How I got mobile phone reception where there was no signal
UPDATE (10th August 2006)- My antenna may no longer be needed soon!
UPDATE (3rd August 2006)- Better pics added - see bottom of post
(Or, to be more accurate, where 20ft of solid stone was blocking line-of-sight to the nearest transmitter.)
I just got a Nokia E61 on T-Mobile. When I signed up, I knew that the signal was really weak in the back of our house - the building forms a large square, and my bedroom faces into the centre of the square. I could get a signal in the living room (just), but wouldn’t it be great, I thought, not to have to go through there every time the phone rings. Although outside my house full-strength UMTS signals are readily available, the building’s construction prevents them diffracting into the internal ‘courtyard’.
All I needed was enough reception to receive and send SMS messages. I have home WiFi for data access, and I can potentially make calls over that too. I planned to aim for UMTS reception rather than GSM since: a) I didn’t know which GSM frequency to aim for and b) E series Nokia phones maintain their batteries better if they have UMTS signals (otherwise they constantly search for a UMTS signal).
I tried two car-type external antennas that I got via eBay - but unfortunately the gain on both of these was just too low (barely even compensating for the losses in the cable running to the phone). Also, neither were sufficiently directional to catch enough of the reflected signal to give me anything to work with.
The first step was the figure out what the extent of the problem was. I located my nearest T-Mobile base station using the government’s Sitefinder service. This also confirmed the frequency that the transmitter used - 2100Mhz. This is the standard frequency for UMTS (i.e. 3G) services in Europe.
By drawing a line between the transmitter’s location and my building in Google Earth, I was able to confirm the approximate distance and angle of the signal I needed to catch.
Buying a directional antenna wasn’t really an option - for a start, they are expensive - and anyway I couldn’t be sure that such an antenna would actually help. If it didn’t, I’d have wasted £60-£100.
However, in an incredibly geeky flash of inspiration, I realised that there really isn’t much difference in operating frequency between WiFi (around 2.4Ghz) and UMTS (2.1Ghz). And there are loads of different clandestine WiFi antenna ideas floating around the Internet. If I could find an easy-to-build directional WiFi antenna, perhaps I could reverse-engineer its dimensions and adapt it for 2100Mhz use.
So I set about the task. I decided on the biquad antenna type, as it’s fairly compact and easy to build, yet provides decent (10-14dB) gain and is quite directional. My primary sources of information were the many WiFi biquad and double bi-quad antenna tutorials and blog entries, such as: Engadget’s; Trevor Marshall’s tutorials. More can be found on my del.icio.us page for the tag ‘antenna’.
Both WiFi and UMTS operate in microwave frequencies - however, there’s a substantial difference between the middle WiFi channel (around 2.4Ghz - what people usually tune their WiFi antennas to in order to give a good amplification factor across the channel range) and UMTS’ 2.1Ghz. To my knowledge no-one has built a homebrew biquad UMTS antenna before, so there wasn’t much to go on. What also didn’t help was that most WiFi biquad tutorials just give you the measurements verbatim - not the calculations of formulae.
Having done no physics since school, my expertise in antenna building is poor to say the least. Still I did realise a few things about most of the designs floating around the Web: all of the dimensions were multiples of the wavelength at 2.44Ghz (122mm or 0.122m). So then, I just needed to figure out the multiplication factors in each case and I was sorted.
My list is as follows: (λ = wavelength)
- Emitter wire total length: 2λ
- Emitter ’square’ side length: 0.25λ
- Emitter offset from reflector: 0.125λ
- Reflector width/height: 1λ
- Reflector ‘lips’ height: 0.25λ
So, at 2.1Ghz (2,100,000,000Hz - λ = 142.8mm),these dimensions are:
- Emitter wire total length: 285.6mm
- Emitter ’square’ side length: 35.7mm
- Emitter offset from reflector: 17.85mm
- Reflector width/height: 142.8mm
- Reflector ‘lips’ height: 35.7mm
I made the reflector out of galvanised steel mesh and mounted an N-type connector to the centre. I made an N-type coaxial to FME coaxial cable to hook up the phone to the antenna. The emitter itself is made from the copper centre conductor taken from a length of high-quality satellite TV coaxial cable that I had left over. I used some scrap wires to connect the ends of the biquad ‘bow-tie’ back to the reflector, and placed some of the original dielectric insulation from the satellite cable back on the ends of the bow-tie’ shape to prevent the antenna from ’shorting’ (in an RF sense). The emitter is then soldered into the N-type connector in a most slapdash style.
I didn’t have enough mesh to make the ‘lips’ of the antenna’s reflector match the measurements I’d planned, but made them the longest equal lengths that I could. In other respects, I managed to get the dimensions down to within a couple of millimeters of my target measurements.
High-quality cable is a must - I only used 50cm or so of RG-58 type cable to go between the phone and antenna, and unless you’re using something very high-grade (like LMR-400), I wouldn’t go too much further than that.
Presently the antenna is fixed and aimed in a pretty shoddy way - it’s fixed onto a set of ‘3rd hands’ - and there’s a Post-It note there to provide (some) insulation between the stand and the reflector… I plan to investigate more permanent mounting options at some other date.
