I don’t know the technical difference between a preamp and an amp, but I would say get rid of the Mohu amp and try the Winegard amp (HDA-200) by itself. People have had great results with just that and it has adjustable gain which should be useful if you find the signal is over amplified. Plus Winegard makes good products.
If it doesn’t work perfectly, you can also throw in the preamp and see how things go. Unfortunately there is no exact science with OTA antennas. What works well for one person may not work well for another.
Thanks. Below is what I found in my research. I figured more was better but don’t want to ruin the tuners.
A preamplifier is mounted to the mast and amplifies the signal coming directly from the antenna. The advantage to this is the signal is amplified at its strongest point when it comes off at the antenna. However, many times in strong signal areas a preamplifier is not needed. If the signals are reasonably strong and the coax cable run from the antenna to the TV is relatively short (50 feet or less) and goes directly from the antenna to the TV (no signal splitters in line) you will likely not need a preamplifier.
A distribution amplifier is usually mounted indoors and is used when supplying signal to multiple TVs. Install the distribution amplifier on the antenna side of the signal splitter. Distribution amplifier’s do very little good installed near the TV input.
The Tablo itself is a 4-way splitter so the distribution amplifier should be what you want. The best way to test it is take the cable directly from the antenna and plug it into your HDTV and see how the tuner in the TV receives the channels.
I already had the Wingard Preamp (see link in OP) when I created this thread.
It is raining this morning and I was getting occasional pixelation on CBS and ABC so I installed the Preamp and no more pixelation. This is still with the original MOHU amp that came with the antenna and the extra 30ft of coax cable. I ordered the Wingard amp (see link in OP) to replace the Mohu amp and will remove the extra 30ft of coax when the amp arrives. I am a happy camper.
The Preamp goes at the antenna before the coax run to the Tablo. I took the extra coax out today and actually took 63 feet out. I guess I had more extra than I thought. I will post actual signal strength results after I get the distribution amp.
Before adding the preamp and taking 63ft of coax out I was getting between 75% and 85% signal strength on a clear day using a Homerun and this app:
Yes. Specifically, I am replacing the Mohu amp with the Wingard distribution amp. The Mohu amp is a distribution amp just not a very good one.
Overall I am very pleased with the way it performs now (Antenna adjusted using Signal GH app, Preamp, 150ft of coax reduced to 87ft, and Mohu amp). It was very dense cloud cover and steady rain yesterday afternoon and I go no pixelation but I want to make sure it is operating at maximum performance for bad weather conditions. The Mohu amp is not very reliable based on many reviews I read and the Wingard amp is adjustable so I figured this was the best case scenario.
Bottom line, the wife was skeptical about cutting the cord so I want to remove all objections she may have.
Now I just need a way to stream CNN and the setup will be perfect. I will also be buying HBO when they launch their streaming service.
