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Question about TV splitter amps

J

jras20

I'm thinking of getting a TV splitter amp for DTV, but my main worry about this is will it get to hot if its on all the time in the attic? All of my cords and 4 way splitter is up in the attic. I would like to pull in LDTV at a better signal.
 
I've used them in attics in several locations and they seem to survive the heat. Of course try to put it where it might get any airflow and not buried in insulation or up against the roof. I've never lost one from heat but I've lost a couple after nearby lightning strikes.
 
jras20 said:
I'm thinking of getting a TV splitter amp for DTV, but my main worry about this is will it get to hot if its on all the time in the attic? All of my cords and 4 way splitter is up in the attic. I would like to pull in LDTV at a better signal.
Click to expand...

Are you running RG-59, RG-6U, or RG-6 Quad Cable? I would run all the coax with RG-6 Quad up to the antenna. Keep in mind when you split the signal you lose a great amount even with an amp. I tried to place my antenna in the closet but made reception worse. So I ended up with all my TV's hooked up to an HD Antenna. Could get 7-1 in one run, but 18-1 forget about it and vise versa for the other rooms using RG-6 U Coax. In the living room I have RG-6 but the built in cable jacks in the bedroom are RG-59. It's an apartment so I can't just tear down the wall and start dropping cable feed. In order to do so, I would have to use my drywall saw and cut a big hole into the ceiling. I thought about doing it, but the cost of repairing it and the time it would take to fix it right would be more than buying antenna's for each TV set.

And since I live down a steep hill, it probally would'nt make much difference.
 
jras, I would forget about the cheap amp/splitter combos. They generate too much noise. Get a good pre-amp like a Channel Master 7777. It has a separate mast (or attic) mounted amp with an in-line power supply. Because the amp is powered up the center of the coax from the power supply, you have to be careful and not feed the DC into the other 3 TV's via the splitter. You will need to either install the power supply between the amp and splitter, or you can install the power supply at one TV and use DC blocks on the outputs to the 3 other TV's.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! I will see what I can do
 
I'd second Greg's suggestion, since you can put the 7777 up on the roof (if that's where your antenna is) and still put its power supply in the attic. This will provide some protection from the heat: although it can get hot on the roof too, there's usually at least a breeze to carry some heat away. Besides, the 7777 is a really low-noise amp and is better than most amplified splitters - even Channel Master's own!

I use a 7777 with a 4-way splitter and still get all the local LP stations (although I sometimes have trouble with channels 25 & 50).
 
My antenna is about 20 or so feet up, and I have a FM antenna below that antenna, and I have the main line going into the top part of the attic, where I have my 4 way splitter at. It gets extremely hot up there in the hot months of the summer. I sweat like I'm in a shower if I half to go up there to fix something.
 
Watch out for FM overload. I have an amplified spliter to pick up the San Antonio DTV stations. Unfortunately I have a 100,000 watt FM in the signal path and it was interfering with some channels. An FM trap on the antenna line fixed the problem.
 
fredcantu said:
Watch out for FM overload. I have an amplified spliter to pick up the San Antonio DTV stations. Unfortunately I have a 100,000 watt FM in the signal path and it was interfering with some channels. An FM trap on the antenna line fixed the problem.
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I remember back in the day of analog TV out in Lavaca county (where I have my setup) I would hear 96.9 in a few TV channels, back then that was one of the strongest channels on FM, and it would be interfering with analog TV reception. I did had a old TV amp that had FM trap and it seemed to fix the problem.
 
My antenna is both UHF and VHF I got it pointed to the tower at Victoria. All the LDTV is on UHF, they have one high power in VHF. I like to try to do UHF because it's less weather effective. I never had a problem though with Fox 11 in Victoria and 11 in Houston conflicting together. I am about 30 or so miles from the tower of Victoria's.
 
jras20 said:
My antenna is about 20 or so feet up, and I have a FM antenna below that antenna, and I have the main line going into the top part of the attic, where I have my 4 way splitter at. It gets extremely hot up there in the hot months of the summer. I sweat like I'm in a shower if I half to go up there to fix something.
Click to expand...

The higher the amp is, the farther away from the roof it'll be and the cooler it'll be in the summer; but even if it's mounted at a convenient height of 4 or 5 feet above the roof it'll still be cooler than in a typical attic. Mine's on the antenna mast about 4 feet above the roof and it's been chugging along for 3 years without problems.

Still, if I have to get on the roof during a summer day, first I turn a water sprinkler on the roof for about 5 minutes, then let it dry for another 5 minutes or so. A little evaporative cooling works wonders.
 
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