The biggest problem with the antenna is aiming it - but having said that once it does catch a signal, the phone holds on to it very well. I’m aiming it over the rootfops of the building, hoping to catch some of the signal’s diffraction.
I have no idea how much gain the antenna produces. When aimed correctly (which is very tricky), it gives me a consistent 1-bar UMTS connection, or a 2 bar GSM signal. It works better at night, holding on to a signal for many hours.
UPDATE (3rd August 2006): Here are some better pics. I’ve replaced the post-it note with some pieces of polycarbonate. The pics also show the cradle into which the phone sits, and the cable which links the antenna to the phone.
Also, admire my lovely lavender wall paint :S
RSS 2.0
Biquad WiFi antenna mod for better cell reception
Graeme writes - “Here’s how I got mobile phone reception where there was no signal - adapting Biquad WiFi antenna designs for use with UMTS (3G) mobile phone networks” - Link….
Trackback by MAKE: Blog — Saturday, 29th July 2006 @ 20:51
you dumbfuck, please PLEASE learn what you are doing…. your dimensions are ALL wrong… thats why you have such little gain. -_- fucking morons shouldn fuck with physics ya dickweed, hope your antenna fries ur brains with microwaves
Comment by Adrian — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 02:04
For not remembering any physics, you’ve done pretty well. An awesome hack, and I’ll be keeping this (the wifi version, at least) in mind in my future homes.
For my curiosity, and brain safety, what, Adrian, is wrong with his system?
Comment by Richard Crowley — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 02:12
Dimensions look OK to me. In the picture, the antenna looks to be orientated for horizontal polarisation - I think cellular is vertically polarised. You might try turning it through 90 degrees, although by the time you get the signal it is such a mish-mash of reflections that the polarisation will be mixed.
Comment by spode — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 02:30
Adrian, settle down, man. drink some decaf and enjoy life. your anger and hate is not worth it. this antennae hack is interesting to read about, and it’s encouraged me to try something similar.
life is too short to waste being a jerk, man.
Comment by bob — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 03:36
wow, that’s way cool! I would have no idea where to start with trying to do something like that!! congrats!
Comment by Morven — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 08:15
Sweeeet
(42 greetings from Slovenia)
Comment by Winsucker — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 12:11
nice work!!
Comment by Michael — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 14:02
nice work!!
hehe
Comment by Michael — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 14:03
Been trying to figure out how to get beter reception. now I know Thanks!!!
Comment by david — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 14:46
It is not an easy piece of work, setting up the equipment. However, thanks a millions for the information.
Comment by Keith — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 15:20
I haven’t run the numbers, but it looks decent. You might be picking up coupling to the 3rd hands mount, which might be throwing off your tuning on the antenna. Try a nonconductive mount of some sort, and get it away from nearby metal objects to see how it does, gain-wise. And Adrian needs to consider that, if the amount of microwave energy in a cellphone wouldn’t “cook your brains” with the phone up against your head, it won’t do it on an external antenna. The antenna doesn’t create more energy, it merely gathers more from the outside and changes the radiative pattern to bounce more of it in a particular direction. I wouldn’t press my forehead up against your radiator for a week, but I doubt it would do you much harm at that power level.
Now, if you hooked it up to a 1000w magnetron as an amplifier stage, then I’d be concerned.
If you want, check out EZNEC antenna modeling software (www.eznec.com) for helping calculate your antenna numbers, AND predict your radiation pattern.
Gwen, NG3P
Comment by Gwen — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 15:23
Has anyone ever noticed that those who bash others for stupidity usually have horrible spelling problems?
Comment by funkyFlash — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 15:57
http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/helix/
Comment by Erhan Hosca — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 16:42
Have you also noticed that Adrian responded with anger and irrationality as opposed to offering constructive criticism… perhaps this “Adrian” doesn’t have a clue as to what’s wrong with this creation?
Comment by Michael — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 17:06
Quote: “you dumbfuck, please PLEASE learn what you are doing…. your dimensions are ALL wrong… thats why you have such little gain. -_- fucking morons shouldn fuck with physics ya dickweed, hope your antenna fries ur brains with microwaves” - Adrian — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 02:04
Adrian needs counseling. Did you not have many mates in school? Because comments like that are probably why. Not everybody aspires to be a super-know-it-all freak, putting down others around them. No need. If you have knowledge that could help this idea - contribute!!
Comment by Richard — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 17:32
(Unfortunately I don’t… just wanted to express my piece of mind about that jerk)
Comment by Richard — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 17:35
I may be a bit clueless about this, but I noticed someone suggested you change the mounts from a metallic material. I wouldn’t think that alluminum would effect the signal, would it? If so, would it be terrably hard to create mounts with wood?
Comment by Cameron — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 19:40
Linked from http://www.antiwikipedia.com/Ethical_Wireless_Hacks
Thank you for contributing your wisdom.
Comment by Antiwikipedia — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 22:16
Does anyone know if the U.S. has a similar site like sitefinder? It’s a great tool for determining which cell provider would have a better signal strength either in the home or locations frequently travelled.
