[rwilson1206]

One of the reasons I wanted to have two leads coming down, and connecting them in the basement is if I ever needed to change out the combiner or add preamps, protecting them from weather as well.

I got cold feet about climbing to the top of the tower, so Im having someone else do it. It will cost around 100, maybe less. So I only have one shot to get this right.

Luckily the distribution amp I ordered is on backorder, so I could cancel it and get the winegaurd preamp instead. But I do want to split my signal 4 ways. Before, when I added a four way splitter, I lost channels. Can I have a wineguard preamp and the distribution amp in the same setup? is it necessary?

I'm pretty certain if I added a 4 way splitter to the CM4221, I would lose channels (if I didnt have some type of amplification)

That having been said do I need to buy two preamps, and just use a normal splitter, and dont buy the distribution amp? Like I said, I only have one shot at this if the amps need to be installed at the antennas. What I can do is combine the antennas midway down the tower, to a spot I feel comfortable climbing to if I ever had to.

So there would be two leads each with its own preamp combining into one lead? Could I amplify the signal with one preamp only after they are combined? Also, how long are the power cords for the preamps? Wondering about how powering them will work when they are all the way at the top of the tower.

So, I will have short leads going from the antennas to the pre amps and then short leads going from the preamps to the combiner, then one long lead to the splitter. I thought about ordering custom lengths for the short leads from solid signal, because my crimping skills are not the best. Or can I use older, rg59-rg6 cable that was leftover from cable company, and use them for the short leads, they are already professionally crimped and the lengths are the same. (do they have to be EXACTLY the same?). So the options are, order from solid signal, use leftover, or do the best job I can crimping myself.

Take a look at this quote from a person at solid signal... I was telling her that I may want to replace my distribution amp I ordered with a couple HDP-269's and a four way splitter instead. This is what she said....

"HDP-269 are preamplifiers they will not work like that how you intend it to.
Take a look at the HDA-200 or HAD-100 either one should work with a 4 way splitter"

Thanks for all your help guys, I'm almost there. One other thing, how important is a good crimp, I can get it pretty decent, with some RCA crimpers I bought, I didnt want to pay 50 bucks for professional crimp tool. Ive got enough money invested in this already. But I want to do it as right as I can...