Winegard LNA-200 Boost XT HDTV Preamplifier, TV Antenna Amplifier Signal Booster, HD Digital VHF UHF Amplifier,Black

I wanted to "cut the cord". I live between Baltimore and DC. I purchased an indoor antenna that let me watch Baltimore VHF stations and a few Baltimore UHF stations. After adding the amp, I can watch all Baltimore stations and all but one DC UHF station. I did an evaluation which I hope you will find helpful.First, a little background. There are two kinds of TV amplifiers. The cheaper is called a "distribution amp". Use this amplifier if you have strong signal at the antenna, but want to use that signal for many TVs. When doing this, you will need one or more splitters, which divide the signal between the TVs. For example, a 5 to 1 splitter will give each TV about 1/6 of the signal. (Some of the signal is lost because the splitter is not perfect.) By the time the signal gets to the TV, the signal strength is reduced. A distribution amp overcomes this signal loss, but it adds noise. Adding noise is not a major problem because the signal was strong to begin with. You can save a few bucks.If the antenna signal is weak, you need to amplify the signal while adding as little noise as possible. You need a "pre-amp", which costs more. In most cases, the pre-amp will also overcome the splitter losses. You get both functions in one device, but pay a few bucks more.Just a little more background. TV broadcast signals are divided into VHF and UHF bands. VHF is channels 2 - 13 and uses 55 to 220 MHz. UHF is channels 14 - 69 and uses 450 - 800 MHz. No matter which type of amp you use, you want both bands amplified. This is difficult to do with one amp. The better approach is to separate the two bands and use two amps -- one for VHF and one for UHF.This amplifier is two pre-amps in one package. It covers both VHF and UHF bands. It adds about 1 dB of noise, which is very good for an inexpensive device. If you are solidly grounded in TV technology, you will know there are other factors that are very important in making a good amp. I won't go into them here, other than to say my observations are that this amp performs amazingly well.When evaluating how well an amp works at your house, channel scan is not a very good indicator. For example, my TV's scan picks up channel 5, a DC VHF station. But the signal is so poor that the picture only shows up for a few seconds now and then. The better way to evaluate is to do the channel scan without the amp. Then measure the signal strength for several stations with and without the amp. TVs have a signal strength meter in the menu, but you have to do a little digging to find it. For my TV, it's in setup -- channel setup -- Digital TV. My scan without the amp picks up channels 5, 11, 66, and 67 (among others). The signal strength without the amp is 0, 83, 42, 63. I picked these channels because 5 is useless (seldom shows a picture), 11 is excellent, 66 usually shows a picture put pixelates a lot, 67 is pretty good but pixelates occasionally. I can watch 11 and 67, but not 5 and 66. Now I know that I want the signal strength to be at least 65. These numbers are for my TV. Other TVs may display different signal strength numbers. What's important is how Your TV's numbers relate to the quality of your picture. Also, for this test, it's best to do it with one TV and no splitters. If you do this and get good signal for all stations, you can stop reading right now. A pre-amp won't improve anything.After I inserted the amp, the signal strength was 60, 83, 56, 87. Channel 5 went from useless to pretty good, which is amazing. Channel 11 didn't increase, but 83 indicates a strong signal with a perfect picture. Channel 66 went from unwatchable to good. Channel 67 went from good to excellent. What more can one ask of an antenna amplifier?Where should you place the amp? I did these tests without any splitters -- all of the signal was going to one TV. You want the amplifier to be before any splitters, but it doesn't have to be physically close to the antenna. My antenna is on the 2nd floor. It has a 6 foot cable, which plugs into a socket in my wall. On the other side of the wall is a 60 foot cable to a low voltage box in my basement. The box has splitters and other cables that go to other sockets in other rooms. I can't place the amp right at the antenna. But I can place it either on the 2nd floor or at the low voltage box. I tried both. There was no difference in performance. Not even one digit changed on the signal strength for any station. The point is, there is no measurable loss in signal between the antenna and the other end of the coax cable, even if the cable is 65 feet long and includes two connections (one on either side of the wall.) (Assuming you use good coax cable with screw connectors.) You don't need an outdoor amp, even if you have an outdoor antenna. After I purchased this amp, I found another from the same manufacturer that was exactly the same electronics but packaged for indoor use. I could have saved a few bucks by buying the indoor amp. If you have an outdoor antenna, you will benefit by not having your amp out in the weather, and lose almost nothing. Just make sure the amp is before any splitters.