Comment by TekBandit — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 22:48
Thanks to all for your kind and helpful responses.
Richard Crowley - I briefly tried the opposite polarisation, which seemed to give a weaker signal. I plan to try this out more extensively though. You could be right.
Gwen: Thanks for your insight. I plan to replace the hideous post-it note/3rd hands system ASAP - as soon as I figure out what to replace it with! It certainly will be a non-conductive material. I wanted something initially that was easy to tilt and pan - so I could find the optimum direction before installing something more permanent.
Thanks Makers, keep ‘em coming!
:)
Comment by Graeme — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 23:33
Man, this is hardcore. When my phone has no signal, I just get angry and throw it across the room. The dedication it took to rig this up just awes me. =)
Comment by Venomous — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 00:51
this is beyond awesome man, now i want to do the same thing! haha
thanks man
Comment by Andrew — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 00:55
Adrian sucks elephant cocks and swallows the gallons of cum…
It’s all the testosterone in the cum that makes him the miserable fuck that he is.
Comment by Adrian's arch-enemy — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 02:04
One question: How exactly is the antenna ‘connected’ to your mobile phone? I understand how the antenna concentrates the signal using the reflector, but how is that concentrated signal then get to the mobile phone?
A picture of the far end of your setup would help. Very cool though!!
-jason
Comment by Jason Buberel — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 02:24
‘Adrian’s arch-enemy’ - Your profanity is nothing short of genius!
Jason Buberel said:
The phone rests in a car ‘cradle’ - a Nokia CR-47. This is the only way to hook up an external antenna to an E61. The CR-47 comes with an antenna fly-lead with an FME connector on the end - to which my ersatz antenna is attached.
I’ll try to post some new pics tomorrow.
Comment by Graeme — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 02:29
Great job!
The ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) Handbook is a great source for specific info on antenna design as well as formulae for element lengths. The most important one is [468/Frequency(MHz)=length of 1/2 wave in feet]. Dipole elements are [234/Frequency(MHz)=length of 1/4 wave in feet].
Comment by weez — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 02:45
For those of you who do not have a car cradle, or a convenient external antenna connection on their phones… you can still receive a boost from such an antenna setup by turning it into a passive repeater: Put a high-gain atnenna on each end of the short coax cable. Point one end at the transmitter and point the other where you’ll be standing when you use your phone. Line of sight is important, so putting your repeater system up on the roof such that one of the antennas gets line of sight to the cell tower and the other is pointed at your window will probably provide better results than just having it in the house. Passive repeaters can make the signal ‘turn corners’ and works best if at least one end of the exchange is relatively short.
Comment by dr_leviathan — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 03:14
Um, not that I know much about this subject, but is this mounted on a dish or what? In the photos it looks like you just pointed it out a window. The other sites you point to used a dish (for example, Engadget). Is that just for very long ranges, or what?
Or, since I really know nothing about this, feel free to just ignore me.
Comment by jacob — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 06:04
very very impressive.
it takes some brains to setup something like that.
i hope you get it to have 100% signal
Comment by Big UK Seo — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 06:31
Jacob said:
Yes, I could have used a dish as well. I chose against this for a few reasons. Firstly, size - I can’t mount the antena outside so having a honking great satellite dish inside would be problem. Secondly, dishes are very directional, and so more difficult to aim than a striaght biquad. But you’re right - in theory it would give much more gain.
Comment by Graeme — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 13:37
Here’s a clever idea that might help out. Use your cell phone as a translator. In other words, put the cell phone in a water tight package, run it up a pole somewhere with good reception in your yard. Lastly, use a bluetooth headset for dialing and receiving.
You can use a clothes line to your window, if it helps.
PS- Adrians a foul mouthed monkeys butt
Comment by Stevieo — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 16:45
Great idea and implementation!
My phone does not have external antenna connector nor gradile. Is a passive repeater the only option I have?
Can I use a phone USB cable I have for computer connection?
Comment by brons11 — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 16:54
I wonder if something like this could be used to get reception in remote areas for hikers. Whenever I go anywhere away from a city, the phone becomes useless with no bars. What the world needs is some way to get reception out there.
Comment by Julie — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 17:01
How I got mobile phone reception where there was no signal
Many of us know the feeling all too well: Just when we need to make a phone call, the bars of reception are scant to none. But Graeme, who writes a blog called "Earth Mostly Harmless," succeeded where most would quit, he chronicled his ingenu…
Trackback by www.techtagg.com — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 17:03
does this work on the underground? (in the UK)
id love to be able to get a call with my crazy frog ringtone and piss off all the commuters in this weather :p (its 97*F/36*C)
Comment by Phil — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 17:09
“Comment by TekBandit — Sunday, 30th July 2006 @ 22:48 Does anyone know if the U.S. has a similar site like sitefinder? It’s a great tool for determining which cell provider would have a better signal strength either in the home or locations frequently travelled. ”
All Wireless Operators in the US must file with the FCC. The FCC posts and updates a database of Tower application records. This Database can be downloaded from: http://wireless.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/wtb-datadump.pl the format discriptions of the differnt databases can be found there too. It would be great if google could add this to google earth or someone could create a downloadable file for googe earth based on these records. Now, what these wont give you is if the sites are currently active or what type of technology they use (GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, etc) Good Luck
Comment by RadioHead — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 17:29
Stevio (32): Good idea - but I don’t think I’m brave enough to try that!
brons11 (33): You could either go for a passive or active repeater. The difference is that an active repeater has an amplifier between the internal and external antennas. Have a look at Wilson Electronics products for ideas. I don’t know what sort of USB cable you have but I doubt that it would allow you to connect a antenna.
