REAL MAN TRUCKWORKS & SURVIVAL
Commuication, Information Technology and Automation => Radio/Comms => Topic started by: KensAuto on February 12, 2019, 10:33:06 PM
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I'm going to install this in my truck, mainly for my upcoming Idaho trip. The property we purchased doesn't seem to have service, and I need to see if a booster will work there. My wife needs internet for work, so if this works, I can plan on installing something similar in the future cabin. Also purchased the optional trucker antenna.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190213/1b80b116fc58fb9bab8df0c1f584fbd2.jpg)
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Ken, when I used to wheel SE KY deep in Appalachia all the guys who had money and lived there ran boosters in their trucks. Worked much better than just a standard cell phone antenna.
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So the tricky thing with signal boosters is......cell companies actually get REALLY PISSY when you get use them, and can actually track where they are by the signal that whatever tower recieves from them and then come and make you turn it off.
But as far as im concerned, i say screw it and get the signal wherever and however you can.....lol
Wendys dad litterally lives in the middle of nowhere and his shop basically acts like a faraday cage. She got him one of these, and he put it up on the top of his shop amd now has 4g inside with absolutley no issues.
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=iZJjXNG-N8KUtQXC-r5w&q=zboost+zb575-v&oq=zboost&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.1.2.0l5.8050.9352..12325...0.0..0.114.523.5j1......0....1.......5..41j46i131j46j0i10.QLhiriuARPk
my retarded statement has been retracted....I spoke with unconfirmed information.
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So the tricky thing with signal boosters is......cell companies actually get REALLY PISSY when you get use them, and can actually track where they are by the signal that whatever tower recieves from them and then come and make you turn it off.
But as far as im concerned, i say screw it and get the signal wherever and however you can.....lol
Wendys dad litterally lives in the middle of nowhere and his shop basically acts like a faraday cage. She got him one of these, and he put it up on the top of his shop amd now has 4g inside with absolutley no issues.
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=iZJjXNG-N8KUtQXC-r5w&q=zboost+zb575-v&oq=zboost&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.1.2.0l5.8050.9352..12325...0.0..0.114.523.5j1......0....1.......5..41j46i131j46j0i10.QLhiriuARPk
What is there reasoning for turning them off? They want you to buy and use theirs? I've looked into these before briefly. We live in a not so great area of reception. The house has 2 ft stone walls all the way up to the peak and reception goes from not good to flat out horrible when you step through the door. Been through 3 providers in the last few years trying to find one that works well.
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Give me 9 months and I promise I will fix everyone cell problems, no matter where you live.
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So the tricky thing with signal boosters is......cell companies actually get REALLY PISSY when you get use them, and can actually track where they are by the signal that whatever tower recieves from them and then come and make you turn it off.
But as far as im concerned, i say screw it and get the signal wherever and however you can.....lol
Wendys dad litterally lives in the middle of nowhere and his shop basically acts like a faraday cage. She got him one of these, and he put it up on the top of his shop amd now has 4g inside with absolutley no issues.
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=iZJjXNG-N8KUtQXC-r5w&q=zboost+zb575-v&oq=zboost&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.1.2.0l5.8050.9352..12325...0.0..0.114.523.5j1......0....1.......5..41j46i131j46j0i10.QLhiriuARPk
We have the same problem and that looks exactly like what we have in our shop. Got it through the Verizon dealer they installed it.
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https://www.wilsonsignalbooster.com/?msclkid=6cb4a894faf81ffaf94ef4f0f0bfef0d&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WSB%20-%20Wilson%20Brand%20Terms&utm_term=wilson%20cell%20phone%20booster&utm_content=Wilson%20Cell%20Phone%20Booster
This is where I got mine for my "hide". Be aware that there has to be a minimum signal level for the booster to work.
enter *3001#12345#* and hit call on your cell phone will get you signal information in field test mode
and Phil, you can't just drop that and not elaborate...what gives?
