i live in a ural area and have limited cell coverage i have tried a couple of ideas on youtube but no help i am considering trying another one but would like to get some feed back and a better design mybe i dont have much money so i am trying to use materials i have a home one question is they use a steel clothes hanger i have a bunch of copper ground wire why not use copper for the antenna
I live in a rural area about 2 miles from the cell tower. Unfortunately There is a 1200 foot ridge between us and the tower, so we get zilch. On a day like today when the trees are bare and there is no snow I get 1 signal bar if leave the phone on a high shelf so it will get texts. If it rings and I take it of the shelf it drops the call. On a rainy summer day with lots of wet green leaves, no service.
Even a $400 Wilson booster amp barely helps. I found someone on Ebay selling just the circuit board from a Wilson booster, so I got one. It does help a good bit. It turns no coverage into 1, and sometimes 2 bars in the summer, but only if the phone is close to the booster antenna.
You can't boost nothing.
Any passive booster (no electronics, requires no power) will only be able to concentrate signal into a small location. There has to be some usable signal to concentrate. In the situation I'm they are useless.
Cellular antennas can be built from copper wire, which does work better than steel coathanger, and it can be soldered. I made several antennas for the Wilson booster from copper wire salvaged from Romex.
Even a $400 Wilson booster amp barely helps. I found someone on Ebay selling just the circuit board from a Wilson booster, so I got one. It does help a good bit. It turns no coverage into 1, and sometimes 2 bars in the summer, but only if the phone is close to the booster antenna.
You can't boost nothing.
Any passive booster (no electronics, requires no power) will only be able to concentrate signal into a small location. There has to be some usable signal to concentrate. In the situation I'm they are useless.
Cellular antennas can be built from copper wire, which does work better than steel coathanger, and it can be soldered. I made several antennas for the Wilson booster from copper wire salvaged from Romex.
In school once upon a time (84), I crunched the numbers & "built on paper" a Yagi-Uda antenna to cover the entire TV spectrum VHF-UHF...it came out some 16 ft long...
Given the narrow frequencies of cell-phones, & a bunch of directors & reflectors...someone could build a super-directional antenna...assuming one could tap into a phones antenna...not likely anymore, as a microscope would probably be required nowadays...really sad..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Rick.......
Given the narrow frequencies of cell-phones, & a bunch of directors & reflectors...someone could build a super-directional antenna...assuming one could tap into a phones antenna...not likely anymore, as a microscope would probably be required nowadays...really sad..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Rick.......
The antenna is not that hard. I made this one out of copper wire and brass tubing. It is tuned to 800 MHz, but broad enough to cover the 700 MHz 4G LTE bands for AT&T and Verizon as well as the 3G voice bands for both carriers.
The short piece at the far left is not part of the reception elements, but just some stiff pieces so that this can be hose clamped to a pole. The end on the right side points toward the tower. There is a connector on the driven element for a coax cable. I used this and a portable spectrum analyzer to find the cell towers in this area.
There are charts and diagrams on the web that tell you how long each element must be for your particular cell frequency. Years ago the cellular frequencies were all around 800 and 900 MHz depending on where you live. Now they are scattered from 600 MHz to nearly 3 GHz, and that was before 5G, which adds frequencies in the 3 to 6 GHz range and some in the 20+ GHz "millimeter wave" bands. You must know the cell frequencies in your area before going any further. Here we have 700 MHz LTE, 800 MHz voice, and 2.1 GHz for both. It gets more complicated in a big city.
The short piece at the far left is not part of the reception elements, but just some stiff pieces so that this can be hose clamped to a pole. The end on the right side points toward the tower. There is a connector on the driven element for a coax cable. I used this and a portable spectrum analyzer to find the cell towers in this area.
There are charts and diagrams on the web that tell you how long each element must be for your particular cell frequency. Years ago the cellular frequencies were all around 800 and 900 MHz depending on where you live. Now they are scattered from 600 MHz to nearly 3 GHz, and that was before 5G, which adds frequencies in the 3 to 6 GHz range and some in the 20+ GHz "millimeter wave" bands. You must know the cell frequencies in your area before going any further. Here we have 700 MHz LTE, 800 MHz voice, and 2.1 GHz for both. It gets more complicated in a big city.
