Cell Signal Boosters

[RandyT]

Had a deputy sheriff dropping off his leaf blower for repair Monday, and was bragging up the new laptop computer in the squad car, and then it wouldn't connect to the network because he didn't have service sitting in my driveway. Service provider was Verizon.

 

[k0ua]

Had a deputy sheriff dropping off his leaf blower for repair Monday, and was bragging up the new laptop computer in the squad car, and then it wouldn't connect to the network because he didn't have service sitting in my driveway. Service provider was Verizon.

Verizon has the best service in my area, but yesterday I was at a clients house, and the signal was so spotty I was having difficulty getting web pages to load. Of course it was a creek bottom residence with hills all around.

 

[N80]

I have the same problem, poor to no cell reception in the work shop but for $350 I'll just step outside.
Usually have to pee anyway so multitask.

Sometimes I feel like Oliver on green acres. When I'm on call on the weekend while I'm down at the cabin and get a call at 2:00 a.m. and have to get up out of bed and walk into the yard when its 18 degrees outside to get reception. At least I don't have to climb a telephone poll.:laughing:

 

[N80]

Especially if the outside antenna is a fairly large yagi pointed at the cell tower.

"yagi" ?

 

[k0ua]

"yagi" ?

Yes, yagi-uda type of antenna. Named after the inventors. One type of directional beam antenna

Yagi-Uda antenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The antenna was invented in 1926 by Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University, Japan, with a lesser role played by his colleague Hidetsugu Yagi.
However the "Yagi" name has become more familiar with the name of Uda often omitted. This appears to have been due to Yagi filing a patent on the idea in Japan without Uda's name in it, and later transferring the patent to the Marconi Company in the UK.
Yagi antennas were first widely used during World War II in radar systems by the British, US and Germans. After the war they saw extensive development as home television antennas.

Looks like poor Uda, got the short end of the notoriety stick.

 

[k0ua]

Here is an example of a yagi

Amazon.com: New 17MHz-21MHz AWS WCDMA 3G Directional External Outdoor Yagi Antenna for Mobile cell phone signal Booster Repeater Amplifier: Cell Phones & Accessories

 

[k0ua]

My point about the passive system idea was that with simply a couple of these antennas coupled with a piece of low loss coax cable like some LMR 400 with N connectors on each end you might be able to get enough signal into the cabin without using any electronics at all. This is a simple passive antenna concept. It can work, and I suspect that it might work well in your situation because of the construction of your house. You would need a mounting mast outside and would need to experiment to find the best tower direction to point the outside antenna. Then mount the inside antenna to point to where you want to operate the handheld phone. With the antenna shown you would have 24 db gain minus the loss from the coax and its connections. Which would be several DB depending on coax length. (DB=decibels, a logarithmic way of measuring RF power)

 

[downsizingnow48]

I have a Wilson booster on a pole about 6 ft above the roof aimed at a tower about 5 miles away through trees. It improved reception from essentially nothing to always workable. Not great but workable. I paired that with a Cradlepoint router and wireless modem to provide Internet in the house. That also is working ok.

 

[davesl708]

I have a Wilson booster on a pole about 6 ft above the roof aimed at a tower about 5 miles away through trees. It improved reception from essentially nothing to always workable. Not great but workable. I paired that with a Cradlepoint router and wireless modem to provide Internet in the house. That also is working ok.

It's strange. I have a tower 1/4 mile away and the signal strength changes constantly during the day. From 2 bars to 5. Verizon.

 

[newbury]

My BIL bought one of the Wilson car kits years ago and raved about it. He's a rural doctor and was constantly getting dropped calls on his drives, which the Wilson fixed.

SWMBO bought one several years ago, but cell phone reception seems to have gotten better where she used to need it.