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Give me 9 months and I promise I will fix everyone cell problems, no matter where you live.
what kind of cool stuff do you guys have going up into orbit?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_(satellite_constellation)
some entertaining reading
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Give me 9 months and I promise I will fix everyone cell problems, no matter where you live.
Phil, Are you cranking up a version of Teledesic? I have been waiting for this since the 1990's. :popcorn:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledesic
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Give me 9 months and I promise I will fix everyone cell problems, no matter where you live.
I feel like your working in retiring, how did you get wrangled into this project too....
Although I look forward to this system being operational!
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Give me 9 months and I promise I will fix everyone cell problems, no matter where you live.
all kinds of stoked on this one Phil!
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Im trying really hard to retire, I keep getting sucked into projects but unless something unforeseen happens this should be my last year.
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Interesting Phil.
Made a mount for the truck antenna and installed the booster.
This is the antenna. It comes with a couple extensions, a spring mount, and a side exit cable section which I used, that way if I want to add a section I don't have to pull the cable back out of the cab. The little one to the right is what came with the booster.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190214/51a7a5ada932309f0741e2262a12e1f6.jpg)
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I welded a piece of u-bolt to some angle, to give the mirror clamp something to cling on to. This will allow me to lower the antenna when not in use... and allow me to park in the garage. I then proceeded to park in the garage, without lowering said antenna. Good thing it had that spring.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190214/01dd469076b45eb9e3684fc9f7386758.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190214/57cde6e51a0f4466ef65e91fd2ff6a67.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190214/3e9298639c1609926109d7e2815a24bc.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190214/5f64a29f3dc85f5e560d255989da9a2e.jpg)
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I forgot to mention that the antenna was pretty high quality. A bit surprised actually.
So, I checked some numbers. At the shop, I got around -95 dbms without the booster. Makes sense, because I never have an issue there. The booster's inside antenna is stuck to the center of the dash mat. Sitting in the driver's seat, it will boost it to -85, 2 feet away from the antenna on the dash. If I put the phone on the small antenna, it will hit -56 before bouncing back to -70ish. That's a gain of almost 40 dbms!
After reading some of the negative reviews on these things, I never expected to see numbers like that.
Then I drove home (and almost ripped the new antenna off). Sitting in the driveway I had -115 to -120. Yeah I have sucky service at the house. Flipped on the booster, put the phone next to the inside antenna, and it dropped to -60, then stabilized around -80.
I can live with that.
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Hey Ken, It appears someone mounted a pecker to your truck..... :evil:
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:facepalm
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It looks more like a WW2 potato smasher grenade
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Ken, does that thing use basic coax cable for the wire?
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They are smaller, with sma connections, and they're made to the antennas....can't unhook them, which sucks.
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That cable has a lot of loss because it’s small diameter. If you have a lot left over and it’s just coiled up you can cut it to length and re terminate and improve your signal a little more.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Yea that does suck. Changing cables could be helpful in lots of situations. Not that you’d probably want to but they make SMA to regular sized coax adapters.
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So, I'd be requesting a bit more technical type information about this whole concept/technology
So, obviously, I plan to go mobile for a month or so in the Burb. I'd like to stay up on the website and post up our progress as we push downrange. Would the addition of this device and an unlimited service get me to a point where I could have the use of the computer on most stops? Or phone for calls/data along the way?
Especially considering I may be using the phone as the GPS source. Would be handy to have it connected to the interweb.
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I don't know if it would be necessary in your case. I'll let someone that travels often, answer that question. There's so many cell towers out there now.... except near my property of course. Lol
What kind of technical info you need? They are limited in the amount of boosting power to 50dbs, from what I've read. They have to have some signal to work with. If you're in a place with zero signal, the booster would have nothing to boost, in theory, that's why I'm counting on the truck style antenna to hopefully gather up some signal.
The interior antenna has to be weak to keep interference down, from the exterior antenna.
It's a simple plug and play set up. (2 antennas and a cigarette plug)
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don, how much true "off road/far away from civilization" travel are you planning on doing?
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don, how much true "off road/far away from civilization" travel are you planning on doing?
