Cable splitters

[nokomis_fl]

I had a guy out to replace the amplifier on my outside antenna tower this morning, and he recommended that I replace all my old splitters with new 1 or 2 GHz capable splitters. Is this really necessary? What does it do?

Thanks,

Bill in Nokomis.

[ashman1983]

well depending on the signal passing through for older analog signal, it's not a huge deal as most old splitters are rated for at least 500 mhz, and that'll cover all your analog frequencies. if your running digital through it, an old splitter thats not rated for higher frequencies, like the 750 mhz that cable uses up to, it can impede the signal and drop the dBs down and cause tiling and lose of picture. Even so, a lot of older splitters weren't shielded very well, so even though they may be passing the signal fine, they can let stray signal leak in and out and that can cause picture problems on analog as well. best bet is to change them out, but make sure you buy a decent quality one, if it looks cheap, it's probably not good. You want something with a welded back metal plate, not the glued backs that come on a lot of radio shack splitters.

[nokomis_fl]

I am getting about 50 OTA digital channels, some of which are HD. Would changing the splitter allow more signal throughput? This could be important on some weak stations.