 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Electronics : Mobile phone ext-aerials?
| Author | Message | ||||
Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with those passive mobile phone extenders, or ever built one? My mobile phone reception is rubbish. Half the time it has no signal, sometimes I get -110 to -100dbm. At -100, it can make a call ok, but does drop out. It depends on what side of the house I am. On the south side I can get up to -95, which means a good call. But my office is on the north side, and this means unreliable calls, if it connects at all. I want to use my mobile phone more, its got free calls and stuff. My landline costs a fortune to call mobile phones, which unfortunately is what most of my clients use. Now I can put my phone in a cradle and use a headphone/mic lead, but unfortunately is has no external aerial socket. I was wondering if those passive aerial patch pads are any good? The one's you position on the back of the phone and plug into a external aerial ( like a car mobile phone aerial ). I see them online for about $30. Or it this something I could make, a coil of wire positioned on the back of the phone, going to a external aerial, tuned for 850MHz Any suggestions? Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
| davef Guru  Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
Had a Google this one ... I don't see where their recommended 6dB gets you anywhere. Seems to me that you would need an antenna with significantly more than "6-9dB" of gain to make any difference. Say 15-20dB and that is not a job for a beginner. And don't forget about feedline loss. I suspect it is more than a few loops of wires. Maybe the loop is resonant and may even have some matching components in it. |
||||
oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
I have found that a small yagi tuned for the band and a bit of coax works fine to bring outside into inside. The range is small from where it comes into the works container, within a few feet, but works a treat for me. Even if the gain is barely above unity, it is the fact that you can position it high and outside that counts. Gain is pointless if there is no signal in the first place.... but if you can place the yagi where it sees 3 or 4 bars, then thats what you will get inside the house at your office. My terminal in the shipping/electronics container is a foot or so of wire laying beside the bench, but I use it for data, so don't need to pick up. No bars inside container without, but full bars with the passive aerial. ...........oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
||||
| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I have a 3G 850MHz yagi which I used for data when I was using Telstra's internet service. It worked pretty good. Oz what do you have at the other end, to couple with the phone? Is that the foot long length of wire? Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
fillm Guru Joined: 10/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 730 |
Hi Glenn,Oz, I am particularly interested in this as a solution for this as my Oldest Son and Expectant wife live on a farm up Mackay way. Any way they have to leave their phones on a certain ledge and it gets intermittent reception. Just 100 ~200 metres away if they jump on the quad there is very good reception. They recently trialed a $1000 system that improved things a bit but nothing that would warrant the money. I bought him a yagi and he tried it but hes not a tinkerer, ... no pun intended Klaus. Is there a way of making a small repeater to take the good signal 100m away and direct it to the house. Not sure but may be a solution for you to Glenn if there is a strong signal away from your house. PhillM ...Oz Wind Engineering..Wind Turbine Kits 500W - 5000W ~ F&P Dual Kits ~ GOE222Blades- Voltage Control Parts ------- Tower kits |
||||
| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
Yes Glenn that will do fine. Use your phone to find the best place to put the yagi, .....run to room, and I used an old top from a psu screwed to the wall, and the wire attached to it...used it as a cradle...... but it works just as well next to it... so yes the foot of wire is the aerial. Fillm, for a hundred dollars on ebay, the translators are available, and work very very much better than the telstra ones. BUT they are illegal to use ( not to own). The reason is that they are not intelligent, so they are just a dumb repeater... which will degrade the telstra networks operation theoretically. The problem is that your phone adjusts it's output power to correspond with your signal strength... if strong signal, it transmits low power, if poor reception, it may get up to a couple of watts..... The effect of all this is that phones from all distances, end up hitting the transponder at telstras end at about the same power levelks, so the close ones DON'T drown out the weaker signals, and everyone gets a stab at getting the attention of the transponder. If you use one of these very effective cheapies, then you run the risk of drowning out the signals to people with poor coverage anyway, and making their lives worse. If you only use it for calls, and they are short, then your footprint will be relatively small, if you use it for internet, then you could be a pain in the butt for other folks on a regular basis So yes there is a solution that works, but it is not particularly social, not legal... and telstra would not look too kindly at it. If your in a really poor area, then the net effect will not be detrimental to the network, as your phone would have been transmitting full bore anyway, same as the transponder, but if your in close, but blocked by a building, and these things can get around that obstruction, then they will drown out the tower for others, and if enough in the same area, can even overpower the telstra receiver i believe ( happened in Launceston apparently). So, if your in close, but poor coverage in the house, but good outside, you can see one of these will over power the telstra reciever, and it will attenuate to compensate... and others will suffer... but if you were to put the yagi off center to the tower, then you may get what you want without being a band hog. Hope that explains it enough to make a decision for your circumstance. .............oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
||||
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
