H15 noise from coax input

[FireEngineer_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 8/23/2008

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I recently set up my new H15 power conditioner. Hooked up my analog cable connection to the CATV/MODEM connector and then out to my Sony 40XBR800 TV. Every channel had a static noise on the picture, worse on the lower channels. Tried the additional SAT/ANTENNA connector instead and the same result. Tried directly to the TV and a perfectly clear picture came through.

The cable coax is properly grounded outside at a ground block. At the inlet to the ground block from the cable company there is a Radio Shack DSS coax protector which covers all the cable and satellite frequencies and is just an avalanche diode. Just inside the house there is a Radio Shack cable modem surge protector properly grounded, this is an MOV type. Lastly there is a splitter going to the Sony and upstairs to a smaller TV.

The insertion loss of the H15 on the box states less than 6db. 6db seems awfully high for surge protector signal loss, especially when a proper installation is trying to always reduce signal loss. All of my wiring is RG-11 from the outside pole up to the connection with the Sony just to reduce loss in signal strength. I'm also going to be putting an external OTA antenna to get HD OTA channels, having a 6db loss would pretty much kill that idea I would think.

Is this an inherent problem in the H15? If so, does this mean that I need to get a signal booster for my cable signal just to use my H15 surge protection/noise filtering? What can I do to mitigate this apparent problem?

[FireEngineer_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 8/23/2008

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I recently set up my new H15 power conditioner. Hooked up my analog cable connection to the CATV/MODEM connector and then out to my Sony 40XBR800 TV. Every channel had a static noise on the picture, worse on the lower channels. Tried the additional SAT/ANTENNA connector instead and the same result. Tried directly to the TV and a perfectly clear picture came through.

The cable coax is properly grounded outside at a ground block. At the inlet to the ground block from the cable company there is a Radio Shack DSS coax protector which covers all the cable and satellite frequencies and is just an avalanche diode. Just inside the house there is a Radio Shack cable modem surge protector properly grounded, this is an MOV type. Lastly there is a splitter going to the Sony and upstairs to a smaller TV.

The insertion loss of the H15 on the box states less than 6db. 6db seems awfully high for surge protector signal loss, especially when a proper installation is trying to always reduce signal loss. All of my wiring is RG-11 from the outside pole up to the connection with the Sony just to reduce loss in signal strength. I'm also going to be putting an external OTA antenna to get HD OTA channels, having a 6db loss would pretty much kill that idea I would think.

Is this an inherent problem in the H15? If so, does this mean that I need to get a signal booster for my cable signal just to use my H15 surge protection/noise filtering? What can I do to mitigate this apparent problem?

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 8/23/2008

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I've seen this issue before and the recommendation that was made to that customer at the time was to use a higher grade RG-11 coax cable. The standard ones that come with a unit or are provided by the cable company may be insufficient to carry the signal through the UPS and to the TV.

[FireEngineer_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 8/24/2008

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Thank you for the advice. All the coax cable used from the pole to the TV itself is RG-11 so there should be minimal signal loss.