External Additional Antenna To Help Reception ?

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Hello:

Have a new Samsung a650 and a new house in Sharon, Mass.

Performance of the phone in Sharon is very disappointing.

Is there a "small" antenna that perhaps I can connect to the phone
while in the house to improve things ?

I understand that there is an "RF" jack on the top of the phone for this.

Model number for such an antenna
that you might recommend would be greatly appreciated.

Do you really feel that it might help the situation any ?

Price and source to purchase it ?

Thanks,
Bob

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

I use the Wilson setup below. Works great for me. I have 0 to 2 signal
strength bars outside, intermittently (usually 0 to 1), with very frequent
dropped calls. I have 3/4 bars steady as a rock with my external antenna in
my garden level room downstairs in my house with this setup. I usually have
0 bars downstairs without the external antenna.

At the Wilson Antenna site (they don't sell direct to consumers):

Here's the phone/antenna adapter you need (Wilson number 359909).

http://www.wilsoncellular.com/adap [...] amsung.htm

Here's the Wilson antenna, with adapter, that I prefer. I have mine
mounted outside of the house and inside one of my shrub bushes along the
front of the house (no need for ground-plane with this antenna - stick it
right in the shrubs!)

http://www.wilsoncellular.com/antennas/wctrucker.htm

I also suggest (although not required) an antenna mount. It is actually
designed for a car/truck but provides the necessary clamping to mount on
anything. (see below)

Below is where I bought mine... $59.95 including phone adapter #359909.

http://www.cellularoutlet.com/widu8mhcetra.html

Mount for attaching to car/truck/anything... $13.95.

http://www.cellularoutlet.com/3waymounwits.html

Total price ~$74.00

Note: You DO have to have SOME signal to start with outside your house. But
if you do, this setup will boost it enough that you should be able to enjoy
consistent good service inside. And the price is fairly resonable.

-Frank

"Robert11" <rgsrose@notme.com> wrote in message
news:1K2dnTZtaPmkwdrfRVn-pw@comcast.com...
> Hello:
>
> Have a new Samsung a650 and a new house in Sharon, Mass.
>
> Performance of the phone in Sharon is very disappointing.
>
> Is there a "small" antenna that perhaps I can connect to the phone
> while in the house to improve things ?
>
> I understand that there is an "RF" jack on the top of the phone for this.
>
> Model number for such an antenna
> that you might recommend would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Do you really feel that it might help the situation any ?
>
> Price and source to purchase it ?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

JXStern wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:22:03 -0500, "Robert11" <rgsrose@notme.com>
> wrote:
> >Is there a "small" antenna that perhaps I can connect to the phone
> >while in the house to improve things ?
>
> I've never used these, my problem seems to be too many competing
> ground stations, wonder if these would help?
>
> Maybe I need to wrap my phone in aluminum foil to *reduce* signal.
>
> The thing is, these external antennas are *wired*. I want something
I
> can mount on the window for directionality, and still roam wireless
in
> the house.
>
> J.

If you want to be untethered inside the house, you will need a much
more expensive set up, in order to rebroadcast the celluar signal
indoors using an amplifier. Make sure a the (BDA) amplifier is FCC
approved.

I use a tethered 6 element Antennex Yagi while camping, mounted on a
retractable pool brush handle pole, using premium low loss cable.
Pro quality, 360 degree welds and gold anodized, not just riveted. Very
sturdy for long life.

Works very well, since the energy is concentrated in a narrow beam,
which usually works just fine for fringe location, stationary use. Is
aimed at one the closest/only tower, unlike the vertical/colinear
(spring type). Vertical omni mount antennas reception/radiation pattern
focuses more energy towards the horizon as the db strength goes up. So,
if your trying to get reception from a hilltop tower, a very high gain
omni type can actually decrease signal strength, since the radiation
pattern is squished vertically, to achieve the higher gain.

Check out Cellantenna and their antenna forum for various practical
apps.

http://www.cellantenna.com/.cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Informative tutorials...
High Gain Yagi antennas

http://www.criterioncellular.com/a [...] ennas.html


I'm real curious how one of these panel design would perform? Certainly
takes up less room than a Yagi and would be much easier to carry in the
trunk or even a backpack.
If anyone makes the $100 planar experiment, let me know how it works!
The dealer says they work very well.

Planar - Discreet Panel Antennas -

http://www.criterioncellular.com/a [...] ennas.html

Use good quality connector cable, especially critical to maintain the
signal strength from the antenna for longer runs!

An external antenna adapter with a combo DC plug will provide
continuous power, where an analog signal will drain small modern sized
batteries rapidly.

-
David

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 07:12:43 -0500, Robert11 wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Thanks all for the very good Info.
> Appreciate it very much.
>
> Was wondering:
>
> Has anyone personally used the Radio Shack Wireless Phone Universal Antenna
> $31.99
>
> Cat # 17-345 ?
>
> Might be a good one for me to try out first, as it's so easy to return
> ti R/S if it doesn't help any.
>
> Thoughts on.
>
> Thanks,
> Bob

I have one, but don't use it a lot since I get good signals mostly where I
travel.

It adds one or two bars to the signal indicator.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

> The thing is, these external antennas are *wired*. I want something I
> can mount on the window for directionality, and still roam wireless in
> the house.
>
> J.

In that case, this is probably what you want.

http://www.cellularoutlet.com/inbuamp50db8.html

-Frank