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It is not known where the OP lives. He stated that he was looking for a way to improve cell phone coverage, not WiFi. There are phones that can make and receive calls over WiFi, but they are not the norm and do require WiFi access, and a phone account.
Assuming that he is indeed looking to improve cell coverage, there are devices available to do that. In the US we have "boosters" which receive a signal from a cell tower, amplify it and run it through a coaxial cable to another antenna inside the house for re-transmission. These work great if there is a spot on your property where a reasonably strong cell signal exists.
There are local "pico cells" that plug into the internet and function as a very small cell site, typically limited to a few specific phones, and less than 1000 sq ft of coverage. You must have a wired internet connection to use one.
In the US both of these devices need approval from the cellular carrier, and both must also be approved by the FCC since they transmit radio waves. The pico cell is carrier specific, and usually only offered for sale by them. They will not function without being set up by the cellular carrier. The AT&T unit that I have will only do 3G voice, so passing data still requires WiFi. AT&T discontinued my specific unit last year and it no longer works at all.
In an effort to improve the signal provided by my "booster" I am experimenting with a collinear antenna made from coaxial cable to see if it can do better than the Yagi I'm currently using.
The "booster" is supposed to be authorized by the cell carrier, and approved by the FCC before use. A unit that has gone through rigorous testing to get FCC approval is quite expensive.
Unless the unit is malfunctioning, or improperly installed such that it interferes with other cell phones, there is no way for anyone to tell that you have it, so there are cheap units for sale on Ebay, Amazon and others that do not have FCC approval.
Assuming that he is indeed looking to improve cell coverage, there are devices available to do that. In the US we have "boosters" which receive a signal from a cell tower, amplify it and run it through a coaxial cable to another antenna inside the house for re-transmission. These work great if there is a spot on your property where a reasonably strong cell signal exists.
There are local "pico cells" that plug into the internet and function as a very small cell site, typically limited to a few specific phones, and less than 1000 sq ft of coverage. You must have a wired internet connection to use one.
In the US both of these devices need approval from the cellular carrier, and both must also be approved by the FCC since they transmit radio waves. The pico cell is carrier specific, and usually only offered for sale by them. They will not function without being set up by the cellular carrier. The AT&T unit that I have will only do 3G voice, so passing data still requires WiFi. AT&T discontinued my specific unit last year and it no longer works at all.
In an effort to improve the signal provided by my "booster" I am experimenting with a collinear antenna made from coaxial cable to see if it can do better than the Yagi I'm currently using.
The "booster" is supposed to be authorized by the cell carrier, and approved by the FCC before use. A unit that has gone through rigorous testing to get FCC approval is quite expensive.
Unless the unit is malfunctioning, or improperly installed such that it interferes with other cell phones, there is no way for anyone to tell that you have it, so there are cheap units for sale on Ebay, Amazon and others that do not have FCC approval.
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Thanks, Tubelab, this is very informative.
In Australia boosters are not legal, if not from TELSTRA.
One thing I do not understand in boosters:
How come the amplifier receiver is not dazzled by its output boosted signal ?
This is prone to Larsen effect.
May be it works at the limit of "Larsening" with some trick to stay below, controlling the re emitted signal. That would explain why there is not much boosting in dB and why coverage depends of the outdoor received level.
I suspect the outdoor antenna and indoor antenna should be installed in order to have as low feedback as possible.
Outdoor antenna should be directional, pointing to the cell tower, definitely away from the indoor antenna. The indoor antenna should be omnidirectional or lightly directional away from the outdoor antenna. Setting these two antennas at different polarization should help.
I do not know wether this makes sense at the used frequency, because of reflexions and multi path.
I found about nothing about such installation recommendations in the vendors explanation.
And nothing serious about how it works.
In Australia boosters are not legal, if not from TELSTRA.
One thing I do not understand in boosters:
How come the amplifier receiver is not dazzled by its output boosted signal ?
