Abstract: Ingress noise in a hybrid fiber-coax transmission system (10) may be reduced by employing asymmetric taps (30.sub.1 '-30.sub.8 ',) between a pair of line extenders (28--28) for attenuating downstream and upstream information by different weights. The downstream weights of the taps are selected to achieve a substantial constant power level at each tap for individual subscribers (14--14). The upstream attenuation of each tap is selected to allow for a nearly constant level of subscriber-generated information to be received at the line extender while the subscriber generated upstream information is supplied to the taps at a constant value that is maximized to reduce the effect of ingress noise.

Abstract: Downstream and upstream signals in a transmission system are attenuated by different amounts to allow upstream signals to be originated at individual subscribers (22--22, 30--30) at the same level yet be received at a common upstream amplifier (19b) at substantially the same level. Different attenuation of downstream and upstream signals is achieved by the combination of a pair of directional couplers (110a and 110b) and a diplex filter (132). The couplers and diplex filter collectively separate a downstream signal destined for the subscriber from an upstream signal generated by the subscriber. The upstream signal which is separated may be attenuated by a matching loss element (138) to attenuate the upstream signal by an amount greater or less than the downstream signal.