Best LTE/5G Filter Location

[KeithAbbott]

I am using a Televes SmartKom mast amplifier with multiple antennas. I have a couple of stations that have higher signal quality fluctuation than I would like, so I am taking a look at my setup to see if I can make any improvements. Currently, I have a SiliconDust 5G LTE filter installed on the antenna input to the SmartKom power injector. I am reading that the filter should be placed before any amplification occurs. If that is correct, that would tell me that I should install it on the antenna input into the SmartKom device, and also disable sending power from the SmartKom to the Televes antennas (which have amplifiers built-in). Am I on the right track here?

[jxxaxxy]

Depending on how old your Televes antenna is, you might already have a 5g filter built into it. I believe the re-pack models do have it already. I agree that you would not want to amplify the 5g. But the filter should filter that out anyways. I guess what you would need to do is test if you need the amplification with the antenna amplifier. I live so close to my towers that there isn't a benefit to to have mine amplified.

[KeithAbbott]

The specs for the various Televes antennas are good about identifying whether it has LTE/5G filtering or not. What the specs aren't as good at is identifying which frequency it filters down to. It appears that some of the earlier US models (and European, I believe) only filter out frequencies above 694MHz, whereas the newer models filter out frequencies above 608MHz. So I'm going to try to find out what frequencies my antennas filter out.

Also, it appears that the SmartKom amplifier also has LTE/5G filtering in it. So again, I'm going to try to find out what frequencies that device filters out.

Once I find that information out, I can hopefully determine what the best configuration would be.

p.s. I live within 10 miles of all but one tower, that one is around 12 miles. But my antennas are in my attic, so amplifying the signal helps quite a bit.

[jxxaxxy]

Mine are 9 to 12.5 miles from me too and I have mine in a detached garage. So very similar setup as you.

[jasonl]

Can you remove the LTE filter, enable the Send diagnostic information on the web page for your HDHomeRun, run a channel scan, and reply back with the device ID for it so we can see what it looks like?

It's unlikely that an LTE filter would actually do anything for the SmartKom. It's not like a normal amplifier where it just takes everything and boosts it all by the same amount. Instead, it basically splits out different frequency ranges (either automatically detected or specified via the app), boosts them all up to the same target level, then mixes them back together so you get a flat output signal. Even if it was a model that supported the old UHF band up to 51, you would just not pass anything above 36 on any of the inputs and that would effectively kill any 5G signals. Overload can still be an issue if it's in the standard config because the default output level is +25dBmV, but you can back that down via the app to whatever is optimal for your setup.

[KeithAbbott]

Can you remove the LTE filter, enable the Send diagnostic information on the web page for your HDHomeRun, run a channel scan, and reply back with the device ID for it so we can see what it looks like?

Since it's late tonight, I will do all of the above tomorrow.

It's unlikely that an LTE filter would actually do anything for the SmartKom. It's not like a normal amplifier where it just takes everything and boosts it all by the same amount. Instead, it basically splits out different frequency ranges (either automatically detected or specified via the app), boosts them all up to the same target level, then mixes them back together so you get a flat output signal. Even if it was a model that supported the old UHF band up to 51, you would just not pass anything above 36 on any of the inputs and that would effectively kill any 5G signals. Overload can still be an issue if it's in the standard config because the default output level is +25dBmV, but you can back that down via the app to whatever is optimal for your setup.

The SmartKom is currently set to the default output level, so overload may be an issue.

[KeithAbbott]

Can you remove the LTE filter, enable the Send diagnostic information on the web page for your HDHomeRun, run a channel scan, and reply back with the device ID for it so we can see what it looks like?

Done. Device IDs are: 10AAB199, 10ABADC7. I am curious what the purpose of the channel scan is in this instance.

[KeithAbbott]

After removing the LTE filter (at approximately 9:30 this morning), the signal strength for five of my seven UHF stations increased between 1 dBmV and 3 dBmV. The signal strength for the other two UHF stations stayed about the same, as did my one VHF station.

I'm attaching an image of the signal stats for the last week. These stats are captured directly from the HDHomeRun devices. WDIV has the worst signal quality of the stations, with WXYZ in second place. Anywhere that the bright-red (as opposed to the dark-red) signal quality line is not displayed, it is because it is 100% and therefore hiding behind the green symbol quality line showing 100%. Examples of this would be WJBK, WWJ, WKBD, and WTVS.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q3czgd ... drive_link

Thanks for any insight that you can provide to optimize my antenna reception better.

[jasonl]

Exactly as I suspected, no 5G, but too much amplification. Drop the output level from 25 to 0 using the app and then keep an eye on things.