Active Antenna Splitters

[tip]

Anyone have any hands on with the Stridsberg MCA208M VHF/UHF Receiver Multicoupler vs the ELAD Active Antenna Splitter ASA-16?

Is one better than the other performance wise, or is it apples to apples?

Thanks.

 

[Ubbe]

The ELAD are a HF device and the Stridsberg VHF/UHF?

Elad says it is super low noise but no specification are disclosed for NF or IP3 but state gain figures up to 70MHz.
There are 6 10k resistors feeding 6 OP amps and there are no transformers involved, just direct coupling using capacitors.

/Ubbe

 

[buddrousa]

The 4 Stridesbergs I have are 2 4 ports and 2 8 ports and mine are 25mhz to 1000mhz.

 

[tip]

The ELAD are a HF device and the Stridsberg VHF/UHF?

Elad says it is super low noise but no specification are disclosed for NF or IP3 but state gain figures up to 70MHz.
There are 6 10k resistors feeding 6 OP amps and there are no transformers involved, just direct coupling using capacitors.

/Ubbe

Apples to oranges then! Don't know how I missed the 70MHz ceiling, as I am looking for wideband. Thanks for the wake up!

 

[tip]

The 4 Stridesbergs I have are 2 4 ports and 2 8 ports and mine are 25mhz to 1000mhz.

Understood.... don't know how I missed that in the Elad (70MHz ceiling as Ubbe pointed out). Any less expensive alternatives to the MCA208M VHF/UHF out there (not to be read as cheap)? Thanks.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Has anyone ever tried one of these?

Wideband RF Multicoupler - 16 Radios, Surge Protected, 50 Ohm

 

[buddrousa]

Others will tell you CABLE TV SPLITTERS ARE JUST AS GOOD and I will say you get what you pay for just ask any user that stopped using TV SPLITTERS and bought Stridsbergs.

 

[buddrousa]

Has anyone ever tried one of these?

Wideband RF Multicoupler - 16 Radios, Surge Protected, 50 Ohm

A user that was down grading just sold one in the classified section I just missed out but a few say they are good. You just have to terminate all unused ports.

 

[Ubbe]

You can use Stridsberg, they are plug&play. If you can connect a CATV splitter with a low noise amp and a variable attenuator using coax cable, then you can save a bundle doing your own combiner with better performance. It will have lower noise that will equal having two antennas stacked or double the size of your current one and it will tolerate incredible high sinal levels without going into overload. I have one Stridsberg I use for non critical work and three low noise amplifiers for the important stuff like weak signal searching.

That wideband RF multicoupler have 2.5dB noise and if you instead use a 0.5dB noise amplifer it will give you a 2dB gain. Stacking two antennas will give you 3dB gain, so it's a huge improvement just by changing to a low noise amp. If you can install that amplifier at the antenna then the coax loss will instead by a another gain figure in the system.

Ultra Low Noise Amplifier with ESD+ Gain Stabilization USB cable PGA-103 NF .5dB | eBay

/Ubbe

 

[mule1075]

Others will tell you CABLE TV SPLITTERS ARE JUST AS GOOD and I will say you get what you pay for just ask any user that stopped using TV SPLITTERS and bought Stridsbergs.

I use a stridsberg 4 port and a pct 7db 4 port drop amplifier. The pct works just as well if not better than the stridsberg. And before asking the stridsberg has been sent in a refurbished to factory specs. Sometimes more expensive is not better.

 

[tip]

Great info folks... thanks for the input!

 

[Fast1eddie]

Very satisfied with my pair of Stridesburg couplers. Both are active, one for v/uhf, and the other for hf. I use 50 ohm terminators for unused ports. Been running 4 years now with no power supply issues, run 24/7. Probably should redo things so I can turn them off and on, but was space limited.