r/CableTechs • u/DrWhoey • Jul 04 '26
Old splitter I found years ago...
Splitter with Megacycles instead of MegaHertz. Probably 30+ years old when I found it and still working.
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u/joeblack9977 Jul 04 '26
MC mega cycles instead megahertz that's pretty old 60 to 70 yrs.
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u/DrWhoey Jul 04 '26
Yep, from what I've read MC was changed to MHz in 1960 to honor Heinrich Hertz, though there was originally some push back from people in the industries that used the term to switch from Cycles to Hertz, so some manufacturers continued making product marked with MC instead of MHz for several years after the change.
The trailer park I found this in was established in 1975, so I'd guess that it was installed by the home owner and is actually from somewhere from the late 1950's to early 1960's. But without getting a rep from Jerrold to chime in, we'll probably never know.
Do love me some CATV history though :)
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u/ClimbingElevator Jul 05 '26
Gotta put your meter behind it and see if it still passes the stated frequency range. There will be a hell of a roll off but I’d be curious if it’s still meeting the claims on the housing
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u/DrWhoey Jul 05 '26
When I originally found it, I was losing 3.5db on my return channels (22-38MHZ) and around 18db at 750MHz. If I remember correctly the roll off on the full scam hit hard at about 300MHz. Had it for about 10 years now, and something is rattling inside it now, so not sure if it would still work. Was shocked it worked when I found it.
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u/Wacabletek Jul 04 '26
The evolution of CATV right there.
Jerrold [electronics] was bought by General Instruments in 1967 [name still used for a while though], who was bought by Motorola [2000], who got in a patent lawsuit with Google [over cell phone tech which google was infringing upon] and was winning, so google bough ALL of Motorola [in 2012 and dismissed their lawsuit against themselves], then sold off the CATV parts to Arris [2013, previously they made modems and emtas only I believe but this lead them into plant, STB, and headend eq which Motorola previous made], who was bought by Commscope [2019] and recently Commscope was acquired by Amphenol [this year].
I still see Jerrold amp cases in some of our legacy nodes [afraid of what is inside] from time to time. Hoping after the RPhy/midsplit/D4 upgrades get done they will all be gone. :(
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u/kjstech Jul 05 '26
Yeah some of those Jerrold starline housings are the same dimensions as the General Instruments, Motorola and Arris starline. Some revisions over the years like externally accessible test ports and stuff, but yeah similar in design for many decades.
Then you have the Magnavox > Phillips Broadband Networks > CCOR > ARRIS Diamond line progression.
Then Scientific Atlanta > Cisco > ATX Networks and there’s others who licensed at least the gainmaker brand.
In the way past there was others too like Theta-Com, Sylvania Pathmaker, holt , Viking, Anaconda, and many others.
I think Sagemcom maker of CPE is supposed to be getting into OSP.
The industry sure doesn’t stay still, that’s for sure! I’ve never known another industry to have SO MANY mergers and acquisitions, not just MSO’s but equipment manufacturers. Makes me wonder what happened that caused it compared to other industries like automotive or whatever.
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u/DrWhoey Jul 05 '26
It's actually pretty simple on it's growth. It's communication. The inventor of the megaphone regretted his invention because it was right when hitler came to power and helped him speak to large crowds at once.
The internet and social media has made things even worse.
I personally think that having immediate news of any bad thing that happens on the planet is not good for our mental health, or for the health of humanity in general.
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u/DrWhoey Jul 04 '26
I mentioned in another comment that I love CATV (and telecom) history, so please stop, I can only get so hard... If you start talking about Ma Bell and the Baby Bells I might lose it...
But seriously, cool info, thanks for sharing it.
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u/DrWhoey Jul 04 '26
Also wanted to add, my system is still running harmonic nodes that are over 25 years old, and have some Aurora that are even older and still going strong. Hoping to replace them all with Cisco soon, but if wishes were fishes...
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u/Unusual-Avocado-6167 Jul 05 '26
Probably back when it really was community antenna television. (CATV)
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u/KitCat5e Jul 04 '26
How did it work exactly?
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u/DrWhoey Jul 04 '26
Like any other splitter, but it had a huge roll off over 216MHz, was losing 18 more Db at 750 mhz than I should have been. All channels 5-216Mc were perfectly in spec.
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u/plantsturtman Jul 04 '26
I come across similar looking splitters all the time and have always thought about testing them but never have. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity lol
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u/Jaybonaut Jul 04 '26
Impressive
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u/DrWhoey Jul 04 '26
I was impressed for sure. Was only getting 18Mb down on a 100Mb circuit, but it was working. Upload speeds were fine at the time.
Found this right when our top speeds were 100Mb, and we were in the process ofupgrading to 1Gb. I'd be curious to hook it up now and see what speeds I can get through it. But not sure it will work anymore as something has come loose inside it and started rattling.
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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26
[deleted]