I have a device that Vodafone gave me that works through my ADSL Internet. It gives about a 100-metre range and only works with up to 10 Vodafone phones that are programmed into it. Works like my own personal mini phone tower good thing is it will work anywhere so long as you have ADSL, no phone signal is required. Works really well if you have ADSL, Optus and Telstra do have the same available also. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
||||
| fillm Guru Joined: 10/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 730 |
Hi OZ, Thanks as always for the detailed answer, sometimes I wonder where you have time to do all that you do here and elsewhere as well as look after your property, you must type at 180+ words per/min. I put Translator and Transponder in ebay and comes up blank, do you have a model/ maker . Or don't think you mean a Repeter Kit Here Mad's... this "device" what would it be ? PhillM ...Oz Wind Engineering..Wind Turbine Kits 500W - 5000W ~ F&P Dual Kits ~ GOE222Blades- Voltage Control Parts ------- Tower kits |
||||
| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
It is a "UMTS access point" google that name and you will find lots of information if you are interested. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
||||
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904 |
This may sound silly but one can reflect light waves with a simple flat mirror. So, why not reflect radio waves with a metal plate? I actually saw that done years ago, they had a large metal plate up near the mountain top in the snowy mountains which reflected the TV signal down into the valley (Thredbo). There were no wires or anything electronic at that metal plate. Klaus |
||||
| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
No Fillm.... I think you need this one. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Phonetone-AU-Stock-850MHz-WCDMA-Wireless-Phone-Signal-Booster-Repeater-Amplifier/221808275316 ?rt=nc&_soffid=200&_soffType=SaleAndClearence&_trksid=p5731.m3795 Check with your phone to see the frequency it is running there, I suspect 850mhz for 3g out there. You may find you can use just the yagi from that, and produce an effective passive unit too. If you can get maybe 6-10db gain in passive, and can transport that gain into the house, you might get something useful. If you install complete, and your in a very poor area, and still only get a few bars, you may not ever be noticed either.... I don't know how hard they look, but suspect if you make a mess of it, they look harder. Tinker... thats true but results will vary. Most people have seen this before digital arrived. With analog TV...... ghosting was usually caused by reflected waves most typically from steel roofs at the right angle to introduce a reflected wave out of phase with the original. Most of us have seen it one time or another. Reflected waves will have a phase change and polarization change ( why polaroid glasses are so good for fishing ..........reflected light will be different polarization to incident light, so the glasses block the reflected polarization, and you can look deep into the sea) .............oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
||||
TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6101 |
Telstra call it a "Telstra Mobile Smart Antenna" - very technical sounding! https://www.telstra.com.au/support/category/broadband/set-up/telstra-mobile-smart-antenna Never used one so I can't say how useful they are but at least their one would be legal. Jim VK7JH MMedit MMBasic Help |
||||
| fillm Guru Joined: 10/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 730 |
Hi OZ, Just have to ask, I had looked at these and I linked the wrong MHz, but from what I see is most of these Boosters are short distance from an outdoor yagi to indoor repeater / antennas that are connnected by coax, and they usually give a SqMtr that the indoor repeater will cover and not ment as a redirect inline distance. If the yagi was set up at 100-200mtrs away would it need to still be linked by the coax to the repeater at the house with no way of directing the repeater signal to the house wirelessly over the 100 ~ 200Mtrs.Then I think the 100+m of coax would have losses As Glenn's original question has sparked me doing something substantial for this situation and I am just learning and looking into all this I will put info that is relevant to my getting a better mobile service, some info might be known and even second nature for some but the " why did you not do or search that first " , or any info is good with all this antennas, radio frequencies and signal voodoo stuff. Anyway I also talked with a communication place and its a bit out of the ordinary to redirect a signal and the outcome is better to go up ( tower ) as close to the house as possible. He also informed me of an App for signal strength/ direction that can ping and speed test as a good start point before outlaying $ Open Signal Its available for Android just google search. Edit ..I will leave the link there but what I thought is helpful may not be in Aus So I would think #1 is to find the closest good strength to the house and repeat is where it is at present. PhillM ...Oz Wind Engineering..Wind Turbine Kits 500W - 5000W ~ F&P Dual Kits ~ GOE222Blades- Voltage Control Parts ------- Tower kits |
||||
| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
If you can get any reception at all anywhere inside the house, one of those things i pointed to will work perfectly well attached to the chimney, or a 25mm 6m water pipe strapped to the building. I know a place that had one of these, and worked perfectly, He then decided to come in out from the dark side, and get a telstra one... he threw out the telstra one.... went back to the dark side  ..........oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
||||
| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
On a slight tangent that would only help around the house or can get your Wifi service, have you considered a VOIP Service. I've had mine for 12 years now & it's been fantastic. Normally I pipe the cordless thru the ATA, but in days gone by I did use some old Nokia slide phone, which I don't remember; that had a SIP client built in. As long as I had Wifi, I could make calls out & incoming could be received either on the voip number of via the mobile number redirected to the Voip. Surely todays phones can support a SIP client. Just a thought. Phil. |
||||
 Print this page |
