Boosting th signal of a non-digital cable connection

m4cker

Hey i have set up th cable in my house so as to bring cable to my bedroom from another cable box. this means that i have 2 tv's on the same signal.

this leaves me with pretty crummy reception in my bedroom in the attic. is there any way of boosting this signal so as to have a watchable tv.

it is analog ntl in Dublin if this helps. any aid would be much appreciated

ZENER

How have you split the signal ?
Do you only have 2 points in the whole house ?
What was the signal like before you split it ?
Is the signal on the other set as bad as the attic set or is there a difference ?

You could use a distribution amp to boost the signals but you can end up with a different set of problems unless you're careful. If you can give answers to the questions above we may be able to help.

ZENER

m4cker

the signal is split at the box as it enters the house to one of the up stairs bedrooms.

after examining the set up there are 2 proper connections however 1 only has 1 tv the other has 3 tv's on. the 1 nearest to the point has perfect signal the next closest has alright signal.

and mine (furthest away) struggles to get ch4/ Discovery and cnbc.

byte

Is the ntl wallplate being used as a splitter. It must be noted that one side is for TV, and the other side for FM's. So, TV signals from FM port would be attenuated a bit.

A distribution amp should help, but you'll need to know the frequency range of your channels. I've noticed some amplifiers may not go low enough on some cable systems. (I've seen Fringe ones that start at 47MHz, and where I work, Ch4 on cable is 44Mhz, and subsequently gets attenuated as opposed to boosted.)

If you're in an NTL area (dublin, galway, waterford) you should be safe enough with a booster with its range starting at 47MHz as the lowest frequency used by NTL is 48Mhz.

John R

If you are using those cheap y splitters they will badly effect the quality. Good quality splitters that use screw-on F connectors and good quality cable will improve things alot. If you still need a n amplifier then get a good one from a specialist not the cheap crap from powercity.

ZENER

I don't know the channel assignments used by NTL but the insertion loss for each Y splitter is about 3dB, you say that there is 3 sets off one leg of the signal - assuming Y splitters this means a total of 9 or 12 dB loss.

To give a good picture TV's need about 70dB signal level, most cable systems provide a minimum of 76dB. If you subtract the 12 (max) dB loss you are getting then the set in your attic is getting 64dB which is 6dB below par.

Balancing the load across the outlets may help improve your situation otherwise get a good quality distro amp and pad the input by 15dB to keep the output under the 80dB level.

Good luck

ZENER

John R

The problem with cheap splitters is more than just attenuation, they have poor shielding, bad connectors and are made of poor materials.

m4cker

Thanks I will look into getting new Y splitters. the cable is top quality. failing that i will get a signal booster. thanks for the help.

Any suggestions on where to get a distribution amp