Cellular signal booster?

C

CDC

Member
I am trying to find an antenna or signal booster for a backup cellular dailer for a security system. There is a very week signal from some areas of the site and no signal from most. The controller is located in the basement and the cable length to an external antenna would be considerable. (several hundred feet, I assume it would have to reach an area with some signal.) What type of cable and equipment would I need? I have come up with a nearly cost prohibitive satelite alternative solution to the cellular but if someone knows of a way to significantly boost transmission and reception of a signal it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help.
CDC
 
Thanks guys, I have done a few searches but got lost in all the crap. I thought I'd take a short cut through ya'll. I'll take a look at the links.
CDC
 
I've installed a Wilson BDA with good results.
Be SURE that you understand what you are buying.


bda1.jpg
 
I second the Wilson. Have been using one for years. It's NOT a toy and it works very well. Great company that really stands behind their product. Unfortunately it's not as simple as "one size fits all". You need to know your carrier's frequency and select the approipriate amp, external and internal antenna. They have dual band that covers both frequency sets but you sacrifice a little db. But on the other hand, it's future-proof in case you change carriers.
 
I'm trying to get the Wilson dual band working now. I was hoping it was as simple as tapping into my existing head end coax but it's not. I did a test setup with the external antenna to the amp and a chunk of RG6 from the amp to the internal dome antenna. Result was no signal improvement. Wilson tech support is great and recommended some things to work on. It's a 50 ohm system so I have some cabling work to do to see if that helps.
 
My home/home office could be the poster child for cellular dead zones. Although I have an AT&T tower 1.3 miles due west and another 1.4 miles due north, I sit in a valley of greater than 70 feet. What's worse is that AT&T broadcasts on both the 800-900 and 1800-1990 bands so I can't use a single band system. Lastly, having 2 towers so close I get conflicting signals from time to time. Here are some things I've discovered:

One of the most popular kits on the web is a Wilson SOHO dual-band setup with an omni-directional external antenna and a dual polarity internal antenna (301123). Seems to be some conflicting info on the Wilson site. They claim that all internal antenna's are dual band at the top of the page ( http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/Antennas.php?Type=B ) but when looking at the antenna detail they say the dual band is the 301121 and the 301123 is 800-900 only. If you have the 301123 and your service is 1800-1990 or if you use AT&T (Cingular) then you may be missing it.

The omni-directional external antenna does not have the db rating as some of the directional Yagi's. But the Yagi's are single band. If you know your band then you're better off with the Yagi unless of course you have AT&T. If I only had one AT&T tower the omni would be fine. With 2 AT&T towers I need directional to avoid conflicts and tower hoping so that means 2 Yagi's pointed at one tower.

Lastly, due to the separation required between the external antenna and the internal antenna (minimum 40 feet) I would recommend using the Wilson Ultra Low Loss cables if you have a very weak signal to begin with. Often times to get that 40 feet separation, point-to-point you need to route the cables on a path that requires 2 to 3 times that distance of cable.

Hope some of this helps.
Rick
 
Ultra low loss cable and antenna separation are essential!

Also I HOPE that you meant RG-6 that was designed for transmission and not regular TV RG-6.

If your run is anything over 10-20 feet I'd strongly recommend you opt for LMR-400
 
ricks said:
What's worse is that AT&T broadcasts on both the 800-900 and 1800-1990 bands so I can't use a single band system.
Click to expand...

You should be fine with a single band system. AT&T does use both 850MHz (800MHz) and 1900MHz, however you only need to get a signal on one or the other... the phone doesn't need both bands to work. In fact, if you have a phone that supports both bands it only uses the one it can get the best signal on anyway. Last I was aware, AT&T was trying to move towards the 850MHz frequency, so if the towers near you are newer it's likely that they only support 850MHz. Older towers probably support both bands or possibly (if it's a really old tower) 1900MHz only. The trick is to figure out what band(s) are available on your towers and then you can get a single band system to support it.
 
Hi BrettS,

Thanks for the info. I've been using my iphone in field test mode to try to determine which tower is sending which signals. Understanding the data in field test is tough since I haven't found online details (read "translation") for the iphone 3G field test results.

I spoke with a local AT&T wireless rep who told me they primarily broadcast voice on one band and data on the other in my neck of the woods. Keeping in mind that AT&T treats any info about their towers as confidential as national security plans I can't count on that. But without the Wilson I get no voice service but can text away to my heart's content. I wish I could understand my field test values so I could tell which band is which and which tower is sending it.

Rick
 
"Result was no signal improvement".... I'm surprised you'd see nothing even with the test setup.... have you gotten a signal improvement yet?

Brian
 
BKLLC said:
"Result was no signal improvement".... I'm surprised you'd see nothing even with the test setup.... have you gotten a signal improvement yet?

Brian
Click to expand...
LM-400 on order to see if that helps with signal loss. I'll post again when it gets here. Thanks!
 
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