Julie (34): It absolutely could be used for those purposes. You’d probably want a satellite dish to amplify and directionalise the signal. You’d also need to figure out a way of aiming the antenna.
Phil (36): No idea. I don’t know whether you mean the London or Glasgow underground system. The system would need to have active repeaters installed anyway - microwave signals won’t get very far through solid ground. Presuming the underground system did have repeaters installed, an antenna like this would probably be superfluous anyway - the repeaters should give you fine reception.
Comment by Graeme — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 17:31
here is where you can search for celltowers in the US, google maps interface.
Comment by rob — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 17:56
Acutually, it appears the antenna is vertically polarized due to the feed point location in the picture. I could be wrong though
Comment by john — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 20:07
Cool stuff.
After reading the comments and not knowing anything about the science of it all, I will offer the following.
Coupling with the third hand was mentioned. You could tried reversing the orientation so the mass of metal is behind the antenna or Get a thin piece of something non conductive (a dvd case maybe) and attach it via the screws on the backside, and clip to that. Or rods the to fit in the holes the clips are in and fashion a bracket to mount them to the n connector.
Comment by mantic — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 22:53
For your “third hands” setup (sorry, I’m a yankee and I’m not familiar with that terminology) I think there is a simple solution. You can buy a small camera tripod (less than 10 cm if you want) and use that as your stand. You can use the standard screw mount on the tripod. However, most of those mounts will be a metal screw, so you’ll want to use a nylon nut as your mount on your antenna. The nylon won’t conduct to the metal screw on the tripod, and the base of the mount on the tripod will either be cork or plastic. You can probably find the tripod and a sack of nylon nuts fairly cheap.
Comment by Dan — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 23:17
Nice work, so nice you’ve been slashdotted.
Comment by Gaz — Monday, 31st July 2006 @ 23:49
Nicely done, /. and all
Comment by hi! — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 00:10
I made a pda mount for my car from an omni-adjustable lamp neck. I picked it up at a local thrift store for about 2 dollars and built an mdf mount to hold the pda. Point is, a flex arm of the sort will allow you to adjust in any direction and maintain that position w/ little effort and very little cost.
Comment by todd — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 00:20
Wow, that is definately a great idea!
I’m quite jealous of your UMTS coverage. Here in Ontario, and I think the rest of North America, we’re still waiting for the companies to rollout the UMTS.
Anyway, you mentioned that you didn’t know what frequency GSM worked on. In Europe, it’s 1800Hz and 850Hz. In North America, it’s 1900Hz and 900Hz. (I may have gotten the lower numbers reversed, but the higher numbers are right for sure.) There’s really no point in making an antenna for GSM though, as UMTS is a much better technology. I just thought you might like to know.
Comment by Ryan Fox — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 00:27
you could attempt a new mount by using plexi-glass or one of its variants. using a heat gun (or hair dryer) you can mold your own mount. it should be easy to find in any hardware store. they might even sell plastic srews, while not the most secure it would solve metal to metal contact as well as giving your hack a very nice appearance. if your hardware stores dont have the clear plastic screws you can check on line, any site that deals with making/modding/buying clear computer cases should have them. cheers on the awesome hack!
Comment by erythros — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 00:32
Nice. I’ll have to do that myself though wiring it to the phone might be problematic.
Thought I’d share what happens at my house. Our phones have a “feature” to automatically switch time zones while travelling (which is enabled by default). I was quite surprised to find them switching to Central time (US) in my living room and Eastern in the bedroom. What makes this so unusual is that we live about 30-40 miles east of the timeline with many hills and the Tennessee River between. Needless to say, we turned this feature off…
Dee, WD4OQF
Comment by Dee Holtsclaw — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 00:41
You know you can get a think to install in basements and such that puts an antena outside your house or on a wall in an area with good reseption, that then is conected to the transmiter in the basement (or other area with bad/no signal). They don’t cost very much at all, like maybe 30 bucks relatively easy install. Also they don’t have “Huge dishes” just small little antenas that would not detract much from the look of your home.
Comment by WCD_Thor — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 00:42
A review of some relevant physics:
wavelength=speed of light/frequency
speed of light = c = 3e10 cm/s (3e10 means 3 x 10 to the power 10)
UMTS frequency = 2100MHz = 2.1GHz = 2.1e9/s
so UMTS wavelength = 3e10 (cm/s) / 2.1e9 (1/s) = 14.3cm
Your elements are probably quarter wavelength, so should be about 14.3cm/4=3.6cm long. I am notorious for forgetting the 2 pi factor for angular frequencies, but I think that this is regular frequency so you don’t need 2 pi
Comment by Alex — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 00:44
recalling some basic geodessy you should note that computing distances and angles from any google map product will only be correct when the two points are very close together. This is due to the fact that the map projection that google uses preserves neither distance no angle: with distortion increasing dramatically north and south of the equator.
