Same House, Same Room: Sometimes four bars, sometimes zero?

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(Pete Cresswell) - 12 Apr 2005 15:54 GMT

I guess that's just the way it is, but I'd be interested to hear the
explaination.

Sometimes my V180 registers four bars, other times only 1 or 2.... and often
zero bars in the same room.

Weather? Time of day? Night/Day?

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PeteCresswell

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Cyrus Afzali - 12 Apr 2005 20:36 GMT

>I guess that's just the way it is, but I'd be interested to hear the
>explaination.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
>Weather? Time of day? Night/Day?

Well, it helps to understand it by thinking about what cellular phone
really is. Basically, it's a glorified 2-way radio on top of which a
lot of other applications have been built over the years. If you've
ever had a high-end stereo that has a signal indicator on the tuner,
you've seen how much the signal can vary, even if the audio quality's
not noticeably different. The same thing happens with cell phones.

There are some phones that have better RF characteristics than others,
basically allowing them to do a better job of holding the signal they
do get. In the opinion of a lot of people, Motorolas have never come
out shining in the RF dept.

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Stanley Reynolds - 13 Apr 2005 01:43 GMT

> >I guess that's just the way it is, but I'd be interested to hear the
> >explaination.

Multi path signals, signal is delayed when it is reflected off an object
like a water tower, the reflected signal cancels the main signal. Move your
cell phone a little at a time and watch the signal, note there is a delay in
reporting the change on the display. Also note the field test db signal
measure is more accurate than the number of bars. What one phone reports as
one bar or five is in no way related to another phone. Signal strength is
less important than the ratio of signal to noise which can cause some
confusion when call quality doesn't track signal strength.

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JohnF - 16 Apr 2005 15:34 GMT

>> >I guess that's just the way it is, but I'd be interested to hear the
>> >explaination.
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> less important than the ratio of signal to noise which can cause some
> confusion when call quality doesn't track signal strength.

How do you turn on the field test db indicator on the V180?

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Stanley Reynolds - 16 Apr 2005 19:42 GMT

> >> >I guess that's just the way it is, but I'd be interested to hear the
> >> >explaination.
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> How do you turn on the field test db indicator on the V180?

Got this stuff off the web, I don't have a v180, didn't see any reference to
field test db indicator.
Looks like a lot of stuff is done with cable and software. Proceed with
care.
_____________________________________________
Put phone in Test mode - 048263* (Push the key quickly!)
you should see this message: "Opcode", 'Cancel' "Okay'
_______________________________________________
1) Insert the SIM into the phone
2) Power ON phone
3) Press # for a few seconds and the phone will go into Test mode

19# - Display call processor s/w version - "CallProc xx.xx.xx" This is the
actual software version
20# - Modem s/w version
22# - Speach coder s/w version
571# - Reset phone
58# - Display Security code - "SECUR xxxxxx"
58xxxxxx# - Change Security code to xxxxxx
59# - Display lock code - "LOCK xxx(x)"
59xxx(x)# - Change lock code to xxx(x)
60# - Display IMEI - "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
01# - Exit Test Mode
________________________________________________________
<MENU>, slight pause, 073887*

"Enter Security Code: _______" should appear -- the default should be
000000.
_________________________________________________________

http://xlr8.us/hofo/map.txt

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