost in the line before the splitter.

So if there was an amp at the antenna that would recover the coax loss, and the splitter loss by about 10db, which is 100 times the signal or a lot. And they could still use the splitter since a simple 12db pre-amp at the antenna would over come that. But there is a TV in the basement at the other end of the house that could be on 40 to 50 ft of coax. That TV will see another 3 db of loss or a total of 13db.

So you could go with the new Winegard mast amp that is 12db, and only 3 db of noise. It would be cutting it close on gain, but would not overload anything in the system, not even the closest TV. Winegard HDP 269 SquareShooter Pre-Amplifier for SquareShooter SS-1000 (HDP-269) | HDP-269 [Winegard]

Then even the basement TV would see 2db less loss than TV placed for a test before the splitter.

If you wanted to go a little bigger, the Channel Master CM 7778 Titan 2 VHF/UHF Preamplifier with Power Supply (CM7778) | CM7778 [Channel Master] is probably small enough and better than the Winegards in it's range due to the fact the CM has better dynamic range.

Though the Winegard AP 2870 Chromstar 2000 Series Pre Amplifier (AP-2870) | AP-2870 [Winegard] would also be a good choice.

But all this information is pending on his TVFool plot. But per chance something is wrong with the antenna, it might be all that is needed to be changed or a new antenna with the smaller amp.

I am guessing in the dark without knowing approx how many dbm exist at his house. Need TVFool.com plot.

NativeNewYawker

Hello, everyone... Thanks for the replies.

My TV Fool stats are here.

I don't really have much information on the antenna, since I didn't install it. I would go up on the roof to check it out, but it's been raining non-stop for the past week and will for the next few days.

I know offhand that it's a large-sized, wide, triangular antenna with two more triangular pieces at the smaller end of it that "splay out". (One splays up, the other splays down). It's most likely UHF/VHF. It's on the roof of a 2 story apartment-style brick house with a flat roof, and I'm not sure how high that is. Maybe 30'??

I'm not really too concerned about the basement TV since it's primarily used for DVDs/ tapes; it's the three TVs closest to the splitter I care about, 1 of which is analog and the remainder being HDTV.

Hope that helped clear things somewhat.

P.S. I'm a "she" not a he. ;-)

1inxs

Piggie, You are one of the pro's here in the forum and I agree with you mostly. I was going on the fact the OP connected directly to the coax just behind the splitter and had a good signal. It's my opinion the 50' of coax coming from the antenna would have no real adverse affect. The real loss would be from the passive splitter verses adding an active splitter. But again I don't disagree with you. Your knowledge and posts are appreciated.