The best way to comput the distance and azimuth (or bearing) from one point on the earth to another is with spherical trigonometry. Also, don’t forget about the curvature of the earth for longer distances. Here is a neat page that will do it for you!. neat Hack!
Dylan
Comment by dylan — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 01:12
How about Lego (plastic bricks)? Then you can add a MindStorms kit and make a robotic mount which will pan and tilt, and you’ll have lots of fun building it!
Comment by aasmodeus — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 01:18
Graeme,
WRT Dan (42)’s comment about the tripod, most do use a metal screw. There are however a number of plastic tripods that don’t conduct via the mount screw. Gorillapod comes to mind. WRT Todd (45), that was the idea I was thinking of when I started reading this.
Worse comes to worst, you could probably replace it with a nylon bolt + nut + washer solution that couples to the goose-neck mount. I know Radio Shack used to sell plain goose-neck devices, but they were in the US $14 range, so an old desklamp @ a thrift shop would be less expensive.
Comment by Garlic — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 01:38
http://www.spotwave.com/products/index.asp
Comment by dsfd — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 02:04
For those of you attempting to do this in the United States, you might want to check the FCC regulations for max power output + antenna gain (usually the max power output is a varying maximum, varying with your antenna gain). You should probably be able to find the max power output of your cellphone in your cellphone’s manual. If you exceed the maximum allowed power output or cause interference to licensed users of the spectrum (your cellphone company? or anyone else if your antenna amplifies the wrong frequencies — such as those of higher frequencies that are normally undetectable but emitted by the cellphone), you could have the FCC knocking on your door with a fine.
Comment by RobBob — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 02:06
I just found this after someone asked about it.
http://www.cellreception.com/towers/
It’s a listing of US towers by city with a google maps api.
Comment by isleshocky77 — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 02:21
Gwen (NG3P), tell us more about hooking up to a 1000w magnetron as an amplifier stage. That sounds like a lot of fun.
Comment by r00t — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 02:46
The FCC has their antenna registry online and it has a map interface, although it’s not as good as a google map.
Comment by John — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 02:56
Very nicely done.
Just a few points:
Grame (OP): Yes, 1/2 or 1/4 (Alex (50)) wavelength will work, however if you would be willing to put up with it you will find that if you could build your antenna to the full wavelength or a multiple there of your reception will be MUCH better. Also, you will probably want to investigate some different cable to go from your antenna to your phone. RG-58, is meant to carry specific frequency ranges. Pick up any good electronics products catalog and look at the different cables. I would think that even RG-59 would be better for what you are doing as it is a smaller diameter and thus more likely closer to a multiple (or fraction) of the wavelength in question. Also, look for real RG-# cable, not series-# cable, which is likely what you are using. RG as in Radio Grade cable has more % of shield braid which will help your signal to noise ration. Series 58 cable usually has 85 % braid.
As far as mounting the antenna goes, you could build a wood frame that is larger than the antenna in question and tie the antenna to the frame with non conductive string in the corners, making an X from the antenna to the frame. This outer frame would be relatively easy to mount any way that you want.
Cameron (18) Yes aluminum will reflect RF. I believe you are thinking about the fact that aluminum is non ferrous, i.e. non magnetic.
Weez (27) Hats off to you! The ARRL can be VERY helpful.
Dee (48) do I see an ARRL cal sign? WD4OQF Have you ever spoken with (my dad) N0OUT?
RobBob (55) Depending on how badly you interfere with someone who has primary use of a frequency range, you will most likely be given a gentle cease and desist order as a polite recommendation. If you continue to do things is when you will get in to more trouble.
Comment by Grant — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 03:02
You can get a simple in-line coax amplifier that covers the frequency in question for $10-$20 US. Shouldn’t that work to max your signal?
Comment by Erik — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 03:06
Dude you made it and it works for your needs…kudos! As for haters who shall remain unnamed one word explains it: jealousy.
Comment by DKarma — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 04:09
well, most of the dimensions on the antenna look ok.
However, for future reference (and the math needed) you might find the ARRL antenna handbook useful for the forulas needed.
still, all in all, not a bad first attempt.
DE Amateur Radio Operator N7ZZT
Comment by eric — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 04:11
WOWZA!!! you da man!!! you da man!!!
why isn’t everyone willing to do hacks like this? a tru innovator!!! thanx for the inspiration
Comment by camdeeman — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 04:26
Many neighborhood hardware stores have dozens of little drawers with various connectors. Look for ones with nylon components. You’ll want something like a nylon nut which fits a tripod’s screw (I don’t remember the screw size). Best would be a long threaded tube if you can find one with the proper thread, as you could use a nylon bolt to fasten it to the antenna.
