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**kenm** · January 19, 2009, 02:05 PM

Jeff,

Take a look at this tutorial before you make any changes.

http://svr10.hometech.com/kb/questio...?questionid=47

Your cable signal is kind of like a water supply. You can't just split it as many times as you want and still get the same signal quality after the split. Basically, you need to amplify your cable signal as soon as it comes into the house before you do any splitting.

The easiest way to do what you want is to use a device like this:

http://www.hometech.com/hts/products...tml#CP-H816BID

Which will do the splitting and amplifying in one box.

Hope this helps,
Ken

**completelyhis** · January 19, 2009, 02:07 PM

it may not be a bad splitter. it may be that the one you are not seeing lower channels on is a filtered output. they may do this for cable internet or other reasons. do you see any frequencies indications on it or the other outputs?

**TeleFragger** · January 19, 2009, 02:23 PM

gave up on it for now... been up since 1am.. going to take a nap...

will get back...
I just looked and it is a nightmare.... will post up what I have when I get some beauty sleep.... and boy do I need it...

**TeleFragger** · January 19, 2009, 02:55 PM

Here is the lowdown...

a while ago when I moved in we did not have digital cable... heck we dont have hd cable or even a flat panel tv and our biggest tv is 32 inch....

anyway...
orignally the house came with a splitter on the side of the house...
1 in 4 out
it was this one...
Regal DS4DGH10
http://www.arrisistore.com/product.php?pid=209663

5-1000mhz
120db emi isolation
7db on each out put

so I added a line in the garage and basement...well I didnt have enough ports...
this is what i did...
unplugged the in and put a 1 in 2 out in front of it.... one of the outs feeds the other splitter and all those tv's are fine...I took the one for the living room off the splitter and moved it over to the other port on the 2 out splitter.

that splitter is
GRS2DGH
5-1000
110db emi isolation
3db out on each (2 outs)

found where it was in the house... I cut and crimped on ends and put a barrel connector to make it journey to the utility room.

now when it went to the utility room it connects to a
BDS104H
5-1000
130db emi isolation
7db out on each (4 outs)

now I will admit there was 1 more splitter on this end... but here is the deal... everything that splitter went to was just fine.... I disconnected it and all cables to it.... so I have 3 tv's not connected right now...

the weird part is even though I had all these splitters and sort.... I had really no issues... unless it rained really hard...and I always wondered if that was due to getting wet.....
another kicker is this.... since I disconnected that other cable... my cable modem speeds have dropped drastically...

I remember reading somewhere that you want to not have a cable modem hooked up on a digital splitter or something like that....

here is a real kicker... I thought one of the originals were bad so I removed the 2 out splitter that was in the very beginning of the line.... so line in went to the 4 out original and moved the livingroom connector back to it.... and lost all lower channels....
I know absolutely nothing about cable lines......what has to be on a digital splitter, etc.....

so all help greatly appreciated...

here is what i have and need connectet...

on side of house where cable comes up...

1 in and 4 out.

1 of the 4 out runs to utility room where
a. cable modem is
b. 2 non digital tv cables come in
c. 1 digital cable tv line that goes to the living room

So anyone recommend what I need.......

thanks
Jeff

**TeleFragger** · January 19, 2009, 04:35 PM

phew got it

wow is all I can say... wicked confusing but worth trying to figure out what I said....

I misunderstood it all wrong..

I thought the db levels means that it drops the signal to that level... not subtracts that number each time...

so a website said typically 9db comes into a house to which I had a 2 way which looses 3.5db... that fed over to a 4 way for another loss of 7db so 10.5db less.... below 0 is where I was at.... I then had another splitter choke off of that one... it was for another loss of 7. However this was only for my basement tv, garage pc running beyond tv and kitchen under the cabinet tv (which broke) which none of them are digital.... ok signal didnt look great but it was fine......

so worst db was 9db - 17.5db = -8.5db

digital cable was on 9db - 10.5db = -1.5db and was choppy at times...
however when I would take the 2 way splitter out (3.5db) and connect to the other splitter that I thought was bad... it was actually 9db - 14db = -5db and a dead signal

one can check this stuff out on your cable modem...

even though I dont use the 192 ip address scheme... the surfboard sb5120 (and most of them) can be gotten to via http://192.168.100.1
then click the signal link

When I was up and running I had my cable modem to -2 but digital was working.... and I had to figure out my configuration...

to get a better signal I actually added a 2 way to the entire loop...

so from cable company.... to 2 way in.
1 leg to 4 way splitter (keeping -1.5db but non digital or hd and they look just fine)
1 leg inside of house back to utility room and into the added 2 way splitter in

1 leg to line for digital tv (giving me 3.5+3.5 for 7db total loss or 2db total signal)
1 leg to 4 way heading up cable modem, garage pc, basement and kitchen lines.
cable modem shows 0db level. Now whistle that may not seem great... it is up substantially when I believe my cable modem started out at a 17.5db loss!!!! or -8.5db signal reading!!!!!

all in all.... that aint great but my brothers friend is going to come over hopefully next week and we are going to rewire the shenanigan...............

digital cable went from -1.5 to +2 total signal so now all the issues seem to be gone.......
phew....

anyway my source was
http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?t=123584

specifically

5)SPLITTER QUALITY-Ugh, the ugliest part of noise...this is the part that makes me hate the Wal-marts of the world. I know, nobody wants to have the cable guy come out and put in that extra outlet for $40, so Avereage Joe heads out to the hardware store and buys the biggest splitter he can find...and HEY LOOK! It's got an amplifier, too!....Dumbest move you can make(I'll pick on amplifiers last). Store bought splitters are very cheaply made and not shielded well at all. On top of that, most do not have the proper frequency range. Example: The cable system in your area is sending out their forward signal(channels, etc.) in the 50-1000mhz range, with the reverse path going back to them in the 5-40mhz range. You buy a splitter that is 5-600mhz. You lose half of your upper channels. More often than not, the spliiters don't even have reverse path capabilities, which is how your cable box and modem operate.
Bigger the splitter, the more the loss. Here's a quick loss example...
Cable signal strength coming into a home is typically about 9db in power at the outside of the house. Once your db gets below the zero level, you're starting to push it.
Every time you split a signal in two, it loses 3.5 db, keep this in mind when wiring.
A 4-way splitter is basically 3 two way splitters(split once, then split both legs again), so you lose 7 db on each output.
A 3-way splitter is 2 two way splitters, with one of the outputs losing only 3.5 db(the hot leg), and the other 2 losing 7 db each.
8-way splitters lose 10.5 db on every single leg.
Please keep your loss levels in mind when wiring up multiple outlets.

also power level is what was changing on my cable modem every time

Attached Files

**nightwalker** · January 19, 2009, 04:56 PM

And a valuable lesson on the reasons for home run wiring.

One other thing, cable companies by law only need to supply you with a reading of 0db coming into the house, they normally do more and try to keep it at 10db but I've seen it at 0 on rare occasions.

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