I've used the search function but am not able to find the info I am looking for. I have 6 SDR's that i would like to feed with one antenna. I do not have the budget for a striedsberg and am looking for details on rolling my own. In all the posts that Ive waded through, I can not get a solid grasp on details surrounding amplification, filtering and overall what is needed to be successful. The 6 receive only SDR's are monitoring frequencies in 120-160Mhz and 405-470Mhz. I have a dual band gain antenna mounted on tower with RG6 feedline into the shack. I am planning on feeding the antenna to a commscope cable drop amplifier # CSMAPDU9VPI then split it out to the 6 sdr's with a F Male - SMA male barrel connector. I then saw something one of the posts that this type of drop amplifier will not work but was unable to extrapolate why (in order to select a more appropriate product). Can anyone share some feedback on what products youve used to accomplish this task and how its working for you? Is a preamp needed prior to the drop amp? Can a receive preamp be used with just a simple multi way splitter? Thank you for taking the time.
DIY Receive Multicoupler
- Thread starter kb2tuc
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prcguy
Member
This thread has info and post #46 shows a 4-port multicoupler I made but its since been upgraded with an 8-way divider and the amp was swapped for a 20dB gain ZHL-2010. Attenuation after the amplifier was changed to give about 2dB gain per port at the output.
forums.radioreference.com
Yet Another Multicoupler Thread
Do you hear fm stations out of band now? Also not sure by Civ air you mean airband? If yes fm filters can make a big difference since air and is so close to fm stations being in the 118-134 mhz range. Not sure how mobile antennas would affect it I only have a base station Airband should...
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- Jan 6, 2009
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I have seen the Electroline splitter/signal booster mentioned by several people on this forum. So I decided to try one out. I now have three of them in use (two 4 port, one 8 port) and have found that they are satisfactory for receiving both with SDRs and "hardware" radios. I am sure there are better options out there, but for the money, they have worked great for me. I monitor the same basic bands that you are.
Here is one of the models that I have used: Electroline DropAmp EDA 2800 8-Port Cable TV HDTV Amplifier Signal Booster | eBay
Here is one of the models that I have used: Electroline DropAmp EDA 2800 8-Port Cable TV HDTV Amplifier Signal Booster | eBay
alwayslistening
Member
I acquired a ChannelMaster eight output amplified splitter. Some time ago I purchased one of their TV antenna amplified splitters and have had good luck with it. It's available off of Amazon: https://a.co/d/aOjBMGs
Prior to actually using it, I bench tested it with a NanoVNA and found that the unit was well within spec'. I use it for VHF, UHF and 800 MHz reception. It provides a slight signal amplification with only a few dB increase in the noise floor. ChannelMaster makes pretty robust and solid products.
Prior to actually using it, I bench tested it with a NanoVNA and found that the unit was well within spec'. I use it for VHF, UHF and 800 MHz reception. It provides a slight signal amplification with only a few dB increase in the noise floor. ChannelMaster makes pretty robust and solid products.
My setup is a little extensive
I have 3 band specific antennas - PCTel 800 Mhz mobile antenna on a ground plane, 450 Mhz mobile antenna on a ground plane (forgot the brand, might be PCTel also), and a KB9VBR slimjim for VHF. The slimjim is basically 2 j-poles on top of each other. Contrary to what some may claim, does quite well.
All 3 antennas fed to a Diamond mx-3000 triplexer, minicircuit's FM band filter, and then fed to as GPIO Labs low noise amplifier. Length of coax goes to the next room where I have a minicircuit's power splitter. I'm not at home right now, so I can't recall exact model of the splitter.
The LNA is important and necessary to recover the losses from the splitter. I used to use a TV splitter, but I kept losing inputs, so I to upgraded. Recommendation for the LNA came from @Ubbe .
I have 3 band specific antennas - PCTel 800 Mhz mobile antenna on a ground plane, 450 Mhz mobile antenna on a ground plane (forgot the brand, might be PCTel also), and a KB9VBR slimjim for VHF. The slimjim is basically 2 j-poles on top of each other. Contrary to what some may claim, does quite well.
All 3 antennas fed to a Diamond mx-3000 triplexer, minicircuit's FM band filter, and then fed to as GPIO Labs low noise amplifier. Length of coax goes to the next room where I have a minicircuit's power splitter. I'm not at home right now, so I can't recall exact model of the splitter.
The LNA is important and necessary to recover the losses from the splitter. I used to use a TV splitter, but I kept losing inputs, so I to upgraded. Recommendation for the LNA came from @Ubbe .
For the price, the Electroline are hard to beat. They are the best low cost solution I have used. They are low noise with sufficient gain to compensate for feed line loss. I use a 4 port to feed 4 receivers from one antenna. The amp should be as close as possible to the antenna. They are often available on Amazon. I also use the power injector.
