Electroline will be showing a new drop amplifier at Cable-Tec Expo. It incorporates a return path gate that virtually disconnects the in-home network from the return path when no signals are being transmitted from the subscriber's CPE. The feature is intended to block the noise that enters the return network and accumulates at the receivers in the headend. A patent-pending technology is implemented to provide the fast gating necessary to operate in the burst mode return transmission systems typical of HFC subscriber networks.