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Mobile phone antennas

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Asjad

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Dear Friends,

When it comes to RF, I am limited to the simple crystal radio.

My friend lives in a 2nd world country, he seems to get bad signal strength on his mobile, I suppose it is because the mobile cell transmittors/recievers are few and far between.

He told me that some residents have placed an external antenna on there roofs and get good reception.

I have searched the interent and can not find anything.

Any ideas, Yagi, omni-directional, could I use something that is already on the market?

Can you also suggest a cable type in your feedback

Cheers
 
I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but if you put the cell phone at the focal point of an old satellite dish, your signal strength will improve.
 
What is the point of having a mobile phone if you’re only going to use it at home?

If your friend wants to go to the trouble of installing an antenna on the roof to improve the reception when he's at home, why doesn't he install a fixed line phone? I'm sure he'll save money on phone bills.
 
A couple of comments or thoughts:

1. An antenna that is higher and that has some gain will most certainly receive and transmit better. The problem - a transmission line, either coaxial cable or some form of twinlead must be used to connect the antenna to the phone. Transmission lines aren't 100% efficient so some signal strength or transmit power is going to be lost. You might or might not come out ahead. This is something that can be calculated or rather estimated.

2. The phones receive as well as transmit - one without the other is useless. If you planned to amplify the receive portion to overcome the transmission line losses then don't forget that you'll have to have some kind of switching arrangement to deal with the transmit mode.

3. Don't forget that #1 and #2 must be done within the limits of the rules and regulations of your country. In the US you really aren't supposed to modify equipment and adding an antenna may be doing just that.

4. My son doesn't have a landline as a matter of economics. The net reduction in his mobile phone bill would be about 20% of the cost of a landline.

5. In some areas or countries the hard-wired infrastructure for landlines was undeveloped yet mobile phone systems were put in place to keep up with the explosive growth of that mode. The net is that you can get mobile phone service but not a landline in many of these areas.
 
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