How to Install a Cable Amplifier
By David Lipscomb
Due to distance and signal loss, it is sometimes necessary to install a cable amplifier. These boxes, roughly the size of a deck of playing cards, offer the extra oomph required to push the signal along the wiring, eliminating the lossy effects of splitters and diplexers.
Locate the incoming feed from the cable company. This is typically on the lowest level of the structure or the basement. If there is a confluence of RG-6 cable entering a splitter in the lowest level, this is the service entry.
Disconnect the single RG-6 wire entering the splitter by unscrewing it until free. Screw this cable into the cable amplifier's input terminal.
Screw on a short length of RG-6 cable from the output of the amplifier into the input terminal of the splitter. Plug the amplifier into AC power at this time.
Turn on all the televisions fed by the splitter and adjust the amplifier to achieve the best picture possible.
References
Tips
- Recruit a helper to adjust the amplifier. Often, the reason the amplifier is needed is because the farthest TV is some distance from the amp. Call out to the helper when the best picture is achieved.
Warnings
- Only plug in AC power after all coax connections are completed. The small charge the amp carries could damage the amplifier if this is not done.
Writer Bio
David Lipscomb is a professional writer and public relations practitioner. Lipscomb brings more than a decade of experience in the consumer electronics and advertising industries. Lipscomb holds a degree in public relations from Webster University.