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Re: Addressable Taps

We built 2 systems worth of SA Interdiction taps (1991-1998) 550/750Mhz, which Blonder Tongue ended up buying the rights from SA to manufacture.

It was power hungry and the idea of set it and forget it was not true. We had a mix of aerial, underground and MDU's. The MDU installation was a nightmare just because of the of the size of the units (4port and 8 Port). A 8port unit was a little bigger than 2 loafs of bread, so imagine needing enough of those to pick up 60 - 100 apartments.

You also had to run power thru the feeder to power them up, which electrical inspector made us fuse entry point to every building using a LPI and terminating the PS input leg. The units also generated heat which when you string a bunch together in a utility closet, it would be pretty warm in there. The heat factor I think was 1 reason we had failures.

The outside plant was a nightmare as well, especially where you had aerial feeds to 3-6 family houses. You'd end up with 4 or 5 8way taps off a line amp and you could be 30 feet from the pole with the last tap.

As for set it and forget it, each tap would basically have 1 converter per port, so you'd be swapping those things out all the time for failures. The problem is you'd be in the unit so often you would get gasket problems and eventually water problems.

It ended up being cheaper to convert both systems to conventional taps then it would have been to operate them for a 1 year period.

I don't know how addressable taps are now a days, but my experience eith them was not good.
This is CABL.com posting #357281. Tiny Link: cabl.co/mbE6L
Posted in reply to: Addressable Taps by woodybeetle
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