This is prone to Larsen effect.
May be it works at the limit of "Larsening" with some trick to stay below, controlling the re emitted signal. That would explain why there is not much boosting in dB and why coverage depends of the outdoor received level.
I suspect the outdoor antenna and indoor antenna should be installed in order to have as low feedback as possible.
Outdoor antenna should be directional, pointing to the cell tower, definitely away from the indoor antenna. The indoor antenna should be omnidirectional or lightly directional away from the outdoor antenna. Setting these two antennas at different polarization should help.
I do not know wether this makes sense at the used frequency, because of reflexions and multi path.
I found about nothing about such installation recommendations in the vendors explanation.
And nothing serious about how it works.
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The FCC approved boosters sold here have multiple filters and separate paths for each frequency band that the device covers. Mine covers the 4 common cell bands used in the US, which requires 8 separate amplifier paths, 4 uplink and 4 downlink. Each path has variable gain amplification, a variable attenuator, and output level measurement capability. The downlink (tower to phone) path can run as high as 60 db gain on the 2.1 GHz band. I measured mine. The uplink path has less gain, but is capable of a higher power output.
All of this is controlled by a microprocessor. At power up the device will ramp up the gain of each path. If any oscillation or instability is detected the gain is reduced. If too much gain reduction is needed, that path will be shut down and the red light will be lit for that band. It tries to keep the output level at a certain point, and if that can't be done, the orange light will light, and that path will operate at a reduced level. If if can find the right operating point, the green light is lit.
CDMA (3G) and 4G LTE systems require that each incoming signal reach the tower at relatively equal levels. The tower remotely controls the transmitting power in the phone to enforce this. Boosters must be designed not to mess this up, so the booster will also measure the level of the downlink signal from the tower, and adjust the uplink gain in the booster for best guess gain to compensate for the computed path loss.
The installation instructions for the device I have does state minimum separation distances for each piece in the system to avoid feedback type oscillation. The manual gives a brief explanation of the oscillation shutdown and retry operation in the specs section at the end. I have included the manual here.
I do not have a complete unit. I got a "repair parts" PC board from an Ebay vendor a couple years ago, who is no longer selling them. It is a rather complex board about 100 X 150 mm in size with at least 20 IC chips and 25 or more SAW filters. All is controlled by a PIC16F1947 microprocessor.
I have found that I can run the exposed board on a pole about 10 feet below the "outdoor" antenna. The "indoor" antenna is a shore piece of wire taped to the back of a phone about 5 feet away from the booster. I can walk the property with this setup looking for signal and only experience oscillation if I point the antenna at a metal trailer. The antenna is a directional Yagi, and I am behind and below its beam.
All of this is controlled by a microprocessor. At power up the device will ramp up the gain of each path. If any oscillation or instability is detected the gain is reduced. If too much gain reduction is needed, that path will be shut down and the red light will be lit for that band. It tries to keep the output level at a certain point, and if that can't be done, the orange light will light, and that path will operate at a reduced level. If if can find the right operating point, the green light is lit.
CDMA (3G) and 4G LTE systems require that each incoming signal reach the tower at relatively equal levels. The tower remotely controls the transmitting power in the phone to enforce this. Boosters must be designed not to mess this up, so the booster will also measure the level of the downlink signal from the tower, and adjust the uplink gain in the booster for best guess gain to compensate for the computed path loss.
The installation instructions for the device I have does state minimum separation distances for each piece in the system to avoid feedback type oscillation. The manual gives a brief explanation of the oscillation shutdown and retry operation in the specs section at the end. I have included the manual here.
I do not have a complete unit. I got a "repair parts" PC board from an Ebay vendor a couple years ago, who is no longer selling them. It is a rather complex board about 100 X 150 mm in size with at least 20 IC chips and 25 or more SAW filters. All is controlled by a PIC16F1947 microprocessor.
I have found that I can run the exposed board on a pole about 10 feet below the "outdoor" antenna. The "indoor" antenna is a shore piece of wire taped to the back of a phone about 5 feet away from the booster. I can walk the property with this setup looking for signal and only experience oscillation if I point the antenna at a metal trailer. The antenna is a directional Yagi, and I am behind and below its beam.
