"John Gilmer" wrote in message
...



There's an interesting twist. We're finding that these amplified gizmo's
are creating problems. Too much signal for the amplifier, actually
degrading performance. And they amplify the local noise, which is much of
the real issue, Taiwan wall-wart supplies, etc...

We are getting a little "thread drift" here but ...

When the shift to HDTV came we suddenly found that we couldn't get
reliable service for most of the channels we were used to. We live in a
semi-rural place and it's over 50 miles (as the crow flies) to the nearest
broadcast TV antenna.

A neighbor suggested the antenna mounted amplifier (I already had a
"distribution amplifier" in the basement) and it fixed us up.


Mast-head amplifiers always were appropriate for 'fringe-area' reception in
the old days when there were fewer transmitters around. The dynamic range
issues occur closer to transmitters, of whatever type, whose signals get
into the front end. If someone puts up a TETRA (or equivalent for your
country) base-station near your house you might find amplifiers a lot less
effective.

Chris