RG-59 & Amplifier?

Hi all,

I have cheap RG-59 cable running through the house. (I'd say maybe 200ft total) It is also split 4 ways with a 120db isolation 5-1000mhz splitter. The TV's and cable modem at the end of the cable have a lot of shadowing and other noise. The cable modem also occasionally will lose it's connection.

If I were to install a single port electroline 15db amplifier, would it resolve some of these issues? I have read RG-59 cable is cheap and there are better cables, but I'd prefer not to re-wire the whole house if possible...

Thanks for any info!

Also the Electroline amp I'm thinking of getting is model EDA-2100.

Hello,

Thank you for the response. What type of cable would you recommend I use?

Thanks

Also about the cable modem. If I put the EDA-2100 before the cable modem (I'm thinking maybe where the cable line first comes in to the house) is there any chance it could help the cable modem maintain connectivity?

Thanks!

The most common cause of ghosting is ingress, which is broadcast signals leaking into the cable system. By far, the most common cause of ingress is the drop connector -- whether it be a cheap twist-on or push-on, corroded, or just a little loose. They all provide a pathway for a broadcast signal to enter the system. Then you have 2 (or more) out of phase signals going to the tuner, which, of course, shows both(all).

The second leading cause is copper-braid cable. It just doesn't provide the shielding required. Unlike a loose or corroded fitting where there are just a few small points of ingress, ingress occurs the full length of the cable.

Next on the list of causes of ingress are substandard passive devices (splitters and DCs (taps)). Splitters that just have the backs glued on don't provide the shielding necessary.

Another cause of multiple images is unterminated outlets, which cause reflections as well as being another source of ingress.

The return path of a cable system (5-42MHz) is VERY susceptible to ingress. If the CMTS can't hear the cable modem through all of the noise resulting from ingress, it will lose sync.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have a clean system in your house. Cable with BONDED foil + aluminum braid (60% braid coverage is fine), quality connectors (preferably compression), and splitters with a minimum 100dB RFI/EMI immunity.

CIAO!

Ed

Tomi Holger Engdahl wrote:

Cable modems have an operating range (input signal level) of -15 to

Another possibility is the splitter itself. It could have gone south and have more that the ~8dB loss that 4-way splitters have.

Unless not possible, a cable modem should always be on its own, dedicated splitter (or DC) and be the first device in the line, after the groundblock.

CIAO!

Ed

Crypt wrote:

An excellent article on drops can be linked from . Oddly enough, it's the one entitled "Drops."

CIAO!

Ed

No. In fact it will make it unusable. Any amp ahead of the modem has to be able to pass the data transmitted by the modem.

Shadowing is caused by poor impedance matching in the system. There is somethig wrong between the signal source and the receiver. Check the incoming signal quality. If ghosting is not in the signal coming to your house, then the problem is in your in-house wiring. You will need to correct that impedance matching problem in the wiring. It maybe bad connection, damaged cable, unterminated splitter output etc... An amplifier will not help to get rid of ghosting!

Amplifier can help to get rid of some noise or redice the effect of it. Amplifier needs to be installed on the beginnign of your long cable and able to push high enough signal levels to cable so that the signal is still adequate on the other end. Sometimes noise could be cauised by poor cable system shielding picking up RFI.

Web page

This kind of ampliifer sound somethign that is OK for splitting the incomign antenna signal to different TVs. What in you case complicates thigns is that you say you have cable modem. A cable modem will not work through a normal antenna booting amplifier. The reason is that normal antenna signal amplifiers are unidirectional, pass signal only to one direction and amplify signal on the way. The cable modem uses two way communications over cable TV cable (at least all modern systems). If you put an unidirctional amplifier on the way, the downstream signal gets through amplified, but the signals the cable modem sends out never get to the cable company end becasue the amplifier blocks them. The cable TV systems that support cable TV use bidirectional amplifiers designed for two way commications in mind. Those amplifiers will amplify normal TV frequencies normally as any norma maplifier, but in addition to it they will pass the return signals (frequencies from 5 MHz to 30..60 MHz depending on system) on the opposite direction. This is accomplished with a special filter inside amplifier unit and possibly another amplifier to amplify the return channel signal. This kind of bidirectional amplifiers are available, but their market is generally more to cable TV companies than to consumers.

Tomi Holger Engdahl wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@solarflare.cs.hut.fi:

The EDA-2100 is fine for cable modems and digital cable. The EDA-2100 has a uplink path (it's a bi-directional amp) that is compatble with digital services.

I am running a EDA-2100 as well as a EDA-2400 for cable distribution in my house. The amplifiers are working fine with my digital cable service and cable modem as well.

If you need to amplify your uplink, Electroline has a dedicated uplink amp as well.

Also, FYI I believe Rogers Cable, one of Canada largest cable companies uses Electroline amps in their residential installs.

P.S. You can buy Electroline amps really cheap on eBay. If you're not into eBay, RadioShack also carries bi-directional cable amps for a decent price.

"Crypt" wrote in news:YJuXd.52853$ snipped-for-privacy@fe2.texas.rr.com:

Yes, if your signal is weak this will help.

The EDA-2100 is compatible with digital cable services (it's a bi- directional amp) so it shouldn't affect your cable modem too much.

If you need a return path boost, check out the ERA-4100.

As for your question about what type of cabling you should use, it's best to run RG-6 Dual Shielded or RG-6 Quad shielded for digital satellite/cable.

James Knott wrote in news:iL-dnR snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com:

That's untrue - the EDA-2100 is a bidirectional amp that is compatible with digital cable services.

Rogers Cable uses the EDA in some installs... and they place it right in the cable box OUTSIDE your house ; )

Thank you for clearing out this... I had no experience in using that EDA-2100 amplifier. I based my answer on the information found on the given web page address. And that information web page did not specify that is indeed bidirectional amplifier. The product web page could have been more informational on this... I only later found te comparision page at

In the USA, it's 5-42MHz. A 5-65MHz amp would be absolutely useless.

CIAO!

Ed N.

Lucas Tam wrote:

Tomi Holger Engdahl wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@solarflare.cs.hut.fi:

Actually it does specify it's bi-directional ; )

Return Passband 5-42 MHz 5-65 MHz

In esscence all bi-directional amps forward these frequencies back to the headend. Non bi-directional amps don't have a return bandpass : )

That would be 54MHz.

CIAO!

Ed N.

James Knott wrote:

In North America, Channel 2 starts at 56 MHz, so a return amp that reaches

To my knowledge 5-65 MHz is used on some cable TV networks in Europe. I think HTV in Finland uses it, at least at some parts of it's network. Having more bandwidth for return channel allows more bidirectional traffic in the network.