Is my preamp working ?
 

Hi,

I have the antenna in my attic. I did following tests.

1. No signal change on any channel. I tried a channel with 58% quality. It remained the same with and without preamp.

2. If I plug out the power from preamp then no picture.

So my problem is that it is not amplfying anything. Please suggest If my preamp is bad or there might be some other reason.

Thanks

meridish

If you remove power from a preamp, then it becomes an attenuator. It is not surprising that you receive nothing. Remove the preamp completely, connect your coax downlead directly to your balun, then retry. If you still receive nothing, then take your problems to the Help With Reception area of this forum. Follow the steps for requesting help.

Hi Misterme,

Thanks for your reply. I already wrote in my first post that I do get picture with and without preamp. Only problem is that the signal level does not change at all.

Thanks

The signal meter on one TV is not necessarily the same as a signal meter on another brand or model. Some meters measure digital error rate, others measure carrier strength and many seem to offer a composite of the two values.

A preamp can only increase the carrier strength. An amplifier has no way to remove on-channel interference which is a dominant cause of digital errors. Because the are many sources of interference, both distant and near, one needs to consider all possible sources of signal impairment when troubleshooting. Amplifiers are not the magic cure for every reception problem.

It sounds as if your signal meter is indicating based on digital error rate. It also sounds as if signal strength is not the reason for signal quality indicating less than 100% error free.

Signal strength is one of many factors that can affect signal quality. But an increase in signal strength does not guaranty an increase signal quality.

Tv antennas and Tv reception
 

If the signal level does not change at all then I say it is a defective amp.