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Old 11-Jul-2014, 8:57 AM   #19
ghz24
Member
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Central Illinois U.S.
Posts: 72
I have two RCA converter boxes same model one is junk (10 channels missing 2 locals ) the other is a champ @ 24 channels ~9 dB better noise margin.
The silicon dust tuner I have seems really sensitive (didn't test at the same time as the two RCAs)

Quote:
If using a preamplifier, the sensitivity of the tuner is not very critical. Sensitivity is mainly determined by the noise figure of the tuner. In most cases when using a typical preamp, the noise figure of the system approaches the noise figure of the preamplifier alone. Thus, the preamplifier is the main determinant of sensitivity.

One could take a poor sensitivity tuner and add a good preamplifier and probably exceed the sensitivity of the best available tuner alone.
I'm less than a mile from a transmitter and < 5 miles from 4 more.
I bought a very low noise floor quality pre-amp (it's on my shelf).
I intend on experimenting with it hooked to a very high gain antenna pointed away from the local towers.
I've been lead the believe the pre-amp will likely not be helpful with weak signals due to high signals from the locals.

I guess we should all get an indoor antenna, splitter and variable attenuator as rabbit73 suggests and haul it down to the store and insist on testing before the purchase.
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