"amdx" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I'm on a boat, about 170ft from the utility post.
Recently our cable company switched to the wonderful world of
Digital TV.

snip

Getting anymore from the cable company is not an option.

I take respectful exception to that last sentence. My digital cable box is
about 130 cable-feet from the pole. My signal is tapped enroute for digital
telephone, tapped enroute for Internet and then split (by me) so I can feed
analog signals via a disttribution amp serving bedrooms, kitchen and shack.
I get enough from the pole tap to do the job.

Somebody is treating you badly -- maybe the cable company, maybe the marina.
Yes, the approach for you to buy and install an inline, remote-power amp at
the pole is entirely valid, technically. However, that's not in keeping
with reasonable expectations. You needn't roll over so easily. It's
supposed to work.

What -- Are you worried you might offend somebody? That "somebody" seems
quite okay with kicking you in the ankle. Or elsewhere.

"Sal"

On 2/8/12 7:27 PM, Sal wrote:
wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I'm on a boat, about 170ft from the utility post.
Recently our cable company switched to the wonderful world of
Digital TV.

snip

Getting anymore from the cable company is not an option.

I take respectful exception to that last sentence. My digital cable box is
about 130 cable-feet from the pole. My signal is tapped enroute for digital
telephone, tapped enroute for Internet and then split (by me) so I can feed
analog signals via a disttribution amp serving bedrooms, kitchen and shack.
I get enough from the pole tap to do the job.

I respectfully agree! 8^)

I don't know exactly how it's done now, but when I worked in the Cable
industry many moons ago, we had a lot of adjustment we could make. Even
more, we had variable by frequency attenuators so we could ensure that a
flat signal showed up. There was a lot of signal at the amplifiers, and
if we really needed more oomph, we could put in a distribution amp.
Another amp was really rare.

Somebody is treating you badly -- maybe the cable company, maybe the marina.
Yes, the approach for you to buy and install an inline, remote-power amp at
the pole is entirely valid, technically. However, that's not in keeping
with reasonable expectations. You needn't roll over so easily. It's
supposed to work.

What -- Are you worried you might offend somebody? That "somebody" seems
quite okay with kicking you in the ankle. Or elsewhere.

Yeah, there is something wrong there. For as much as people hate
Comcast, when I had cable internet put in, they replaced all the cable
from the pole to the house, and a lot inside the house. I did talk them
out of replacing the new cable I had put in, but insisted on putting new
connectors on them. The measured all the levels and set them high enough
that I'd be able to add more televisions if I liked.


Time to call the cable company and tell them you want your MTV.


- 73 de Mike N3LI -

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...

snip

Time to call the cable company and tell them you want your MTV.


No way to know from here, but they may not be able to add another amp.

While I was looking for something else, I lurched into this page:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/cable/ps2217/products_white_paper0900aecd800fc94c.shtml

While its intended audience is Internet modem designers, the noise
discussions are informative with regard to other signals, too.

My point: When you try stringing too many amps in line, the signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR) eventually becomes unacceptable. (Remember the acceptable SNRs
cited for 256 QAM and 64 QAM.)

"Sal"

"Sal" wrote in message ...
My point: When you try stringing too many amps in line, the
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) eventually becomes unacceptable. (Remember
the acceptable SNRs cited for 256 QAM and 64 QAM.)

"Sal"


Sorry. I should have said carrier to noise ratio (CNR), not SNR. SNR
applies to post-detection signals. i joined the digital world late in life.

"Sal"

Michael Coslo wrote:

I don't know exactly how it's done now, but when I worked in the Cable
industry many moons ago, we had a lot of adjustment we could make. Even
more, we had variable by frequency attenuators so we could ensure that a
flat signal showed up.


Those are 'Equalizers' and used to cancel the cable losses. There is
some adjustment in the trunk amplifiers, but some brands just used a
plug in equalizer marked with the rolloff in dB while others had both.
The coarse plugin, and a variable equalizer to level the trunkline for
'Proof of Performance' tests.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.