cable booster

[maxum1989]

At my rec property I have cablevision TV wired into the cabin. It works perfectly for the rainy days but I tried to run a long wire (125') out to a guest trailer in the yard and have it there too. Seems like that run in too long for it to work properly.

Is there a way to boost the signal to the trailer through this long extension? Would the booster go in the trailer to pull the signal or in the cabin to push it?

Thanks.

[pianotuna]

Thanks for letting us know how the issue was resolved.

[maxum1989]

Just an update. I went to the cabin this weekend fully expecting to have to replace the long cable run with a better quality cable (RG-6 currently) but thought I would try the amplifier first. Picked up a $20 amplifier from Best Buy enroute and once installed, all issues resolved. Signal didn't hesitate once and I got every single channel at the guest trailer that the cabin got all weekend. We had the TV set up outside at the trailer for the World Cup which was great.
Cheap and easy fix. Thanks everyone.











6

[theoldwizard1]

Years ago my cable company installed this amplifier/splitter. Years later it is still working strong.

Place it near where the cable comes into the primary RV and then use RG11 to the other RV. I have seen direct burial RG11 on eBay for under $100 for 250 ft.

[maxum1989]

Great info everyone. I am on my way to the cabin shortly and will look at what type of cable I have. May try a booster with the cable I have since the boosters are not that expensive. If that doesn't work good enough and the cable is the weakest kind, I could pull the cable and replace it with a better kind. It's run underground but in conduit. Thanks again.

[wa8yxm]

I agree step one is to switch to RG-11 for as much as possible.

And yes there are in-line amplifiers but cable amplifiers tend to be a bit expensive as they need to be very wide band and very "Flat". (Same amount of amplification from one end to the other). and that costs money.

But RG-11 may make an improvement.

[Bumpyroad]

yes you can boost with one of those small in-line jobbies that were about $17 when I bought mine. used it on Dish and it did boost the strength number a bit.
bumpy

[04fxsts]

Just went through something similar so here is our situation. Last fall we purchased a 3 acre lot on a local river, beautiful spot and had 30 amp service already due to the former owner having a TT. Where we park is down in a valley so that does not help reception with our Wineguard with wingman. It is kind of a black hole for reception and we only get four channels consistently and two of them are pretty much junk content. Now late night and very early morning we could get around 15 channels.
I put up an auxiliary antenna on the utility pole that is on the high ground on one side of the lot and run the cable to the "cable" hookup on the MH. The problem is the pole is 200 feet away so no signal to MH. Ordered a "Channelmaster" signal booster, they advised the variable booster so that is what I got. One piece goes in line next to the TV and plugs into 110 outlet, the other piece goes in line at the antenna. This gets us about 30 channels in the morning, still lose some during the day but still much better than it was. I have no clue why there is such a loss of channels during the day but we can live with what we have now. Jim.

[Tom_M1]

Here's a site to help figure out signal loss:
http://otadtv.com/cables/index.html

At the bottom of the page is a good system calculator.

Each 3dB of loss cuts your signal in half. Each splitter adds about 4dB of loss. Each connector adds about 0.5dB.

This chart shows typical loss of different types of cable:

[beemerphile1]

All one coax or multiples fastened together to make 125'? Each connection degrades the signal.

[KD4UPL]

The booster should go where the signal is the strongest, at the source. Putting it at the end of a long run of cable will have it also boosting any interference picked up along the way.
125' isn't that far if you use quality coax and connectors. What are you using? RG59, RG6, RG11? Are the connectors crimped on properly?
RG6 with good connectors should work. RG59, particularly with those terrible twist on connectors probably won't. I doubt you are using RG11 but it may be what you need if RG6 doesn't give you a strong enough signal.

[MrWizard]

125ft is a lot of coax for TV strength RF
if you try a booster
i would put it at the cabin to increase signal , before going on that long run of coax

make sure your using quality coax, not some cheap stuff bought on ebay
you want premium low loss cable