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Old 6-May-2016, 1:02 PM   #1
skatingrocker17
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Pre-Amp or Distribution Amp?

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Currently I'm in an apartment and on my 2nd floor balcony I've got a DB4e with the VHF kit and an LNA-100 pre-amp powering 3 tuners.

Soon I will be moving to an older home in Southfield, Mi. I plan on placing the antenna in the attic since it's a rental and I don't want to mess around with mounting it on the roof or chimney. When I looked at the house it looked like all of the cable was split in the basement. So, I would probably have to do at least a 30' run from the attic to the basement before it would then be split. I will likely be running 3-4 tuners.

Here's my question. Should I use one of the 4 port distribution amps in the basement and feed all the lines from that? Or only use my pre-amp up in the attic and use passive splitters in the basement. Or both?

My pre-amp isn't a very high powered one, at the end of any run there would have to be between 50-75' of coax between the antenna and TV.
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Old 6-May-2016, 1:51 PM   #2
ADTech
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Since the towers for Detroit are in Southfield, you'll likely find that NO AMP is the correct thing to do. However, if one is actually needed...

Use the LNA100 ( it's a "line" amp, not a preamp) as close to the antenna as you can. You will be limited in your placement only by the availability of a power outlet that's conveniently located to the amp. It cannot be remotely powered like a preamp.

A 30' run of RG6 will add, at most, less than 2 dB to the system noise figure. Since the amp already has an ultra-low noise figure around 1 dB, the additional insertion loss will have no more ill effect than would swapping to almost any preamp that has 2.5-3 dB NF performance.

Use passive splitters for the rest. The LNA100 has more than enough "power" (gain) for your situation.
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Last edited by ADTech; 6-May-2016 at 1:55 PM.
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Old 6-May-2016, 1:58 PM   #3
skatingrocker17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ADTech View Post
Use the LNA100 ( it's a "line" amp, not a preamp) as close to the antenna as you can. You will be limited in your placement only by the availability of a power outlet that's conveniently located to the amp. It cannot be remotely powered like a preamp.

A 30' run of RG6 will add, at most, less than 2 dB to the system noise figure. Since the amp already has an ultra-low noise figure around 1 dB, the additional insertion loss will have no more ill effect than would swapping to almost any preamp that has 2.5-3 dB NF performance.

Use passive splitters for the rest. The LNA100 has more than enough "power" (gain) for your situation.
Thanks. I checked up there and it looked like there was some power outlets so I shouldn't have any issues getting the pre-amp close to the antenna. I was a little concerned because I didn't know how old some of the coax in the house was or what it was. I didn't get to look at it that closely. I guess I'll have to get it all figured out when I move in. It looked like it came right out of the floor so if that's the case I could always re-run it.
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Old 6-May-2016, 2:58 PM   #4
ADTech
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Again, you do NOT have a preamp, you have a line amp. It is an important distinction.

Again, AVOID using ANY amplifier in your location, if at all possible. It is FAR more likely to cause new problems than to prevent or solve any.
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Old 6-May-2016, 3:19 PM   #5
skatingrocker17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ADTech View Post
Again, you do NOT have a preamp, you have a line amp. It is an important distinction.

Again, AVOID using ANY amplifier in your location, if at all possible. It is FAR more likely to cause new problems than to prevent or solve any.
Sorry, I was referring to the line-amp as a pre-amp. I just wasn't sure whether or not I would need any sort of amplification to push through all the coax and 4 way splitter. I know most of the stations wouldn't be a problem but as for WADL which is further and not placed with the other Detroit towers and the Canadian stations, I wasn't sure how reliably they would come in.
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Old 6-May-2016, 5:07 PM   #6
ADTech
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You made no mention of those other stations.

Try it both ways, with and without the amp, pick whatever works best while keeping it as simple as you can.
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