Picture degradation with splitting OTA signal ?

[gjh3260]

Currently I have my indoor antenna attached to my Dish 211 receiver to get my locals. Sometimes in bad weather I would lose the OTA signal via the receiver. This did not seem to happen when I ran the antenna directly to my HDTV.

Would the signal be compromised if i split the signal and also ran the OTA antenna to my HDTV as well as the 211 ?

 

[charper1]

Every time you split any signal there is signal losses. I would switch to a quality outdoor model to gather more signal.

I would think you should not be that much worse to lose picture; depending on how far the extra run is, the quality of the cables and splt and the signal strength to start with.

 

[snathanb]

Interestingly enough (well, to me..) I had to install a splitter as a cheap attenuator because my antenna is so big it was overdriving the signal on one channel, causing my OTA box (Samsung SIR-T151) to go nuts. The splitter lowered the signal enough to fix the problem with than one channel, without lowering the signal enough on the others to cause any problems...

Moral of the story.... installing a splitter does indeed lower signal levels. However, I have never lost signal on OTA channels due to weather.

 

[Jim5506]

A 2:1 splitter cuts the signal in half.

 

[VinceT3]

A 2:1 splitter cuts the signal in half.

I don't think that's right. I believe the splitters are rated on how many dbs they'll lose. Some of the better ones will lose under 4db, I have an old 900mhz that splits 3 ways drop 8,8, and 4dbs and I have a new 2 way that loses 3db's each.

 

[johninbricknj]

A 2:1 splitter cuts the signal in half.

If that was the case I'd be in trouble. When I put up my CM4228 I had it hooked to one VOOM sat box first, after scanning,checking signal strenghts,etc I added a splitter to 2 more VOOM sat boxes with some degradation. Now the OTA antenna is hooked to a 411,811 an old VOOM box and a HTPC all with good results. Sometimes trial and error is the only way.

 

[Jim5506]

I don't think that's right. I believe the splitters are rated on how many dbs they'll lose. Some of the better ones will lose under 4db, I have an old 900mhz that splits 3 ways drop 8,8, and 4dbs and I have a new 2 way that loses 3db's each.

3dB is half of the signal strength. dB are logarithmic.