# Cable TV Signal Amplifier



## WooferHound (Dec 8, 2010)

I have a cable TV bundle: Internet, TV and Phone, so my signal gets split up a lot before it gets to my entertainment center. It goes through the Phone box outside the house, then it splits 2 ways between the internet and the household TV wires. Next it gets split 4 ways to 4 rooms of the house and one of those rooms is the Entertainment center. 

Three of the rooms are working fine, but the entertainment center gets another 4 way split to the: Computer, 2 TVs and a DVD player. This 4 way splitter is an amplified splitter which has a 4db gain from 54mhz to 1000mhz (1ghz) RocketFish brand. I receive almost all channels fine and 5 channels are snowy but watchable. I should be getting 6 ClearQAM HDTV channels but only 2 of them are working, sometimes I get some pixalated video on the others. These QAM channels are 900 thru 905.

So I am asking, what is a good Cable TV Amplifier that will also work up high on the channels in the 900s? I tried to look up the frequencies of the high channels but was not able to find something that was understandable. What would be a good Gain to look for? Is there a better way to hook it up?

Thanks for any help . . .


----------



## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Have you talked to your cable company about this? Maybe they have the proper equipment and will install it or at least give it to you for free. How long of a run is it to the TVs having issues?


----------



## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Try swapping the amp and the 4ws. You have too much loss before you amplify so you are amplifying noise.


----------



## WooferHound (Dec 8, 2010)

I was concerned about contacting the cable company about this. Was thinking they would want to charge me more money if they knew how many times I was splitting the signal.

I worked on it today and got it working pretty good using 2 amplified splitters . . .
Used one amplified 4-way splitter outside in the box where the cable TV wire comes in at. It gets it's power from a 12 vdc wall-wart and I extended that power wire inside the house to where the 12 vdc wall-wart plugs into the AC house power.

Then behind my entertainment center I have a second amplified 4-way splitter. It gets it's cable input from one of the splits coming from the outside box. It splits 4 ways to two TVs, a DVD recorder, and the Tuner Card on my computer.

This change has greatly improved the reception of all the channels that I get.


----------



## Sirbrine (Sep 27, 2009)

WooferHound said:


> I was concerned about contacting the cable company about this. Was thinking they would want to charge me more money if they knew how many times I was splitting the signal.


I have Cox Cable in Kansas and they don't care how many times the signal is split. They will even help to maximize the signal. I believe they do charge for an amplifier if one is needed though.


----------



## doubeleive (Oct 31, 2007)

wow you really shouldn't need any amplifiers unless you live out in the barn in the back 40, the installers around here would have a fit if I had a setup like that also all those amplifiers can make the signal worse, in my last house I had 1 input and a single 8 way splitter of which 7 were used and all had great signals, sounds like you may want to invest in a roll of coax and use a 2-way splitter at the source cable and run one straight to your tv and leave the rest alone if it's working and if the installer comes thats what he should do to fix the problem.


----------

