question about signal amps

[all4jo]

hi guys , i hope im posting in the right forum.
'anyways i have a radio shack 80" Boom Length, 32-Element Antenna and im in haiti . the station im trying to pick up is 50 miles from me , and i can inly get the channel with allot of fuzz. its viewable but not good at at times. is there any signal boosters that would improve the signal?

Thanks
Jose

 

[bhelms]

Since you are getting at least some signal there is hope. No amplifier will give you something that is not there at all. What you are describing sounds like an analog channel. Remember that all US analog channels will cease to exist after Feb. 2009. I'm not sure what the conversion plan is in Haiti. The point is that you might want to evaluate your whole OTA antenna system for its future compatibility with available channels, most of which are converting to digital.

You most likely want a "preamp" that has the amplifier part mounted on the mast close to the antenna and the power supply part mounted indoors near the receiver. Since you are getting a fair signal now, I would recommend a low noise, moderate gain amp like the Channel Master CM7777. If there are other strong signals in your area however, that might not be the best choice as strong signals might tend to overload the 7777. In that case you might be better off with a Winegard HDP-269 which has a much higher overload threshold, but not as much gain as the 7777 has.

Good luck with your choice and do report back...