On Feb 8, 12:00*pm, amdx wrote:
Hi All,
I'm on a boat, about 170ft from the utility post.
Recently our cable company switched to the wonderful world of
Digital TV. I got the new digital converter and had no picture.
I took the box back and got a second box, still no picture. So now I
suspect a weak signal and confirm that it is the cable length. The cable
company came out and gave me a better cable than I had installed. At
this point I have a picture but it is intermittent. The signal at the
utility post has 3 outputs and had a four way splitter, I suggested the
cable guy put in two 2 way splitters and give me the stronger (first) tap..
* That got my signal to work almost all the time. I'd like to get the
signal to work 100% of the time.
* *I don't has access to electricity at the utility post, so an amp is
out. Although I could try an amp at the cable box end. Is that reasonable?
I would run two cables if there was a way to make it increase signal
strength.
* Getting anymore from the cable company is not an option.
* *Any ideas to get a better signal?
* * * * * * * * Mikek

PS.

* When the signal fails it seems channel 41 is ok and above 42 it breaks up.
Curious to know if there is an unusual frequency jump between those two
digital channels.

see URL:
http://www.dbsinstall.com/broadcast/vhf_uhf_freq_list.asp
41 is 324 - 330MHz and 42 is 330-336 MHz
cables attenuate more at higher frequency.

By ALL means, if you're going to add an amplifier, add it at the
source location, not at the receiver location
Cheap, but good, ones are available from microcircuits. Can you buy a
line driver from your CATV company?

I suspect the 'better' cable is only marginally better. What is the
EXACT cable you're using? what is its attenuation per foot per MHz?
You can buy extremely low loss coax, but you may have to send in your
first born. Go to a local NRTL [EMC Test Lab] and see if they can
(are willing to) order a length for you.

Find the highest channel you wish to receive and the frequency
associated with that. Now you can balance the amplifier gain with the
cable loss to determine if it will work. Note you already know that
170 ft of ?? cable gets you up to channel 41, so from that number you
can estimate just how much drop your receiver can take before it stops
receiving.