On 9/23/2020 5:02 PM, Phil Allison wrote:
Pimpom wrote:
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Agreed on all points except that, in certain situations, using an
antenna booster is the only way to get an acceptable reception.

TV came to this remote corner of India in 1980 when some army
people discovered that it was possible to receive stations in
neighbouring Bangladesh. Due to the very hilly terrain, reception
varied from fair to unusable within tens of meters, all with
outdoor yagi antennas. Antenna boosters were a must.

The boosters were all alike, made up of 4 or 5 bjt amplifier
stages. Power was fed to the booster via twin 300-ohm cable from
an indoor 12V AC supply and gain was adjusted by means of a
series potentiometer.


** You are describing a dedicated "mast head amplifier" which do work well with weak signals.

"Antenna boosters" are not the same thing, only meant for indoor use.

I'm familiar with the term 'masthead amplifier' but they're all
called 'antenna boosters' over here - in popular usage, on the
package and sometimes on the unit itself. I didn't know that the
latter term is reserved for indoor units elsewhere.