MarioMania said:
I have a HDTV inline Amp 30dB 40-2400 MHz, Ultra High Gain
I hook it up to my DTV Converter Box, the Other end to the Antanna Part...Nothing
Output RCVR: Antanna in going to the DTV Box
Input LNB: UHF/VHF Antanna
6ft Cable I'm using
Once again - the problem is NOT a matter of gain. Your problem is a weak signal in the presence of noise. An in-line amplifier selling for $50, let's say, probably has a bill of materials cost of $5. That includes the PC board, all electronic components, etc. There is no way the amplification transistor costs over a few cents. You cannot get a good quality, low noise transistor for a few cents. The input stage of your tuner has a much lower noise transistor. Noise adds according to the root sum squared law, meaning that the noisiest component absolutely dominates the noise response. So you want to find the lowest noise trannsistor you possibly can, and use it for as much gain as you can. If you put a cheap transistor in your distribution amplifier as the first, high gain element - all you are going to do is increase the noise - which is going in the wrong direction.
What you need to do is get a high gain, FM only yagi - remember that noise adds according to the root sum squared law and an antenna is PASSIVE and therefore adds NO NOISE. You get gain for free, with no noise!!! If I had a budget of $700 for a DX setup, and had my choice of spending $500 for the tuner and $200 for the antenna, or spending $500 for the antenna and $200 for the tuner - I would go for the latter, because I can get a top of the line FM only DX yagi, with a tower, good balun, good quality coax, and a rotor (for considerably under $500), and it will deliver the clearest possible signal to the tuner. If you don't throw everything you can into the antenna, you will have to scrap what you bought and buy it over again if the station still doesn't come in. Do the job right, and do it once. This is coming from the guy who did 300 mile FM reception out in the boonies in West Texas. Literally Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio stations from Midland, TX, RELIABLY - not skip! Look at a map, that is 300 miles. I only paid about $30 for a Radio Shack 10 element yagi, and used shielded 300 Ohm Twinlead on a 30 foot mast. My tuner was a quite average Heathkit AJ-15. That was as much as a 14 year old could afford at the time, and I had amazing reception. Not because of the tuner, but because of the antenna. When the Heathkit developed a problem with the front end and had to be repaired, I hooked a quite average portable to the yagi, and still had Dallas reception - although not as well and certainly with crummy selectivity. The antenna does the work.
Fast forward to the present day. I tried putting a yagi in the attic and utilizing the distribution amplifier that came with the house. Not one trace of any station more than a hundred miles away. Bypass the distribution amplifier, and every station from Dallas 220 miles away (my location is far NW Houston) that is not covered by a local Houston is strong and clear. The ONLY difference is bypassing the distribution amp.
I hope this explains things. It is counter-intuitive, I know, but those amplifiers are a bad idea if you have a really weak signal.
