aerial amplifiers - are they worth it?

aerial amplifiers elektor february 1980 — 2-27 Aerial amplifiers are frequently used to try to improve the sensitivity of an existing receiver. All too often it is found that any increase in sensitivity is accompanied by an increase in the noise content of the resultant signal. For this reason it becomes apparent that such an amplifier needs very careful design. If the amplifier is only required to compensate for the losses in an aerial distribution network, or the like, then the problems become less severe. Contrary to the opinion of those who claim that aerial signal amplification is of no use whatsoever, many advocates insist that amplification will often lead to improved performance. For a well-founded appraisal of the various "for and against" arguments it is, therefore, interesting and even important to investigate more deeply into different aspects of the problems involved. This article deals with reception on VHF/FM and UHF/TV wavebands. With equipment that performs sati...