masthead amplifier – Experimental Engineering

Here’s the final instalment of the new high gain TV antenna & it’s masthead amplifier.

Here’s the new antenna on it’s removable mast. This apparently will give 13db of gain over the old antenna. The masthead amplifier box is mounted just below.

Here’s the amplifier just below the antenna. I do hope the seals on this hold against the weather! The amplifier inside isn’t protected at all.

Here’s the module itself. This is powered by +12v injected into the coax with the power supply I previously modified. F-type connectors are used. (I don’t like these connector types, their lack of a true centre pin is poor design in my opinion).

Here’s the power supply, mounted behind the TV where the cable comes through the hull.

Here’s the inside of the amplifier module. It’s very simple, with some input filtering to block out 4G mobile signals, and a single amplifier transistor.

Onboard the boat we have a small issue with a weak TV signal, and this coupled with a 60′ long run of coax is an issue. Due to the loss in the coax, we’ve lost most of the already weak signal.
To try & solve this issue, I’m fitting a masthead amplifier unit.

These amplifiers are fed power down the same coax that’s carrying the RF signal, and a special power supply is supplied with the amplifier for this. However it’s only 240v AC, no 12v version available.

Here’s the power supply unit, which fits into the coax between the TV & the antenna.

Luckily the 240v supply is easily removable & here has been replaced with a 12v regulator.

There’s not very much inside the shielding can, just a few filter capacitors & an RF choke on the DC feed, to keep the RF out of the power supply system.

The original cable is used, so the supply doesn’t even look like it’s been modified from the outside.

More to come on this when I get the amplifier installed along with the new coax run 🙂

73s

Tag: masthead amplifier

nbTanya Louise – New TV Antenna

Labgear PSM114E/S 12v Conversion