Channel Master CM-7778V3, Titan 2 Medium-Gain Mast Mounted Preamplifier for TV Antennas (Version 3)

After three decades of being a customer, I would not buy another CM product. When you call Channel Master, you will hear a recording that will direct you to their website to schedule a return call. I spent 5 minutes on my new iPhone doing so while on the go, but the call couldn't be scheduled because CM doesn't support mobile devices and the mandatory photo verification didn't work. br>I'll just call their corporate office phone number, no problem. Channel Master's phone number has been removed from the system. br>This is the first time I've ever dealt with a company that actively blocks customer calls. You're on your own if you purchase a CM item. They have now made receiving help impossible.

Autumn Vaughn

| Sep 28, 2021

I'm a professional engineer who works in the electrical field. I created cable TV amplifiers and other components, as well as highly complex commercial reception systems. I live 65 miles outside of Atlanta, 35 miles outside of Macon, and a little more than 150 miles outside of Savannah. The nearest FM station is several miles away, and commercial transmitters are few and far between. Most people would assume that my location requires a high gain amplifier, but this is not the case. I purchased two of these lower gain amplifiers to install at the antennas in order to simply overcome feedline losses and firmly establish system noise figures at the antennas. I didn't want any more gain than that, because signal-to-noise ratios that are higher than that are rarely beneficial and frequently cause issues. br>br>My systems are eight bay bow tie arrays, with eight bays pointing toward Atlanta at 60 feet and eight bays pointing toward Savannah at 200 feet. At the front of the house, they each have distribution amplifiers. These amplifiers performed as expected. br>br> These mast head amplifiers have enough gain to determine system noise temperature, rather than coax or distribution amplifier noise temperature. Even though I'm in the middle of nowhere, a higher gain amp would not improve S/N. br>br>I have excellent reception of all Atlanta stations, with the exception of WSB 2, which is the weakest of all. 3 times there has been a signal loss. Since going digital, WSB has never been great here, so there is some fading with moist atmosphere, ducts, or fog. All of the Macon stations, including WSAV, which is nearly 200 miles away, are rock solid.

Mia McNeil

| Jan 26, 2021

The towers are 35 miles away, and I'm down in a gully behind an 800' tall ridge that stands between me and them. To add to the confusion, we still have two VHF networks. br>br>After experimenting with a variety of flat, small, compact, and "100 mile!" " I tried directional and non-directional antennas with poor results, and even a db8 with no VHF reception and only half the UHF channels. badly. br>br>So I put up a 10' old style YAGI antenna (HBU44) in the attic and got all of the major channels pretty well. During bad weather, a couple of lower-power UHF stations (ION and CW) were unreliable. I'd score an 8 out of 10 on this one. During heavy rains, 10 seconds of green scramble is played. br>br>I tried a different preamp (winegard) and it did a good job of boosting the signals, but ABC on VHF would occasionally glitch the picture and sound for 1-second. Every four seconds, 2 seconds. The time limit is five minutes. It's just enough to annoy you. It wasn't over amplifying, the signal strength was around 65% and it would completely drop out for that 1- Come back after 2 seconds. br>br>I gave this amp a fair amount of thought because I wasn't sure I needed the 7777's uber amplification. It nicely boosts my signals from 2% to 17% and brings ION and CW into solid upper 60% low 70% range from 45- 50%. So far, no rain has fallen on ABC, but I'll have to keep an eye on all of the channels for a few days to see how rainy days play out. If anything goes wrong, I'll let you know. br>br>Thus far, everything has gone well!.

Romina Carroll

| Dec 08, 2021

Channel 36 is slowed down a little. To compensate for the loss caused by a 100-watt amplifier, I purchased this preamplifier. The loss within the 1:1 ratio, the insertion loss of a splitter, and the loss over a 100-foot coaxial cable run In a TiVo device, there are four splitters, which results in a loss of about 5dB at the top of the band (600 MHz), and three splitters at the bottom of the band (300 MHz). The splitter suffers a 5 dB loss, with another 6 dB loss. The TiVo's circuitry is about 5 dB, or about 15 dB total, give or take, which is a great match for this unit's 16 dB of gain. br>br>One issue I was having was that we live in an area where we get VERY strong signals from some nearby stations, but weaker signals from other stations in the same direction (low power stations) and weak signals off the main lobe of the antenna. A common issue with less expensive amplifiers is that they can't handle strong incoming signals and can actually make reception worse by saturating, producing a large amount of noise that the receiver interprets as a bad signal. br>br>A strong signal should not be amplified to the point of overloading the receivers' front ends. br>br>A medium-sized bl>br>a medium-sized bl>a medium-sized In this situation, a gain amplifier is ideal, as long as the amplifier can withstand strong incoming signals. I'm happy to report that the Titan 2 v3's medium gain can handle strong signals admirably. br>br>One area where this amplifier falls short is channel 36, which we receive better without. I believe the reason for this is that Channel Master has included LTE 5G filtering in this unit (or, to put it another way, they are band-pass filtering for DTV), and if they're using the same circuitry as their LTE filter, channel 36 will be attenuated by about 3dB while trying to block frequencies above 614 MHz. This can be a difficult problem to solve in filter design, so be aware that if you have a channel 36 that is currently on the fringes, you may lose it rather than improve it with this amplifier. If this supposition is correct, you won't need a separate LTE filter if you use this amplifier. br>br>The good news is that if this supposition is correct, you won't need to use a separate LTE filter if you use this amplifier. br>br>CM comes with a power brick with a coaxial cable output and a device that looks like a splitter but is actually a power injector; installation is simple. There are three coaxial connections on it: one, two, and three. One for the power brick, another for your antenna, and yet another for your receiver(s)/splitter(s). On the roof, simply mount the amplifier to your antenna mast with the connectors facing down (to prevent rain from pooling on the connectors). Make your two connections, and I recommend incorporating some self-awareness into the process. To keep moisture out, use a sticky rubber tape like Scotch 130C. br>br>If you're using an amplifier for DTV, don't expect your SNR to improve dramatically. Keep in mind that SNR stands for Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Noise to Signal Ratio. Your amplifier will boost the signal at the antenna, but it will also boost the noise. It may be able to compensate for some signal loss that occurs during the cable run. I saw an average of one per cent of the time. Our nearby weaker stations gained 2 dB, our channel 36 lost about 4 dB, and our stronger stations remained nearly unchanged. That extra one can come in handy at times. For a weak station, a difference of 2 dB can mean a significant difference in stability, as it did for my setup. Also, if your receiver's sensitivity isn't the best, amplifying enough to overcome the line is a good idea. The loss of a splitter can have a significant impact on the stability of your system. br>br>The low-cost option is a good option. This amplifier's praise for noise seems well-deserved as well. I would have expected some loss of SNR for our stronger stations if it was noisy, but that has not been the case. This appears to be a well-run business. designed, and well-made thought- amplifier on the outside br>br>If I could change one thing about it, it would be the DTV band-pass filter design, but doing so would almost certainly increase the device's complexity, cost, and size, which would most likely not be worth it in most cases. br>br>This would make a great addition to your cord-cutting arsenal. If you're in a similar situation with a long cable run and multiple splitters (including those inside a device with multiple tuners), consider installing an air antenna.

Meghan Williams

| Nov 22, 2021