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a friend of me, who have very bad reception (both GSM/2G and LTE/4G) in his home area, had solve this problem with success several years ago with help of a diy outdoor antenna similar like this under
https://www.instructables.com/Build-Your-Own-BiQuad-4G-Antenna-With-Speed-Test/
and this high power repeater:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07RX4X5JZ...70bfdd&th=1&linkCode=osi&tag=telefontref04-21
Instructions for installation are here:
https://www.gsmrepeaters.de/installationsanleitung/
Not good results provide this passive repeaters - checked before:
https://www.fts-hennig.de/antennenkabel/splitter-koppler/fts-nexus-mobile-koppler.html
https://www.fts-hennig.de/verstaerker-repeater/passiv/
But best solution for me are smartphones with an antenna SMA terminal (external RF antenna port) for direct connecting the cable from the outdoor antenna.
Disadvantage is the connected cable while operating, but a very great advantage is the absence of now no longer necessary repeater.
Unfortunately the only brand I know which offer this feature, is ZTE from Australia - go to
https://ztemobiles.com.au
e. g. this models:
https://ztemobiles.com.au/wp-content/uploads/downloads/User_guides/T85_Help_04.pdf
https://ztemobiles.com.au/wp-content/uploads/downloads/User_guides/T86_Help.pdf (page 50)
Maybe the Runbo X6 can here also filed, but I am not sure:
http://en.runbo.net/mediaview.php?id=258&cid=44
https://www.mbreviews.com/runbo-x6-...ed-waterproof-and-shockproof-ip67-smartphone/
Where I can find a line up of all LTE smartphones with outside terminal for outdoor antennas ?
Thank you very much for calling some models and brands.
Samsung models with Eye-candy features are not of interest.
P.S.: There are a lot of models with RF input boards - go to
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/add-external-antenna-port-to-modern-cell-phone.4394695/
https://outbackjoe.com/macho-divert...d-internet-setup-samsung-galaxy-s1-s2-and-s3/
but this are not for using of the users - only use for service and maintenance after remove the cover. Such models are also not of interest.
https://www.instructables.com/Build-Your-Own-BiQuad-4G-Antenna-With-Speed-Test/
and this high power repeater:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07RX4X5JZ...70bfdd&th=1&linkCode=osi&tag=telefontref04-21
Instructions for installation are here:
https://www.gsmrepeaters.de/installationsanleitung/
Not good results provide this passive repeaters - checked before:
https://www.fts-hennig.de/antennenkabel/splitter-koppler/fts-nexus-mobile-koppler.html
https://www.fts-hennig.de/verstaerker-repeater/passiv/
But best solution for me are smartphones with an antenna SMA terminal (external RF antenna port) for direct connecting the cable from the outdoor antenna.
Disadvantage is the connected cable while operating, but a very great advantage is the absence of now no longer necessary repeater.
Unfortunately the only brand I know which offer this feature, is ZTE from Australia - go to
https://ztemobiles.com.au
e. g. this models:
https://ztemobiles.com.au/wp-content/uploads/downloads/User_guides/T85_Help_04.pdf
https://ztemobiles.com.au/wp-content/uploads/downloads/User_guides/T86_Help.pdf (page 50)
Maybe the Runbo X6 can here also filed, but I am not sure:
http://en.runbo.net/mediaview.php?id=258&cid=44
https://www.mbreviews.com/runbo-x6-...ed-waterproof-and-shockproof-ip67-smartphone/
Where I can find a line up of all LTE smartphones with outside terminal for outdoor antennas ?
Thank you very much for calling some models and brands.
Samsung models with Eye-candy features are not of interest.
P.S.: There are a lot of models with RF input boards - go to
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/add-external-antenna-port-to-modern-cell-phone.4394695/
https://outbackjoe.com/macho-divert...d-internet-setup-samsung-galaxy-s1-s2-and-s3/
but this are not for using of the users - only use for service and maintenance after remove the cover. Such models are also not of interest.
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