“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.” —Robert A. Heinlein
That simple axiom, often abbreviated TANSTAAFL, is pretty central to the way that all RF devices work. No matter if it’s an antenna, satellite, cell booster, or something else, you can’t get something from nothing. It may seem like you’re plucking a signal out of thin air, but a TV station spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on electricity so you could. In order to pay for that, the TV station has to sell commercials. No matter what you do, someone pays for it somewhere down the line.
So, it might surprise you that a part like this line amplifier doesn’t need to be plugged in. It improves signal strength, but you know it can’t do that without power because, TANSTAAFL...