Sorry in advance if this is super elementary, or if a mod decides there is a better subforum to discuss this topic.
I just installed an ST2 antenna, including the 50 feet of 75 ohm RG6 coax. Ran into the home, and plugged directly into a scanner, it sounds great.
Bought a TV coax splitter (I know, I need a multicoupler, but I don't have $200 right now for one...it's on my short list). When I run the RG6 into the splitter, and use 3 feet of RG59U 50 ohm patch cables on the other 4 ends, the signal degrades significantly. Much more so that I would have expected. Previous systems, including an 800 mhz TRS that needed attenuation in the scanner to prevent the CC from overloading, have had their signal cut by a factor of 4-6 times.
Is this a coax impedance mismatch thing going on here, or the splitter? I've split cheaply like this before using a BNC T adapter with little noticeable difference in gain. If it were up to me, and money was no concern, the whole system would be fed with LMR400, a quality multicoupler, and a quality LNA. Unfortunately, I don't really have the $500 bucks to realize that reality right now. I just want to get a few scanners running off this antenna for personal listening and an RR (Broadcastify) feed.
Splitter - Amazon.com: 2 GHz 90dB 4-Way F-Pin Splitter DC Passing: Computers & Accessories
Antenna - Amazon.com: SCANNER ANT-BASE 30-1300MHZ 50'RG6 15ELM: Electronics
Patch Cables - BNC M/M RG59U - 3ft - Monoprice.com
I just installed an ST2 antenna, including the 50 feet of 75 ohm RG6 coax. Ran into the home, and plugged directly into a scanner, it sounds great.
Bought a TV coax splitter (I know, I need a multicoupler, but I don't have $200 right now for one...it's on my short list). When I run the RG6 into the splitter, and use 3 feet of RG59U 50 ohm patch cables on the other 4 ends, the signal degrades significantly. Much more so that I would have expected. Previous systems, including an 800 mhz TRS that needed attenuation in the scanner to prevent the CC from overloading, have had their signal cut by a factor of 4-6 times.
Is this a coax impedance mismatch thing going on here, or the splitter? I've split cheaply like this before using a BNC T adapter with little noticeable difference in gain. If it were up to me, and money was no concern, the whole system would be fed with LMR400, a quality multicoupler, and a quality LNA. Unfortunately, I don't really have the $500 bucks to realize that reality right now. I just want to get a few scanners running off this antenna for personal listening and an RR (Broadcastify) feed.
Splitter - Amazon.com: 2 GHz 90dB 4-Way F-Pin Splitter DC Passing: Computers & Accessories
Antenna - Amazon.com: SCANNER ANT-BASE 30-1300MHZ 50'RG6 15ELM: Electronics
Patch Cables - BNC M/M RG59U - 3ft - Monoprice.com