Splitter suggestions?

[devehf]

I am helping my father-inlaw set up an antenna at his cabin in the hills north of Boise, ID. We were not getting very good digital reception until I took a cheapo looking radio shack splitter out of the circuit.

What's a good splitter to distribute this relatively weak signal? One with a distribution amp?

Also the signal comes and goes. When I took out the splitter, we got all the digital channels in the area. The next day with some thunderstorm activity and some wind, hardly any digital channels came in.

The location is close to the TV towers but the terrain blocks the signal a bit. here is the report from TV Fool. (generated with post 6/12/09 data)

Here is the antenna my father-in-law purchased.
RadioShack® 85" Long Dual Boom, 31-Element Antenna - RadioShack.com

Thanks in advance,
Dave

 

[No Static At All]

You would be best served with a high gain pre-amp such as a Winegard 8275, or Channel Master 7777. Mounting the pre-amp as close as possible to the antenna is the best way to preserve those weak signals, especially if distributing to multiple TV's.

There is nothing wrong with the splitter itself. There just isn't enough signal to work without the aid of a pre-amp.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Best I can recommend is getting a splitter with the back soldered, and possibly a printed circut board inside.

The ones that are crap are the ones sealed with glue and have a little magnet inside.

Also "Gold" is not necessarly better!

 

[devehf]

Winegard 8275

I'm going to give the Winegard 8275 a try. Also a new splitter, just in case. They are only like $0.60.

Do you think this will have too much gain with the short distance? Maybe I need that much gain considering the topography. Too much granite in the way.

 

[No Static At All]

If your TV FOOL is accurate, you should be OK. To be on the safe side, you could also go with the lower gain Winegard AP8700.

 

[ziggy29]

If you don't have a preamp, I suspect you'll be fine with any decent splitter if you also insert a preamp. If you're close to the signal but have a lot of obstructions, multipath could be a concern.

If the splitter is old and has been exposed to the elements for years, I'd probably replace it at the same time since they're quite cheap.