The LNA-200 is an excellent piece of hardware that can produce significant benefits in over-the-air TV reception. That being said, its benefits can only be realized when signal conditions are appropriate and it is installed correctly. From analyzing the negative reviews, it appears that many of the problems that were encountered with this equipment were the result of inappropriate use and/or installation.The particular situation in which this amplifier works well is one in which the receiving equipment is signal starved but not noisy – a low-level signal (e.g., transmitter tower is distant from the receiver and/or of relatively low power) embedded in a relatively low noise background. While expensive instrumentation is required to definitively determine when this situation exists, it is possible to use the signal strength diagnostics built into most modern digital TV’s to get a strong hint that this is the case. In particular, if a TV owner uses the Menu option to access a screen which shows the signal strength and/or signal-to-noise ratio and/or signal quality, a reasonably clear picture of an appropriate application may be possible. If these parameters are low – i.e., they reflect a small signal – or vary relatively rapidly in time, it is likely that the desired digital signal is being adversely affected by environmental or propagation distance effects. The best way to make this kind of observation is with a single TV set connected to a single antenna – either upper-VHF or UHF band – so that the intrinsic signal effects are separated from noise or losses arising from multiple splitting effects/losses and/or intrinsic receiver/line noise. Under these conditions, use of a high-quality, low-noise pre-amplifier (i.e., more than 10 dB gain, noise factor of 1 dB or thereabouts, but not more than 1.5 or 2) is likely to be very beneficial. If not, an amplifier like an LNA-200 is unlikely to be very helpful. [Note: Amplifiers with higher noise figures may be useful as distribution amplifiers for multiple splits AFTER the signal levels are brought up to usable levels.]To use a pre-amplifier like an LNA-200 effectively, it should be connected in the coax cable line after the antenna but before any other components (e.g., before splitters used to divide the signal among multiple TV sets), so that it increases the signal level without amplifying any noise or loss effects introduced by the installation plumbing in a user’s home. Other amplifiers, most often characterized as distribution amplifiers rather than pre-amplifiers, typically have much higher noise figures – anywhere from 4 to 15 dB – and may be useful downstream further downstream in a home wiring network. In such locations, they can maintain signal strength after being multiply split, but these amplifiers are not useful in bringing up signal levels from the intrinsic noise floor because they introduce additional noise which is amplified and drives down the intrinsic signal quality. A good measure of overall signal quality is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), if a TV set’s menu of diagnostics provides this parameter: modern tuners must be designed (by the ATSC tuner standard to which they are bound) to lock onto digital signals when the SNR is at least 15 dB, and values less than generally result in poor/no picture and/or image tearing. Signal levels of 20 dB or so are OK, but – in the presence of atmospheric turbulence or weather – may be degraded below useful levels. In this situation, an amplifier like an LNA-200 may provide the boost needed to generate a useful, reliable TV image.While details of the negative reviews that area associated with the LNA-200 rarely have enough detail to diagnose the reason for the failures, they give hints that many of the problem areas are likely to have arisen from the following: (1) inappropriate application, such as at the bottom of a cable-splitting chain next to a TV set, rather than at the antenna; (2) incorrect installation of the in-line-coax power supply, which can fail to provide the DC power needed if it’s installed backwards or if a signal splitter (most of which are not “DC passing” if not specifically ordered to allow power to be passed up the line for amps/rotators as the signals come down the line); (3) incorrect installation of the amplifier, by connecting the inputs from the antenna and the output to the TV to the wrong terminal which can damage equipment in the lines, including the amplifier or TV.Reports of units being dead out of the box (DOB) have also appeared in the reviews of this equipment but it’s not clear what the frequency of this problem is. Sadly, in the case of most modern electronics, a disappointingly large fraction – 5 or 10 % is not unusual -- of newly shipped units either are DOB or are perceived so. Some of the perceptions are from users who don’t know how to set up or connect the equipment – probably the majority. The actual number of really DOB units is typically a few percent, and may reflect either poor quality control or damage in transit/handling – but the reviews which appear online don’t provide the information needed to determine what the real problem is.In the case of the LNA-200, my guess is that most of the problems with applications lie with improper application, installation, or connection. The Winegard folks have been around for a long time and are known for their excellence in design and production of durable hardware. If you do encounter a problem, I’d recommend that you give them a call or send them an e-mail to determine the genesis of the problem – they’ll almost certainly connect you with an applications engineer who can determine whether you’ve got the right gear, installed it correctly, and are using it the way it was supposed to be operated – or whether you’ve just got a dud. They’re a good company – probably the best at what they do – and my experience has been that they stand behind their gear.