Comment by AnyMouse — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 04:49
Interesting reading for 1-August-2006
Getting system level access from a limited account in WinXp - This video shows how you can get "system"
Trackback by Sijin Joseph's blog — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 05:07
Building your own biquad UMTS antenna
Interestingly enough, this guy built his own biquad antenna to jerryrig a signal for UMTS since his Nokia couldn’t pick up a signal from T-Mobile. This is a rather interesting design used for WiFi mainly and would definitely help out…
Trackback by LUX.ET.UMBRA — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 05:15
Pretty impressive stuff, heath robinson would be proud although why anyone would actually want a mobile phone to work is beyond me. I have some advice for Adrian- nasty thoughts, anal warts.
There was a project involving a wok noodle strainer and a USB dongle (wok-tenna?) (wi-fry?) that had some similarities, perhaps there’s some potential improvements in your kitchen cupboard? I once tried to make a biplane out of beer cans but I kept getting too pissed.
Comment by grant — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 05:27
As someone previously mentioned, a mount made of LEGOs would be ideal for this particular project, as 1) they are nonconductive, 2) cheap, and 3) readily available.
It is quite easy to build a simplistic 2-axis pan/tilt rig with them. Just two wormgears, two large gears, and some assorted Technic line parts and you’re in business.
As the same previous writer mentioned, if you buy a LEGO Mindstorms kit (I think the 2.0 version of the kit contains wormgear boxes, so you don’t even have to construct your own), you can automate the mount as well.
Get two rotation sensors, and servo-like functionality can be easily obtained (as they’re basically encoders).
However, if you do plan on getting a LEGO Mindstorms system, I would recommend the 1.0 set (or at least the 1.0 controller brick), as it has an external power jack on it, thus allowing it to remain on for an indefinite period of time without replacing the batteries.
For programming it, I would suggest the Lejos (Java programming language for the Mindstorms), as it has a built-in rotation sensor+motor library, thus simplifying the servo-like funcitonality implementation.
As for attaching the antenna to the mount, I would suggest something like double-sided tape (not necessarily the best for outdoor use) or hot glue, as hot glue can be removed from LEGO brick without too much pain.
If you feel like going an even further hombrew route and want a more inexpensive way to automate it, you could try two servos and a serial servo controller connected to your PC. Be advised, however, that servos draw power while maintaining a given position if there is some sort of opposing force (i.e. gravity), so you’d probably want some sort of wormgear setup for this too.
Comment by Sean H — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 05:55
Grant (59): You should probably spend some more time learning about antenna design before giving advice on the subject. The biquad antenna is designed specifically to work with ~1/4 wavelength sides (like other quadrupole antennas). If you use 1/2 or full wavelength sides, you’ll probably get an antenna with a very high impedance, and hence a terrible SWR (I’m guessing that based on what happens with simpler antennas. I don’t feel like busting out the modeling software just now, so take that with a grain of salt). Odd multiples of 1/4 (3/4, 5/4, etc.) wave might work, though the bandwidth becomes narrower as you go up.
Also, the performance of coax is totally independent of whether or not its diameter is any particular fraction of the operating wavelength. Smaller coax will tend to attenuate your signal more over a given cable length, but that’s all. And as long as the antenna and feedline are impedance-matched, its precise length doesn’t matter. RG-59 would be a pretty bad idea if the antenna was designed for 50-ohm feedline, since that’s 75-ohm cable. Of course, this project doesn’t look too precisely engineered anyway, so it’s anybody’s guess as to whether or not the antenna’s impedance is close enough to 50 ohms for that to matter. (Anybody know the feedpoint impedance this design?)
Now, as for the question of convenient mounting… Pretty much anything you place behind the reflector will have little to no effect on the signal. So if you bought a cheap gooseneck lamp, hacked off the head, and taped the neck to the connector coming out the back of the reflector, you’d probably be fine. Similarly, you could use the existing alligator clip thingus to grip the connector, if it’ll open wide enough. If the holes in the screen are big enough, you could even have the clips reach in from the back and grab through the screen — as long as the metal body is behind the reflector, it shouldn’t hurt anything.
The lego mount would be cool as hell.
Comment by Brian — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 06:13
Once I went to a town where ppl used aluminium pot covers as parabolic antennas to get signal, putting cell phone in the middle with a support and talking with hands free.
10 dollars it works better than your bi quad xD
Comment by Anteros — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 06:49
Confused?
“…there really isn’t much difference in operating frequency between WiFi (around 2.4Ghz) and UMTS (2.1Ghz).”
“…however, there’s a substantial difference between the middle WiFi channel (around 2.4Ghz - what people usually tune their WiFi antennas to in order to give a good amplification factor across the channel range) and UMTS’ 2.1Ghz.”
;-)
Comment by Mark — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 07:11
Uh, no offense and all, this DOES look like a nice piece of work, but uhm, I’ll just reserve the right to drive down the street for better reception
Comment by Overfiend — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 07:21
Brian (70) I was not trying to claim to be an expert. My experience in choosing multiples / fractions of wavelength was based on OLD experience working with receivers (not transmitters or transceivers) for listening in the amature band. Doing such the larger multiples of the wavelength helped tremendously. If you, or any one else, has any more current / accurate experience I’ll defer to you.
