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Cell Phone Antenna needed?

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gary350

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When we go camping in the wilderness there is no cell phone service. Camp ground is too far from the tower but if I drive down the road a few miles my cell phone works. Is there a way to put an antenna on my boost mobile cell phone?
 
The cell phone Tx drive circuitry and traces from the drive circuitry are carefully matched for the built in antenna. You just can't add a antenna (despite advertised claims on the net) nilly-willy as most likely you will accomplish little more than degrades performance. Cellular frequency is pretty much line of sight, so aside from climbing a very tall tree, I don't see that there is much you can do.
 
I don't even have a clue which direction the tower is, we are out in the wilderness, Fall Creek Falls State Park Tennessee, this is the East edge of the Smoky Mountain area. The tower must be to the west I can drive about 5 miles west and get a small signal but phone still will not work but I can receive text messages from there. If I continue driving closer to McMinnville phone will not work until I am about 5 miles from McMinnville. It is about 30 miles to the nearest town to the west. Drive north about 20 miles small town population about 100. Drive south 20 miles small town population about 25.

There must be a tower some place about 10% of the campers out there can use their cell phone. My phone no work and wife's phone no work. How you like that for good English. I picked that up from the Spanish people it is easier to type to leave out a few words. LOL
 
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I thought the whole point of being in the wilderness was to get away from civilisation and its trappings (inluding cell phones) ? :).
 
I thought the whole point of being in the wilderness was to get away from civilisation and its trappings (inluding cell phones) ? :).

YES, YES, YES your 100% right. I leave home about 12 noon, arrive, park, level camper, set up, etc. Wife gets off work, buys groceries, then drives to the camp ground. I leave my SUV connected to the camper, locked, and blocking the camper from Theft. Lots of camper trailers are stolen from the camp grounds. People go exploring during the day when they return their camper is gone. Park ranger says 32 camper trailers have been stolen since June. TV News says there is a camper trailer theft ring in TN. Talking to people on the camper forums there must be a camper theft ring in all the States there has been about 100 campers stolen in the Huston TX area and about the same amount in NC. Lots of campers stolen all over the USA. Oops I sorta got off topic. Anyway I am waiting on Alice to arrive if she is an hour late I would like to call to see if she is ok. I would also like to receive emergency calls too. If I see trailer thieves I would like to call the police.
 
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Point taken.
 
I don't even have a clue which direction the tower is, we are out in the wilderness, Fall Creek Falls State Park Tennessee, this is the East edge of the Smoky Mountain area. The tower must be to the west I can drive about 5 miles west and get a small signal but phone still will not work but I can receive text messages from there. If I continue driving closer to McMinnville phone will not work until I am about 5 miles from McMinnville. It is about 30 miles to the nearest town to the west. Drive north about 20 miles small town population about 100. Drive south 20 miles small town population about 25.

There must be a tower some place about 10% of the campers out there can use their cell phone. My phone no work and wife's phone no work. How you like that for good English. I picked that up from the Spanish people it is easier to type to leave out a few words. LOL

Some carriers like Verizon offer better service in outlying areas. When my wife and I go on wilderness trips with friends, their T-mobile phones have no service, but our Verizon phones still do.
 
You still see some older gsm phones which will still work on the current system with an external aerial socket on the back, they dont make them anymore but you might find one on ebay.
You can connect a external ant to one of these, a colinear will give much better range esp high up, though you wont have all the silly stuff like phones have these days.
 
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