As the question states, I’m looking to get better signal and channels from my antenna. I’ve checked my local area’s channels and noticed a few are either not showing up or low in quality (orange to red) and I wanted to see if I could do something to boost them. Here’s my configuration related to my equipment so you would know what I’ve done so far:
I had taken down the DirecTV Satellite and used it’s mount for my antenna. The antenna feeds into the side of my house where a Winegard LNA-200 Boost XT Digital HDTV PreAmplifier is located. (link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQN3R9O/ )
In my living room, I have a 2 way splitter (Cable Matters 2-Pack, Gold Plated 3-Way 2.4 Ghz Balanced Coaxial Splitter 5-2450MHz) that splits to my TV and then to the Tablo DVR 4 tuner.
(link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KO8W9RA/ )
Is there anything I can add to boost the signal to get my channels all green without creating noise and making channels look worse?
Are you using all four of the coax drops that the 4-way splitter is feeding? If not, consider moving the Tablo to one of those drops. Having the Tablo after two splitters, plus the internal splitter, is not optimal.
For my setup, I have the antenna cable feeding a 2-way splitter. One side goes to the Tablo, the other to an amplified 8-way splitter feeding the TV locations.
The best antenna location (roof or attic) is not necessarily where the DirecTV dish is\was. Satellite dishes are placed in positions which have access to a satellite’s spatial location (azimuth). That is not the same optimal location for a television antenna.
The 4 way splitter is on the side of my house. Think of a traditional DirecTV or cable provider where they go into the house to push all the feed to all the rooms.
I’m not sure the DirecTV “splitter” he’s using is that good for OTA. It’s a SWM module for satellite frequencies. I would replace it with a standard splitter.
The 4th leg of the SWM is unused (from the picture). You wouldn’t need a 4 way splitter if only three connections are used. A splitter leg whether used or not will still lose (bleed) signal strength.
When you split, you degrade the signal. You have a pre-amp… but then you split and split… that’s not going to bode well. You should look at amplified spltitters that will try to accomodate for the loss. Make sure to terminate any unused endpoint of the split with a 75 ohm terminator.
Preamps are needed when there is a long distance between the antenna and first split, but could be “bad” if you have strong signals already. Splitter/amplifiers are almost always needed.
If you’re only using the cable that goes to the living room, replace the splitter with a barrel connector. No splitter needed.
Also, your antenna mount is non-optimal. Take the dish off totally and mount the antenna on the vertical tube. The reflector behind the dish might be interfering, and the antenna is not vertical which isn’t helping either.
The antenna feeds into the side of my house where a Winegard LNA-200 Boost XT Digital HDTV PreAmplifier is located. (link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQN3R9O/ )
