Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Verizon / May 2007
Improving reception/dropouts in car?
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techman41973@yahoo.com - 14 May 2007 02:59 GMT Can any of you recommend an external antenna that is actually effective in reducing dropouts and improving reception while driving?
Larry - 14 May 2007 04:59 GMT techman41973@yahoo.com wrote in news:1179107978.867816.142970 @q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:
> Can any of you recommend an external antenna that is actually > effective in reducing dropouts and improving reception while driving? Any of the high gain magnetic-mounted antennas for your specific band will extend your range, within reason. The old AMPS antennas work great if your system is on the original 800 Mhz "cellular" band. If your system uses PCS, as many of Verizon's systems do, especially here in the South, you'll want a different antenna made for that band, or a dual band antenna that will cover them all, the higher the gain the better.
I've been using the CA40M from http://www.cellantenna.com/Antennas/magneticmount.htm for years. This very-high-gain 40" long dual band colinear for 800/1900 Mhz is a great mobile antenna....unless you park in a low parking garage that will always knock it over. It IS, in fact, 40" long which makes garaging it much trouble. It should, as with any UHF antenna, be mounted on top of the roof, not the trunk, for maximum range. Altitude on UHF is our friend, precisely why the UHF TV station has a 2000' tower or mountaintop transmitter. One of the lesser antennas on this page, like a CA12M (12" tall), is also very acceptable.
I think the gain figures on all cellular mobile antennas is quite inflated, sort of like the power output figures on your home stereo, but they do make a huge difference over that crappy stub leaning up against your ear, just by being in a more unobstructed place outside the car's natural metal shielding.
Since they took my 3 watt bagphone away from me to plug into the big antennas, I've had the DA4000 3W (800 Mhz)/2W (1900 Mhz), bi-directional power amplifier/preamp from these people: http://www.cellantenna.com/Boosters/cellphone_signal_boosters.htm When you are at maximum range, even CDMA will crank up your power output to full power. With these power amps, the difference is what "full power" level really is...3 Watts instead of the measily 150 milliwatts of todays little toyphones. That DOES make a difference, especially out in dense foliage or other RF energy absorbing conditions and solar noise, which raises the noise floor to the cellular system receivers all day in the hot sun. The amp simply makes you louder than the noise from the hot parking lots/buildings the cell's receiver is listening to. (Out in the fringe, the amp also makes your signal level with the other CDMA users on the current channel further away from that last cell before the DEAD ZONE. The longer the system can keep your signal leveled with the other users, the less dropped calls you have caused by fading and multipath signals. DA4000 is very nicely made of the finest little UHF RF modules specifically manufacturered for cellular/PCS systems....the same ones the emergency services use.
The comparison is simple..... little cellphone into almost no antenna - 150mw with a negative gain antenna, maybe .1W Effective Radiated Power, less in the car! 11db gain above 3 watts is around 32 WATTS ERP on top of the car in a more unobstructed view. It's why a UHF TV station runs 25,000,000 Watts ERP from 2000' up a tower....RANGE...FIELD STRENGTH...our friends!
Larry
 Signature No, it won't make your penis bigger.....(c;
Andrew Duane - 29 May 2007 21:52 GMT Will these antennas also help with in-house reception? I live in a just-barely-marginal area, and lose maybe 1 in 4 calls. It would be nice to have just a little bit better reception at home to make the phone more reliable. I can plug it into the antenna, perched somewhere decent, and use my bluetooth headset to talk.
> techman41...@yahoo.com wrote in news:1179107978.867816.142970 > @q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com: [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > mountaintop transmitter. One of the lesser antennas on this page, like a > CA12M (12" tall), is also very acceptable. Larry - 30 May 2007 02:02 GMT > Will these antennas also help with in-house reception? I live in a > just-barely-marginal area, and lose maybe 1 in 4 calls. It would be > nice to have just a little bit better reception at home to make the > phone more reliable. I can plug it into the antenna, perched somewhere > decent, and use my bluetooth headset to talk. Yes. Radio Shack has a neat little plugin 12V power supply, catalog number 22-501 that is a large wall brick with a built-in cigarette socket to plug the amp into (or any 12 thingy up to 1A). They are really handy for running mobile stuff in the house. The mobile antennas do need a small metal object, preferably steel so the magnet will stick, such as a filing cabinet or even just a steel coffee can to use as a ground plane for best transmission. Just turn the empty coffee can upside down and stick the antenna to the middle of the bottom plate. Set it in a window or even outside if you have a way, which is better still.
For a more permanent installation, look here: http://www.cellantenna.com/Antennas/yagi.htm Directional antennas, like yagis, have been around since WW2. They direct your power in one direction. 10db gain multiplies the effective radiated power of your cellphone 10 times. 6db = x4. This allows you to point it at the best cell the house can see and nearly eliminates multipath interference bouncing your signal off objects and terrain like mountains. Your signal arrives stronger, cleaner, with little or no signal arriving late (UHF TV reflections look like ghosts. That's multipath.) The cell will command the phone to reduce power, saving you battery loading, if your signal arrives too powerful. The big antenna just lets you set this level at something lower, rather than running full blast into that crappy, but cutesy, stub of an antenna it came with.
