Electronics

Guest

I just made 3 16ft coax cable extensions that will run to 3 TVs (1
each) off of a cable that previously had only 2 TVs on it.
I bought rg6 wire with crimp on connectors and 3 5-900MHz 2-way
splittes for the connections.
I noticed a little snow in the reception of the 2 TVs i ran off of the
first 2-way splitter I installed.
Could I use my analog multimeter to test the signal strength coming
from the cable?
If so then what should the signal stength be?
The first splitter leads to 1 TV one way, and then the 4 other TVs.
The second split will be to 1 TV, and 2 TVs
Should I use better splitters?
Do I need a signal amp?
If so what do you recommend?
This is the first time that I have run cable so I'm not totaly certain
of what is best.

NSM · Guest

NSM · Guest

Guest

The 3 legs that I am running are far apart.
I could use 3 lenghts of 16 ft wire with 3 splitters or well over 150
ft of wire with a 5-way.

Guest

psistormyam:
There is NO free lunch here. If you split the signal two ways, each
television will get 1/2 of the original signal strength.... actually
a little less than that due to losses. If you split it 3 ways then
each television will get a little less than 1/3 of the original signal
strength.
Radio Shack sells a 4 way amplified splitter that compensates for the
split and the losses. Each of the 4 outputs produces a slightly
greater signal strength than the input.
electricitym
..
...

Mike Berger · Guest

That's the correct way to do it. With the series connection
you have now, each TV down the line will get a progressively
worse signal. The star distribution configuration should give
you an adequate signal for each TV despite the longer coax length.

psistormyamato@cs.com wrote:

Mark · Guest

and no you cannot use a vom multimeter to measure the catv signal.

Mark

Tuber · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

Many splitters today have the same attenuation as a coaxial 'T' , more than 3 db. This happens in a 'T' or a tap because 1/2 of the signal is reflected and only 1/2 the signal goes on in any direction. A splitter should not reflect signal because that also causes degradation of signal quality, ghosts. Splitters match impedance in all directions and do not reflect. The attenuation is due to the method of impedance matching.
You should be able to find low loss splitters suitable for use in a satalite TV system in any Radio Shack. They are necessary if you have add on DVR's.
No law of thermodynamics is violated by splitting with low signal loss. By low loss I mean in the order of 1/2 db.

neon · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 570

may i sugest that you buy an amp then cut the cables at 1/4 tv frequency. any cable any inpedance at some lenght will have 0 inpedance or no signal there.

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