I finally looked up how much signal loss happens with cheap coax splitters

Was running a new line for a customer in Denver last week and decided to test a 99 cent splitter versus a $12 one from the supply house. Found a chart on some RF engineering forum that showed the cheap ones can lose 7-8 dB compared to 3.5 dB on a good one. Has anyone else noticed service calls dropping after swapping out the bargain bin splitters?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan_butler9326d agoTop Commenter

Cheap parts are pretty much always a gamble. That 7-8 dB loss is huge, basically turning a decent signal into something that barely works. It's like buying off-brand batteries that die in a week - you save a buck but lose way more in time and hassle later. Bigger pattern I see is people cheaping out on the little things that actually hold everything together, then wondering why stuff breaks down fast.

the_ruby26d ago

Guilty as charged, I'm basically the human equivalent of those cheap parts.