GE Indoor HD Digital TV Antenna Amplifier, Low Noise Antenna Signal Booster, Clears Up Pixelated Low-Strength Channels, Supports HD Smart TV VHF UHF, AC Adapter, Black, 42178

I live about 25 miles west of Philadelphia, and have a GE Attic Antenna (29884-PK1), GE 50-ft RG6 Quad Shield Coax (33532), this GE Antenna Amplifier (42178), and a three way splitter (-3.5db, -7db, -7db). The -3.5db tap is connected to an HDHomeRun Flex 4K quad tuner/DVR. The -7db outputs go to a TCL Roku TV and a Vizio TV. I pick up about 30 channels (100 sub-channels). This includes two unencrypted ATSC 3.0 stations (6abc and Fox 29) . Without the amplifier, some of the weaker stations were unreliable. This amplifier shored things up. And the ATSC 3.0 stations work fine.The amplifier increases the signal strength measured on my HDHomeRun by about 25%. Based on the information provided by the "OTA DTv Television Minimum Signal" web site, I used a conversion factor of 0.6 db/percent, which puts this amplifier's gain at about 15 db. Not sure if the 4G/5G LTE filter is helping, but it might be, because the signal quality was slightly better. On four of the weaker stations, the changes in the signal quality were 7%, 16%, 0%, and 2%. Physically, the device is nice and compact and consumes very little power. The DC power adaptor is rated for 0.9 watts (6 volts @ 150 ma). The amp also has a red LED to show that it is powered.An alternative to this device on Amazon would be the "RCA Indoor Antenna Amplifier by Audiovox". This includes an amplifier and 4-way splitter, and provides 10db of gain. Given the -7db loss of a 4-way splitter, the RCA amp must be about 17db, which is similar to the 15db provided by this GE amplifier. However, the RCA amp does not have an LTE filter.

Before I got this I was running a 70 foot cable from the antenna directly to the TV. Depending on weather I would get pixelation on 2/3 of the channels. After running new electrical wiring just for this thing, I now have a five foot cable from the antenna to this box and then the 70 foot cable going to the TV.So on to the obvious flaw. The part that goes TO the TV is a male connection. Really? Why? This is supposed to be located as close to the antenna as possible. So assuming the antenna is not sitting right on top of the TV you will need to run a cable from this device to the TV. All coax cables are male/male. So that means the very design of this silly thing adds one more connection, a female/female adapter that goes from this device to the cable that ultimately goes to the TV.Now if you've ran a short cable from the antenna to this and a longer cable to the TV you've added an extra cable and an extra female/female connector. The signal degradation you're trying to fight is now hoping over more hurdles. For me, the signal got worse with all the extra stuff in there. Before I had 36 stations and about 2/3 of them would be pixelated depending on the weather. With this thing and the splices I can only get the 5 strong stations and now even those are pixelated. That's with this device being as close to the antenna as possible while still not being outside in the weather.Three strikes. Dumb design. Doesn't work. Makes it worse.

My OTA antenna is on the opposite side of the house of my primary TV. I connected this amplifier close to my antenna and the signal travels through a coaxial cable to my ATSC 3 NextGen tuner TV. It improved my signal significantly. The TV tower is approximately 32 miles away. Channels lock on more quickly and stations I’m primarily interested in watching no longer pixelate. I did have to purchase some coax connectors and build some coax cable with the proper connectors to connect this amplifier. Not hard to do and was a good learning experience. And will certainly pay for itself quickly no longer paying for cable TV.P.S. Don't forget to rescan for channels after connecting the amplifier.

As noted at the end of this review, I did not receive the pigtail tv 75 ohm cable that was shown in the description attached to the amp and shown on the box itself. This meant that I needed a short piece of 75 ohm cable with connectors which I had, so no big deal to me but it may concern other buyers.I wanted to be able to get a good signal from my antenna for a channel that was just out of range. Before I put this on, the channel was cutting in and out (pixelating) by the minute depending on the day and season (tree leaves or no tree leaves). Sometimes I could watch it for an hour but usually just lost it altogether. Added this to my antenna and got a good signal from that weak station. Since it’s digital, the picture looks great. Digital signals are basically either great, pixelating, or gone so I went from pixelating or gone to great!You only get the amplifier and power cord , even though a pigtail cable is shown in the description so you will need another small length of 75 ohm cable with 2 male connections to get from the antenna to the amplifier then use your original 75 ohm cable from the amplifier to the tv. You also could put the amp at the tv end so you have convenient ac power but you take the risk of more signal loss from the length of un-amplified cable to the tv. Probably not too much difference though and it would be much easier. My antenna is in my attic and I have an ac outlet up there so I did it that way.One more thing, I did pull in another station that I never had before but it is pixelating but not a problem for me since I didn’t even know it was there before the amp.Very easy to install, unscrew the cable from the antenna the screw in the short cable to the antenna and the amplifier. Screw the original cable into the amp and plug in the power cable. The amp is marked on ends as to which is for the TV and ANT, so don’t hook it up backwards (that’s why there should have been a pigtail to keep that from happening).Very happy with it for cheap price. However this will not get you tv stations in the next state, lol. Just those that are on the very edge of your antenna without the amp.I gave it a 4 star instead of 5 since there was no pigtail cable as described and most buyers will have to go somewhere to buy that extra before installing.