Antenna- Amp & Pre-Amp (1 Viewer)

[Timmy Jackson]

I have an Ant Dir DB8 in my attic. I have it going into a amplifier/2-way splitter (also in the attic) and then down to 2 sources (#1 into a HD PVR PC & #2 directly into my TV). I get great reception on all channels except one where the signal is strong BUT drops out occasionally and causes screen freezes... not all the time but just enough to piss me off.
My question is, would a "pre-amp" help me in addition to my current amplifier? Or would they do the same thing? Linky to pre-amps: http://www.antennasdirect.com/antenna_amplifier.html
I could also get a single signal amplifier and forget about splitting to #2 (the TV) since I also have the PC going to that TV but I'd rather try to improve the signal on the setup that I currenlty have.
Thoughts?

 

[Phil A]

So you're talking digital signal reception (vs. analog)? Sounds like it could be a weak signal. Equipment won't necessarily help. Did you go to antennaweb.org to see the list of stations and their direction from you? I get HD TV from 2 markets and one station is slightly in a different direction. I have an antenna pre-amp and getting the rest of the digital broadcasts did not help with the one station. I got a small second antenna oriented in the proper direction w/o any amp or preamp. The preamp will amplify the TV signal. If you're getting a garbage signal it will amplify the garbage. Generally, you can point an antenna within a range (angle) and still get reception. It would not help in my case as mine is pointed to get me digital and analog TV from the 2 markets and if I'd move it to get better reception on the one channel I'd lose others.

 

[chuckg]

Ditto on the above. You may have an antenna pointing problem. For antenna signals, "amp" and "pre-amp" are pretty much the same thing - a signal booster. Somehwere, your amp may list the amount by which the signal is boosted in dB. A bigger gain might help, but try pointing the antenna first.