In reality, probably not that much. We are going way off track in Wyoming, in Moab, perhaps at some parks along the way. Then there's the "Never thought we'd go there" situations that are bound to pop up. Almost cant predict them. And my schedule and maybe even route will remain somewhat dynamic...Just never know what adventure lies over the next ridge...
What I was thinking was from a power perspective. Could I still load pics while the boyz are playin' world at war on their own phones.
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don, how much true "off road/far away from civilization" travel are you planning on doing?
In reality, probably not that much. We are going way off track in Wyoming, in Moab, perhaps at some parks along the way. Then there's the "Never thought we'd go there" situations that are bound to pop up. Almost cant predict them. And my schedule and maybe even route will remain somewhat dynamic...Just never know what adventure lies over the next ridge...
What I was thinking was from a power perspective. Could I still load pics while the boyz are playin' world at war on their own phones.
Wyoming will probably be the only place where you go a while without signal. It will also be the time where it is most frequently dropped. You will loose it on major highways here.
I know there are parts around Moab that have none as well but much of that is because how the roads are, bottom of canyons and such.
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Well, what I am hearing is I really don't need the booster device.
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Need....Want for convenience, two different animals. Wyoming isn't the only area you might be without, or have very weak signal. If you drive a ways, either to get higher than the obstruction, or get closer to a tower, then the signal booster would come in very handy.
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Need/want. That is the real question.
I have one in my truck. Small portable Wilson (We Boost now)
I have 200 miles of gravel road with signal only twice without it.
With it, I have about 50 miles in the dark.
It’s cheap insurance for gaining better signal especially knowing you’re heading into dead spots.
And you don’t need anything super crazy, just need to gain a few DB of signal.
Knowing you plan on being in poor signal I’d pick one up.
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OK, good counter argument gents
Can we suggest a practical one for my needs? The one Ken picked out looks of high quality, nice antenna. I assume something with an outside antenna?
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genrally speaking Don, what you are looking for is an antenna with the same length as the wavelength of the radio signal. Or at least an even division of that signal. e.g. 10M signal you would want an antenna about 32ft long. As your frequency gets higher the antenna gets shorter. Normally a 1/4 wavelength antenna is the best compromise. So a 900MHz antenna would need about a 33cm antenna or 8 for a 1/4 wavelength.
http://www.hottconsultants.com/techtips/freq-wavelength.html
So look for a booster with an antenna with a wavelength in the range of your carrier's cell signal wavelength
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genrally speaking Don, what you are looking for is an antenna with the same length as the wavelength of the radio signal. Or at least an even division of that signal. e.g. 10M signal you would want an antenna about 32ft long. As your frequency gets higher the antenna gets shorter. Normally a 1/4 wavelength antenna is the best compromise. So a 900MHz antenna would need about a 33cm antenna or 8 for a 1/4 wavelength.
http://www.hottconsultants.com/techtips/freq-wavelength.html
So look for a booster with an antenna with a wavelength in the range of your carrier's cell signal wavelength
OK, understand
Thing is,
I generally roll with two different carriers.
We use ATT and Verizon on two separate plans. I have found that about 100% of the time someone has coverage.
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Well. Since were spending your money.
This is a multi user option ie: the phone is not in a cradle to work.
https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-4gx
Probably as good a unit as you’ll get without going to the poor house.
I think it’s likely best bang for the buck. I have a cradle unit. I hate it. My phone no fit so good.
Then the cords no reachy so good for where I want to be.
No cradle and cords likely good. And with multi users also good.
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Mine is similar to the version of that one Sam pointed out. I saved over a hondo going with the 4G-M model. It comes with everything you need, including both antennas. It's designed to work with most (all?) carriers. I just thought the external antenna that came with it was too small for what I am trying to accomplish at the property. Should be just fine for a road trip.
https://www.amazon.com/weBoost-Drive-470121-Signal-Booster/dp/B07CVLDTJJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550634840&sr=8-1&keywords=weboost%2B4gm&th=1
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Appreciate the recommendations and information gents. Now I have a place to start, and maybe end up at.