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Old 13-Sep-2018, 5:13 PM   #17
jrgagne99
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Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 244
Quote:
Originally Posted by ravindran_eee View Post
Does this channel master provide better gain? I am not sure if my issue is in signal loss.
The CM-7777 has more gain than the RCA TVPRAMP1Z (30dB for the CM-7777 vs. 16/22 - VHF/UHF for the RCA), but it probably doesn't matter for your case. This is because of how a pre-amp works. It can only compensate for downstream losses between itself and the TV; it doesn't make the antenna capture more signal. The losses for 100 feet of new RG-6 are about 3 dB for VHF and 5 dB for UHF. Each coax split is another 3-4 dB, regardless of band. With a pre-amp, you actually loose about 3dB at the pre-amp itself, but you only pay the piper once. As long as the downstream losses aren't more than the pre-amp gain, they don't matter. Since you only have a single run of coax with no splitters, both pre-amps have more than enough gain to make up for your downstream losses.

IMO, the question you should be asking is which one has a lower SNR penalty. If memory serves, the noise figures for the CM and RCA pre-amps are both around 3 dB. There do exist low-loss pre-amps such as the Kitztech KT-200 that have a very low SNR penalty up front (0.5 dB instead of 3-ish) and still have plenty of gain for most home-owner applications (24 dB). That's what I use .
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