Hi all,

As you'll see, I'm not a professional installer but I hope to get some help to solve a problem with my CATV installation that has been bothering me for quite a long time.

I have two 3-way splitters distributing the CATV signal from my cable company to 5 places. I don't have amplifiers. The signal is relatively good everywhere, but it often gets really "snowy", especially the lower channels (2 to 14 perhaps). The really weird thing, at least for me, is that if I disconnect the input of the first splitter (the one coming from the cable company) and reconnect it a couple of seconds later everything gets "normal" and the TVs look great.

Any clue about this?

Thanks in advance,
Alexis

first of all replace the two three ways with one 8 way if possible.

A bad F connector can hurt the lower channels more than it does the higher channels, and be intermittent as well. To have two three way splitters hooked up, you'd have to have a 2 way splitter on the CATV input line as well unless your cable company gave you a dual feed to the house.

If all 5 TV locations exhibit this problem, troubleshoot the very first part of your system.... make sure the connectors are on solid, properly installed, not corroded from weather... etc... If no luck there, try replacing the 2 way.

Your current splitter setup is introducing about 10.5 dB of signal loss on each output port. An 8 way splitter will introduce about 11 dB of loss at each output. If you don't have a bad splitter, I'd leave them just as they are.

I agree with Warren, break the system down into the basic parts until you isolate the problem. Take a small TV to the distro and look at the incoming signal to see if it is clean. Don't forget that small TVs tend to look good even with a poor picture.

You have a power problem. Probably not inside the home. Better splitters will help, but my first idea is to call the cable company.

1.

Sorry about that.

1. Call the cable company and tell them that you have a problem with the signal quality changing from better to worst. all on the same channel.

2. Listen for audio problems on the same channel. Report them.

3.

dielectric on the stinger can cause this problem also. Look at the stinger (copper center) of your incoming line/feed, see if there is a white coating on the stinger. If there is, remove it. This will be hard to do. Your best bet if possible is to cut the fitting off, and put a new one on..

Check the grounding of the incoming cable feed, I see alot of cable systems that are improperly grounded or not grounded at all. Just a hunch sense you're able to temporarily correct the problem by disconnecting and reconnecting the input. I'd also check your splitters and connections as posted above. Sounds like an unusual problem, let us know when you find the solution.

I had something similar a while back at my house... My problem was caused by water getting into my drop somewhere between the pole and my first splitter. CV fixed it with a new drop.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll check what you told me and hope to find something. I'm not sure yet, but right now I'm betting on a grounding issue as media1 said.