Pre-Amp test. LNA-200 Vs. KT-200

bobsgarage · 14-Apr-2020, 11:35 PM

LNA 200 VS. KT 200. Tested VHF today.

After talking myself out of it several times, simply because I already had a "Low Noise" Winegard LN-200 and a couple of RCA preamps. I felt I wanted to see what the hype was. Well, it's not bragging if you can back it up! I saw this chart by a well known RF enthusiast, Calaveras.

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a KT 200 directly through Kitz Technologies on Thursday. I talked with Jeff Kitz by phone and bit the bullet Thursday. Surprisingly, it arrived Monday morning! That was Amazon fast! It is a high-quality product.

It comes in a fairly thick and stout sheet metal aluminum case. Many will appreciate this because of the reflection of unwanted RF interference. In all fairness, the LNA 200 is about a year old and was just used minimally, I would say it's in good shape and I covered it with foil tape for RFI protection.

KT-200 Kit:

I hooked up my stock 30-2476. I tested VHF only today, it was very cold and windy on the roof:

Details for comparison of the two pre-amps, the LNA-200 is above the KT-200:

After some base line testing, I did a comparative spectrograph:

For fun, I looked at the UHF capabilities of the 30-2476. Most of those stations are actually watchable, even some coming from the rear of the antenna:

I hope I gave the LNA-200 a fair shake. I went back an hour later after leaving the LNA-200 unplugged and retested. The results were the same.

mikecandu · 28-Jun-2020, 3:46 PM

Hi,

Thanks for posting this comparison. I use an LNA-200 now but I previously used a KT-200 until it died on me last year. I use a DB8E antenna (with VHF rabbit ears). It's hard to tell which amp is better, especially because of the repack, but I do feel that the KT-200 is a better amp for getting those marginal stations 80 plus miles away.

I was intrigued with the KT-200's VHF specs. I never realized how good it was since the two VHF stations I get now (CTV on real 8 and CTV2 on real 13) come in good with either amplifier.

I just posted a message on a VHF only system I'm contemplating building and maybe the KT-200 would be a better choice then what I bought..

Mike