# catv wiring help



## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

I have catv wiring I installed in the house for an antenna for tv. No cable or anything like that here. Upstairs tv gets a signal fine, downstairs is no good. I swapped the digital converter boxes from downstairs and upstairs to rule that out. 

Both down and up have a seperate signal booster. I brought the upstairs booster down to rule that out.

Initially I installed the antenna wire down to a junction box with a splitter in a closet so the wire from the antenna is common to all. From there I have a wire to upstairs and down.

I am looking for other things I may have neglected that could be wrong, and also a way to test the catv wire without some expensive tester. CATV is not in my professional realm so I have no need for a tester other than this.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

put a decent splitter in the attic and an amp if needed. toss the crappy splitter. rg6 or better ? (I'm assuming your connections are ok. If you suspect them, reterminate all of them)


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

wildleg said:


> put a decent splitter in the attic and an amp if needed. toss the crappy splitter. rg6 or better ?


A good splitter would be the first thing id say. Also try putting the amp before the splitter rather than using 2 if that's not it


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

Al wire should be RG-6 and every TV a home run for the right job.. 

This is what the cable companies do when wiring a house for a customer..


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

99.99999% of the time it is a termination. Especially if you did it. :laughing:

Call the cable guys out to re-terminate. You Have to have a special tool not a Radioshack special.


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. Below are some answers and more questions, hopefully not too long.

Just went back to look and confirm some things. It is all RG 6. 

The splitter downstairs is also the amp. But I think the antenna must have had 2 ports and one went direct to the upstairs, guess I am going to have to go in the attic in the heat wave

How am I going to know the splitter is a good one? Not really my area.
One upstairs is the in line unit that came with the antenna. The downstairs one is in the closet and is a 4 way 10db 50-900 mhz. 

When I was trying to find the issue downstairs, I still had the 4 way splitter in the circut and added the upstairs booster that came with the antenna at the downstairs tv. 

I think all the terminations are good. System worked well for over a year before I had trouble. 


If the downstairs splitter/amp was bad could it be the culprit, even when I placed the other (known good) amp in that circut? How would I check it? I am going to try pulling it out of the circut now and put the other in its place


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

LARMGUY said:


> 99.99999% of the time it is a termination. Especially if you did it. :laughing:
> 
> Call the cable guys out to re-terminate. You Have to have a special tool not a Radioshack special.


No cable guys involved, no cable.

Terminations were the swedge on style, can't remember the brand and the tool is in the garage, but not a crappy one (tool or crimps). But I posted when you did and the termination is over an year old before I had issues so I think it is probably not the issue. But I have been wrong before.


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

s.kelly said:


> Thanks for the replies. Below are some answers and more questions, hopefully not too long.
> 
> Just went back to look and confirm some things. It is all RG 6.
> 
> ...


 
I see you are in Virginia. Anywhere near the storms? Lightning?

Power supply on booster? I've had some show voltage but not enough milliamps.


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

Ok, pulled the 4 way splitter out of the equation and all seems to be well. 

So I now think the 4 way was the issue? I am going to test again later, but i think with it in line there is poor signal and removed all is well. Both circumstances have the antenna provided amp in line. Any tests of the 4 way unit I can do?

I got the 4 way from a big box. What is a better option? Brand, spec etc?

Looked into the crimps more as well. I used the T&B snap and seal(?) 

They seemed to be a step up, easy to do, and best of all American made. Opinions?


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

LARMGUY said:


> I see you are in Virginia. Anywhere near the storms? Lightning?
> 
> Power supply on booster? I've had some show voltage but not enough milliamps.


Got hit with the storms, but the issue started a couple weeks ago, just getting around to looking into it. So the storms were not the issue.

Not sure what you are asking on the booster etc, can you expand a little?


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

Is your booster powered? Many times the transformer shows voltage of 12 volts but hardly any milliamps are pushed. Could be a bad x former.


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

Yes the booster is powered. 12 v is common? How many milliamps would be normal? Really no practical amplifier experience in my background, would have to dig up a text on this one.


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

s.kelly said:


> Yes the booster is powered. 12 v is common? How many milliamps would be normal? Really no practical amplifier experience in my background, would have to dig up a text on this one.


It should say what the amperage is on the xformer and or the booster.

Output 12V DC .250 to .500 mA. is common


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

Thanks, 

I'll look again and see if I missed it, and probably find a new one since pulling it out seems to have fixed the issue.


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

900mhz is not enough for some signals try a higher rated one that's the problem


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## triden (Jun 13, 2012)

s.kelly said:


> Thanks for the replies. Below are some answers and more questions, hopefully not too long.
> 
> Just went back to look and confirm some things. It is all RG 6.
> 
> ...


10dB drop sucks. A good splitter will only drop 3dB per connection. Every 3dB drop is half the power. You want to always boost a signal before you split it. If you split it first, the signal will be closer to the noise floor and you will just be amplifying the noise. Also, get an amp that will work up in the gigahertz range.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

triden said:


> ... Also, get an amp that will work up in the gigahertz range.


I was agreeing with everything you said, until you wrote that. Gigahertz amp for terrestrial television? Yah. Glad you're not spending my money.


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## MisterCMK (Jul 5, 2009)

Is the aerial aimed properly?

Do you have a field strength meter?


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## triden (Jun 13, 2012)

MDShunk said:


> I was agreeing with everything you said, until you wrote that. Gigahertz amp for terrestrial television? Yah. Glad you're not spending my money.


In my head I was thinking about the possibility of someone putting cable internet on the line in the future where a 1ghz amp is recommended...forgot he was talking about an antenna.


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## CDN EC (Jul 31, 2011)

Were both splitters DC-passing?


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