I agree, the Lego mount would be cool. But, there has to be something out there that is equally as interesting but even more different to work with. What about Capsela toys??? I’m not sure how practical it would be, but it would be neat too.
Comment by Grant — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 07:28
Very nicely done! May I suggest that to get better overall quality w.r.t. your cellphone, switch to SonyEricsson?
Once again, well done.
A lego mount sounds like a very cool, very geeky idea. Go for it.
Comment by GDI Lord — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 07:29
Too bad we don’t have uber-communications systems yet like the one portrayed in this free online movie -
Comment by Nice One — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 07:48
Just buy a satellite phone or move, you cheapass!
Comment by Horsehater Hussein — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 08:06
What a waste of time. Just enjoy life man.
Celine
Comment by Celine.Ducaju — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 08:42
Nice write-up… I am envious of your determination and if I had my own company, I would deffinetly offer you a job (no matter what your qualifications are, you will be (are) an asset to any company. Well done!
Comment by Ti — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 09:48
All you really need is a wok or similar parabolic dish - then just whack yer mobile at the focal point of the wok (bit of trial and error needed) and you’re done!
Comment by Wokman — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 09:50
Nice work, but why don’t you buy an external antenna ?
Comment by Sam — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 09:53
Adrian, my advice to you is to watch penn and nteller’s bullshit, it’s series that debunk a lot of thing that are widely accfepted yet total nonsense….like getting yer brain cooked froma mobile phone…. the waves are TOO BIG and the power TOO LOW and all this scare mongering is a the usual technophobic kak that sensasionalist papers olike to go on about.
so why don’t YOU get your facts right.
And a note to all the other detractors of this VERY NEAT bit of homebrew kit, just because you lack the imagination,insight and technical knowledge to make something like this.. don’t go calling it down. why not try the autodidactic approach, mind you only autodidactics really know about this word…we teach ourselves you see..lol
Last nore is to the Graeme. GREAT STUFF, don’t let these utter muppets and morons get you down, you can do somethign they can’t ….create and share!while these morons just go out and buy and probably read the sun or tatler….
Aaron
Comment by Aaron — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 10:01
Get the ARRL handbook on microwave antenna design. I’m sure i could build one from crap i can get at the supermarket worth 15 or more db, taht should get you full scale easily. Your math is a bit wrong, your not compensating for the velocity of travel on the reflector (galvanized is not the same as Copper), Also you have to bear in mind polarization.
If you want real information on how to build an antenna for nothing and get stupid amounts of gain, Find your nearest ameture radio operator. Or drop me an email.
Ben Smith, KE7GAL
Comment by Ben Smith - - KE7GAL — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 10:50
Hi
Good stuff - why not go commercial with it !
Perhap Adrian could do the math ? (Perhaps he’s better with numbers rather than letters).
Ged
Comment by Ged — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 11:25
Lego, definately a cool geek solution but cheap?
How about mounting the antena by way of a mini jubilee clip and a piece of rubber innertube as an insulating shim.
Comment by rHBa — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 11:39
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Good work!
Comment by Techscraper — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 12:12
Thanks for the suggestions, folks. The Lego ideas are definitely cool.
I take posters’ points about poor cabling and using galvanised steel. I realised that RG-58 wasn’t ideal and that copper would have made a better reflector material, but this was a three-hour hack and aside from the N-type connectors, was made pretty much with stuff I had lying around anyway.
Cable-wise, I had a length of reasonable cable around anyway (from one of the failed eBay antennas), so I thought a reasonable compromise would be severely restricting the length I used in order to minimise RF losses. Yes, I could have used better cable, and I would do so ‘next time’.
The only metal I could find at the time in the right dimensions was the galvanised steel - and also, given that I have zero metalworking experience, cutting thin mesh was a little less scary than solid sheet metal. The galvanised steel was almost perfectly sized - I only had to make one cut. I did sand away the coating on areas where conductor contact was needed, like around the N-connector which attaches to the reflector.
The antenna was never going to be mathematically perfect, given my limited experience, tools and knowledge. The fact is that it works, and it’s not dangerous - that’s enough for me. I could have made many choices over the ones I did, but evidently for a base level of performance (all I was looking for), the ones I made sufficed.
I may try a 2.0 version at some point, given the phenomenal interest in this story.
Ti (78): My application is in the post
Comment by Graeme — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 12:21
Most umts capable mobile phones support an gsm-only mode (at least here in europe), which should give you a longer battery life. gsm allows much less energy consuming standby modes, which should result in an increase of about 25 to 50% of the battery life. And if you don’t need the higher speed of utms anyway, there’s no point in wasting energy
.
Comment by Inuyasha — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 12:52
First, Get a basic understanding of power and frequency.
Learn the math for doublets. Or whatever type antenna your dealing with,
The ARRL handbook is a good book to pick up if your gonna tweek with transmitters and receivers.
There are a few killer antenna books out there also.
