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Shoutout to the old guy in Dayton who taught me about coax splitters
I was on a job last month, replacing a drop for a customer in a brick house. The signal was weak and I was about to just run a whole new line from the pole. This retired installer, Mr. Jenkins, lived next door and came over to watch. He pointed at my bag and said, 'Kid, you're using a cheap 3.5 dB splitter from the truck stock... that's your problem right there.' He walked back to his garage and came out with this old, dusty 5-1000 MHz splitter. He said he kept it from 'back when they built things to last.' I swapped it in and the signal jumped by 15 points instantly. He didn't brag, just nodded and went back to his yard. Makes you think about the gear we're given now. Anyone else run into a simple fix like that, where the old way just worked better?
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parker_palmer4427d ago
What gets me is how the cheap stuff changes how we work. We start assuming every weak signal needs a full rewire, when half the time it's just a bad ten cent part in a box. Makes the job harder than it needs to be.
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kimr7427d ago
Ever wonder how much money the company saves by buying those garbage splitters? They probably get them for a buck each and then bill us for the extra truck rolls when the signal is trash. Old guy had it right, they just don't build stuff to last anymore.
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My uncle had a 1992 Ford F-150 with the original spark plugs that ran smooth for 25 years. The new ones I bought last year failed in 8 months. It's the same story with everything now, just like kimr74 said about the splitters. They make it cheap so you have to keep buying it.
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