Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The LNA-200 is an excellent piece of hardware that can produce significant benefits in over-the-air TV reception. That being said, its benefits can only be realized when signal conditions are appropriate and it is installed correctly. From analyzing the negative reviews, it appears that many of the problems that were encountered with this equipment were the result of inappropriate use and/or installation. The particular situation in which this amplifier works well is one in which the receiving equipment is signal starved but not noisy – a low-level signal (e.g., transmitter tower is distant from the receiver and/or of relatively low power) embedded in a relatively low noise background. While expensive instrumentation is required to definitively determine when this situation exists, it is possible to use the signal strength diagnostics built into most modern digital TV’s to get a strong hint that this is the case. In particular, if a TV owner uses the Menu option to access a screen which shows the signal strength and/or signal-to-noise ratio and/or signal quality, a reasonably clear picture of an appropriate application may be possible. If these parameters are low – i.e., they reflect a small signal – or vary relatively rapidly in time, it is likely that the desired digital signal is being adversely affected by environmental or propagation distance effects. The best way to make this kind of observation is with a single TV set connected to a single antenna – either upper-VHF or UHF band – so that the intrinsic signal effects are separated from noise or losses arising from multiple splitting effects/losses and/or intrinsic receiver/line noise. Under these conditions, use of a high-quality, low-noise pre-amplifier (i.e., more than 10 dB gain, noise factor of 1 dB or thereabouts, but not more than 1.5 or 2) is likely to be very beneficial. If not, an amplifier like an LNA-200 is unlikely to be very helpful. [Note: Amplifiers with higher noise figures may be useful as distribution amplifiers for multiple splits AFTER the signal levels are brought up to usable levels.] To use a pre-amplifier like an LNA-200 effectively, it should be connected in the coax cable line after the antenna but before any other components (e.g., before splitters used to divide the signal among multiple TV sets), so that it increases the signal level without amplifying any noise or loss effects introduced by the installation plumbing in a user’s home. Other amplifiers, most often characterized as distribution amplifiers rather than pre-amplifiers, typically have much higher noise figures – anywhere from 4 to 15 dB – and may be useful downstream further downstream in a home wiring network. In such locations, they can maintain signal strength after being multiply split, but these amplifiers are not useful in bringing up signal levels from the intrinsic noise floor because they introduce additional noise which is amplified and drives down the intrinsic signal quality. A good measure of overall signal quality is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), if a TV set’s menu of diagnostics provides this parameter: modern tuners must be designed (by the ATSC tuner standard to which they are bound) to lock onto digital signals when the SNR is at least 15 dB, and values less than generally result in poor/no picture and/or image tearing. Signal levels of 20 dB or so are OK, but – in the presence of atmospheric turbulence or weather – may be degraded below useful levels. In this situation, an amplifier like an LNA-200 may provide the boost needed to generate a useful, reliable TV image. While details of the negative reviews that area associated with the LNA-200 rarely have enough detail to diagnose the reason for the failures, they give hints that many of the problem areas are likely to have arisen from the following: (1) inappropriate application, such as at the bottom of a cable-splitting chain next to a TV set, rather than at the antenna; (2) incorrect installation of the in-line-coax power supply, which can fail to provide the DC power needed if it’s installed backwards or if a signal splitter (most of which are not “DC passing” if not specifically ordered to allow power to be passed up the line for amps/rotators as the signals come down the line); (3) incorrect installation of the amplifier, by connecting the inputs from the antenna and the output to the TV to the wrong terminal which can damage equipment in the lines, including the amplifier or TV. Reports of units being dead out of the box (DOB) have also appeared in the reviews of this equipment but it’s not clear what the frequency of this problem is. Sadly, in the case of most modern electronics, a disappointingly large fraction – 5 or 10 % is not unusual -- of newly shipped units either are DOB or are perceived so. Some of the perceptions are from users who don’t know how to set up or connect the equipment – probably the majority. The actual number of really DOB units is typically a few percent, and may reflect either poor quality control or damage in transit/handling – but the reviews which appear online don’t provide the information needed to determine what the real problem is. In the case of the LNA-200, my guess is that most of the problems with applications lie with improper application, installation, or connection. The Winegard folks have been around for a long time and are known for their excellence in design and production of durable hardware. If you do encounter a problem, I’d recommend that you give them a call or send them an e-mail to determine the genesis of the problem – they’ll almost certainly connect you with an applications engineer who can determine whether you’ve got the right gear, installed it correctly, and are using it the way it was supposed to be operated – or whether you’ve just got a dud. They’re a good company – probably the best at what they do – and my experience has been that they stand behind their gear.