Running Preamps With Amps In Extreme Fringe Areas
Hello,
just a question. How does the combination of amplified tv splitter would work with preamp CM7777. Will it work to help improve signal or create a malfunction or danger? Thanks.
I've got three antenna sites on my property. One is 150 feet from the house, one 350 feet, and one 550 feet. All my signals are fringe or extreme-fringe and none of my antennas can get any useable signal without a preamp.
The site at 150 feet has a Channel Master CM7777 preamp and RG6 cable and works fine.
The site at 350 feet has a Winegard AP8275 preamp, RG6 cable, and a cheap 24 dB line-amp half-way home. Also works fine.
THe site at 550 feet has a Winegard AP8275 preamp, RG11 cable and a cheap 24 dB line-amp at the 350 foot mark. It too works fine.
My point is that preamps run in-line with line amps/distribution amps work fine, when needed due to long wire runs.
When it comes to preamps and claims about low-noise and gain, I'm not a firm believer in the big advantage of low-noise that comes with higher cost.
At all three of my extreme-fringe antenna sites, I've swapped in many different preamps - same time, same place, same antennas, VHF and UHF. I've tried the Channel Master CM7777 at $50-$60 each, Winegard AP-8275 at $35-$45 each, AntennaCraft 10G212 at $27 each, and the ultra-low noise British preamp made by Research Communications model # 9262 that cost a little over $100 US dollars with shipping from overseas. Note that the Antennacraft 10G212 for $27 is also sold by Radio Shack stores for over $70 (what a rip-off).
Tried these amps with with following antennas: Winegard HD8200 UHF/VHF combo, Wade VIP-307 VHF hi-low, DB8 UHF only, XG91 UHF (ganged pair), Winegard 9032 UHF (single and ganged and stacked pair), Antennacraft Y-10-7-13 highband VHF, and Winegard YA-1026 low-band VHF. I ran these tests at home in central rural New York, in the northern Adirondack mountains in New York, in northern New York near the Canadian border, and in northern Michigan and also near the Canadian border.
I have not observed any remarkable difference in reception. For my poor channels that sometimes pixelate and drop out - they were the same with all the amps I've mentioned.
CM-7777 has dual inputs that can save a person the $4 cost of a VHF/UHF combiner.
The cheapest Antennacraft 10G212 preamps have an indoors FM trap switch and also a variable gain-control which is a nice feature that none of the higher priced amps have.
Subsequently, they seem to be a pretty good deal.
Maybe some lower-noise amps make a difference with certain TV tuners - I don't know. I've got a new Sansui 19" LCD digital, an older Syntax Brillian Olevia 42" LCD digial, and several old TVs with Magnavox or Coship digital converters. So, at least with them, these amps worked pretty much the same.
Amp specs for what I tried:
Channel Master 7777 is VHF 23 dB and UHF 26 dB, noise 2.8 and 2 dB
Winegard AP-8275 amp is: VHF 29 dB and UHF 28 dB, noise 2.9 and 2.8 dB
Antennacraft 10G212 (also sold by Radioshack) Adjustable gain up to 30dB VHF/UHF Noise Figure: <4.0dB VHF, <3.5dB UHF
Research Communications (Great Britian) # 9262, 23 dB gain UHF with .6 noise.
Note that my most problematic channels are 29 and 50 on UHF. The Antennacraft amp with 3.5 dB noise worked just as well for me as the Research Communications amp with 6/10ths of a dB of noise. I found that a little dissapointing. I can buy four or five of the Atennacraft amps for the price of that one Research Communications amp.
There may be other environments where results will be different, but not in mine. I live in extreme fringe areas. At home I am surrounded by mountain tops with no clear shot at any transmitter towers. In northern Michigan, no mountains and am near Lake Huron and not too far from Sault Ste. Marie at the US/CA border, etc.