Your bluetooth headset will give you 60' of range from where the phone is plugged into the antenna....and its power supply...making your talk time infinite, much to Verizon's dismay on unlimited N/W...(c;
Get the antenna, first, and cable it into the operating station from up on the roof or pointing towards the cell from a balcony post. Its orientation is VERTICAL...like the pictures show. To get a cable made, if you're not proficient at complex coax connectors, go to any two way radio shop with the antenna and your phone's antenna extension cable. They have the proper UHF coaxial cable, best connectors and the tools to put them on right. They test the cables for proper connections and operation. Measure how long it needs to be to go from where the antenna will be mounted to where the cellphone will be charged/operated. Add 3' so you can leave a drip loop on both ends and have some leeway for measurement errors. Measure carefully. You can't stretch it if it's too short, but can use it if it's a bit too long.
Now you need to find out what BAND your local Verizon operates on. Here in South Carolina, Verizon uses a combination of 800 Mhz old systems in the big cities, but is a PCS carrier in the NE quadrant, notably Myrtle Beach where big money is made on cellphones all summer. Buy just the one band antenna for your area's frequency band...1900 PCS or 800 cellular. 800 makes it down the cable much better than 1900. Tell the cable shop at the two way radio store which band it's on. The shorter the cable run, the more signal you have at the other end of the cable, both on transmit and receive. If the system is 800 Mhz, CAY810 is a good choice for this band. If the system is 1900 Mhz PCS, get a panel, CAY1912 with a bigger capture area and more gain. The panel mounts well on a wall facing the tower. They have a wall mount designed for it.
Tell anyone who asks about the antenna its a for your government work and you can't talk about it....Homeland Security...(c;
http://www.cellantenna.com/Boosters/da4000.htm If the antenna alone doesn't solve the problem, you're in luck! The $400 DA4000 dual-band, bi directional amp I paid $400 for a few years ago is on sale for $199! It puts out a full 3 watts on 800 Mhz and 2 watts on PCS....times your antenna gain! With a 10db yagi, it would max out at 30 watts ERP...enough to blow holes in most all the noise! Of course, it won't run any more power output then the cell tells the phone to generate on transmit. Leveling is very important on shared channels. It also has a very nice 20 db preamp on the receive side. Mine is in my truck into an 800 Mhz, 6db colinear. POWER is our FRIEND in any communications system...(old paging fact....why we ran 500 watts into a very high gain antenna at 800') Your pager didn't even need an external antenna to work out in the boonies with those transmitters...(c;
Larry
 Signature Grade School Physics Factoid: A building cannot freefall into its own footprint without skilled demolition.
Not Your Biz - 14 May 2007 22:05 GMT >Can any of you recommend an external antenna that is actually >effective in reducing dropouts and improving reception while driving? Yeah, its called pulling over and making a call on the side of the road or a parking lot.
That way you won't be moving (and being distracted by your phone call instead of concentrating on driving) and able to get better reception too.
So we're all better off! You get better reception, and we'll not have to put up with another a.shole who insists on talking on the damn cell phone while driving!
HANG UP AND DRIVE!!!
Todd Allcock - 15 May 2007 01:38 GMT > So we're all better off! You get better reception, and we'll not have > to put up with another a.shole who insists on talking on the damn cell > phone while driving! > > HANG UP AND DRIVE!!! I wonder what causes more accidents... cellphone use or road rage from overreaction to cellphone use... ;-)
Larry - 15 May 2007 05:41 GMT Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in news:f2b0cq$8a9$2 @aioe.org:
> I wonder what causes more accidents... cellphone use or road rage from > overreaction to cellphone use... ;-) Stupidity is number one. There's no cure for it.
Road rage is way up on the list, much higher than cellphone use, I'm sure. There's a cure for that, but, for some reason I've never figured out, the states never take the time to test drivers for it, which is fairly simple at renewal time. Hell, they'll let anyone who can see drive in South Carolina.
I read somewhere that the screaming brats, who are supposed to be restrained in the back seat, are number 2 or 3 in causing accidents. You know them, those ones making your next restaurant meal such a terrible experience whos parents do nothing about them climbing over the salad bar on the bellies eating food out of their hands like a pack of dogs.
Of course, it's hard to tell whether overwhelmed moms have road rage or have had enough of the abuse spewing from the back seat why they all died running off the bridge.
The cops will say she was talking on her cellphone......probably to her probation officer or social workers.
Larry
 Signature Grade School Physics Factoid: A building cannot freefall into its own footprint without skilled demolition.
pltrgyst - 15 May 2007 02:00 GMT >Yeah, its called pulling over and making a call on the side of the >road or a parking lot. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >HANG UP AND DRIVE!!! What's your point? In DC, you pretty much don't have anything but a.sholes anyway, do you? What do you want, an empty beltway?
Oh, and then there's you -- a gutless a.shole, from your posting parameters.
-- Larry
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