Out of curiosity, does putting an antenna on a splitter affect its ability for long range channels?

[edisonprime]

I currently have a Winegard HD7698P on a splitter with it connected to a TiVo Roamio (which has four tuners), a AM21 (which can use two tuners) for my DirecTV Genie 44, and also it's directly connected to my TV. I am just wondering if I only hooked it up only to the TV, with its only one tuner and it's just one device, would that do a better job receiving long range channels? It does a pretty fair job a lot of the time now, but I am wondering if this would improve it any.

 

[Titanium]

Yes, all passive splitters have signal loss. If the distant signals are weak, a splitter will often attenuate to a level below the threshold.

A 2x1 will typically have 3-4dB attenuation, 3x1 5-6dB, 4x1 7-8dB. Consider that each 3dB is a doubling of signal.

 

[primestar31]

Put this on your antenna, and the splits won't make as much of a difference. I use one myself: http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=CM-7777

The box mounts up just underneath your antenna. One coax coming down to your tv's, etc. There's a power injector that coax gets hooked to. Then the short coax out of the power injector, and into the splitter.

If your devices have a quality meter, you typically need at LEAST above 15 dB SNR minimum at each device to lock signal. Preferably at least 22 dB to stay solid under all circumstances. That level can vary from channel to channel.

 

[boba]

If you lose local channels with the CM-7777 you might be over amping your signals.

 

[edisonprime]

Oh, forgot to mention, I do have a pretty good pre-amp. It could be just terrain issues, but with that in mind I'm curious.

 

[boba]

Oh, forgot to mention, I do have a pretty good pre-amp. It could be just terrain issues, but with that in mind I'm curious.

If you already have the preamp before the splitter the only thing short of removing the splitter is improving the antenna to capture more signal. You are probably at the reasonable limit cost wise for your system.

 

[edisonprime]

If you already have the preamp before the splitter the only thing short of removing the splitter is improving the antenna to capture more signal. You are probably at the reasonable limit cost wise for your system.

Thanks for your help. Then it's definitely just the terrain. I do live in a valley after all. I do get distant channels a good amount, though, just not all the time (maybe half). There are some distants coming in right now, which is good.

 

[boba]

Thanks for your help. Then it's definitely just the terrain. I do live in a valley after all. I do get distant channels a good amount, though, just not all the time (maybe half). There are some distants coming in right now, which is good.

Sometime the truth is not what we want to hear but it is Local Into Local (LIL).

 

[primestar31]

Thanks for your help. Then it's definitely just the terrain. I do live in a valley after all. I do get distant channels a good amount, though, just not all the time (maybe half). There are some distants coming in right now, which is good.

Which amp do you have? Sometimes moving your antennas just a tiny bit, including HIGHER or lower can make a big difference.

 

[edisonprime]

Which amp do you have? Sometimes moving your antennas just a tiny bit, including HIGHER or lower can make a big difference.

My installer didn't tell me. But he only sells top of the line stuff. His company usually sells Winegard merchandise, so maybe one from that brand? Although the rotor he sold me was a Channel Master.

 

[edisonprime]

Which amp do you have? Sometimes moving your antennas just a tiny bit, including HIGHER or lower can make a big difference.

I was getting channels from over 150 miles away a few days ago due to the solar flares in the sky if that says anything.

 

[Mr Tony]

distant stations are hit and miss. Lots of reasons behind it but the main reasons are....transmitter power and height and your terrain

Where I am located (Lake Mille Lacs) I can get Minneapolis at night rather easily (with some glitches) at 95 miles away. This is with a simple 8 bay and a Radio Shack amp. It has 2 outputs so I don't have to worry about a splitter. But getting back to the "power" issue KSAX 42 in Alexandria is 80 miles away but due to its 80k watts power (most Minneapolis stations are 1 million watts) I've been able to get KIMT Mason City (which is also on RF42) rather easily and that is further away

Your terrain makes a difference. Also height does too. Sometimes I get better reception by moving the antenna lower on the mast

 

[larrykenney]

I use distribution amplifiers on my antennas in place of the splitters and it makes quite a bit of difference on the weaker signals. The signal coming out of the four ports of my DA are slightly stronger than the original signal going into it, instead of the several dB loss you get with a splitter. You can find them at Amazon, Solid Signal and other TV parts supply places.

 

[andy_horton]

distant stations are hit and miss. Lots of reasons behind it but the main reasons are....transmitter power and height and your terrain

Where I am located (Lake Mille Lacs) I can get Minneapolis at night rather easily (with some glitches) at 95 miles away. This is with a simple 8 bay and a Radio Shack amp. It has 2 outputs so I don't have to worry about a splitter. But getting back to the "power" issue KSAX 42 in Alexandria is 80 miles away but due to its 80k watts power (most Minneapolis stations are 1 million watts) I've been able to get KIMT Mason City (which is also on RF42) rather easily and that is further away

Your terrain makes a difference. Also height does too. Sometimes I get better reception by moving the antenna lower on the mast

Ice, I love the Radio Shack Pre-amp and amp. Makes a big difference!! Very good product.

 

[Mr Tony]

Ice, I love the Radio Shack Pre-amp and amp. Makes a big difference!! Very good product.

Picked it up for like 10 bucks before they closed. It works real well.