Another book I would suggest is Common Sense Physics. (By Larry something) It will let you actually visualise frequency. You grasp polarization better, and bounce and absorbsion. The other stuff they don’t teach in school. If the surface your bouncing on is flat and larger than the size of the wavelength then you will get perfect reception. If your trying to send ping pong balls through a bonzai bush your gonna have a shitty signal.
Last thing, if your hacked together hunk-O-junk increased your signal at all, then you now know that you could buy that antenna you were talking about and it would work also.
Comment by microwavevoices — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 13:45
“Last thing, if your hacked together hunk-O-junk increased your signal at all, then you now know that you could buy that antenna you were talking about and it would work also.”
Or, if it works well enough, he could keep the money and spend it on beer. Better investment all round.
Personally, faced with similar problem, i switched operators - get full signal now, everywhere in the house.
Comment by brassneck — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 14:01
Do-it-yourself wifi parabolic antenna.
Fun read, maybe useful.
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/
Respond not to flamers for they feed on such. Instead make them and all their works forever invisible, pariah, and taboo.
Edit: Commercial link removed by Graeme
Comment by Jay — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 14:44
Sorry about my angry outburst…I’m depressed/angry about being gay.
Comment by Adrian — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 15:10
FWIW http://www.cellreception.com/towers/ shows more than cell towers. A quick search around my house shows the local television towers. I don’t know what other type of towers it might also include.
Comment by Joel — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 15:12
Pretty slick!
Comment by Gossamer Axe — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 15:39
Dude this is nice work, especially for someone who did not know it all….
Adrian I recognize who you are man, you havent changed,
I guess if we were to get you in the gym, you would be one stupid fuck too!
By the way…that is probably why you havent gotten any in 5 years…
Keep looking over your shoulder with that attitude!
Comment by LargerThenLife — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 15:52
Sorry again for lashing out guys. I had 2 gerbils stuck in my hole from last weekend and a heck of a time with the pain. After I crank a few off to gay porn and lick a few donkey balls I should feel better. By the way, your antenna may have better gain if you shaped it into a giant elephant cock. This way you you have an uber antenna AND a place to sit while you text.
Cheers!
Comment by Adrian — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 16:01
Nice work. As a member of the LittleKnowledge is a DangerousThing school of LifeHacking — famous motto “Let’s see what happens if I …”
Antenna experiment #1: fire up a wifi enabled laptop, run netStumbler, pick a signal, display its strength. Now take a CD and move it around in the vicinity of your antenna and watch what happens to signal strength.
AE #2 — repeat #1 using an aluminum sause pan lid or (even better) each one of the set of aluminum mixing/salad bowls you got from Aunt Sadie.
AE#3 — repeat #2 using anything reflective that actually looks like it might have a parabola somewhere in its ancestry.
Anticipated results: There will ALWAYS be reflective effects on signal strength. Find one that works and then superglue that mixing bowl in place. Or get some aluminum foil and re-create the shape - possibly improving in the process.
Nota bene: This idiotic approach works for all RF bands BUT only if the hacker is totally ignorant of the physics and the math. ALso must be willing to assume that if ONE thingy increased strength a little then FOUR or more should really do the trick.
Comment by LittleKnowledge — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 16:48
Nice work. As a member of the LittleKnowledge is a DangerousThing school of LifeHacking — famous motto “Let’s see what happens if I …”
Antenna experiment #1: fire up a wifi enabled laptop, run netStumbler, pick a signal, display its strength. Now take a CD and move it around in the vicinity of your antenna and watch what happens to signal strength.
AE #2 — repeat #1 using an aluminum sause pan lid or (even better) each one of the set of aluminum mixing/salad bowls you got from Aunt Sadie.
AE#3 — repeat #2 using anything reflective that actually looks like it might have a parabola somewhere in its ancestry.
Anticipated results: There will ALWAYS be reflective effects on signal strength. Find one that works and then superglue that mixing bowl in place. Or get some aluminum foil and re-create the shape - possibly improving in the process.
Nota bene: This idiotic approach works for all RF bands BUT only if the hacker is totally ignorant of the physics and the math. ALso must be willing to assume that if ONE thingy increased strength a little then FOUR or more should really do the trick.
Comment by LittleKnowledge — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 17:07
The double post is because I have two antennas.
Not really — browser (Firefox) and net seemed to burp and reset page. No idea if first post succeeded or not. Sorry for the redundancy. Sorry for the redundancy.
Damn.
Comment by LittleKnowledge — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 17:09
I would like to applogise to everyone my comments are terrorable, my spewling even worse. I like to go round wearing girls knickers, and sniffing the pooh stains from old mens pants. Im going to make one of these dishes just so i can cover it cum and lick it all up… then i willl stick it up my bottom coz i enjoy that kind of thing…. i wear girls stockings, and love it oohh yer yer baby pinch my hairy nipples
Comment by Adrian — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 17:13
Great Stuff!
You have a window? Perhaps some foil cut in a creative pattern attached to the window with dry-mount adhesive or beeswax.
At these frequencies, it wouldn’t have to be very big, and probably wouldn’t attract too much attention. If placed in the proper corner, the walls will serve as weak reflectors. (A lot of ifs.)
And remember, everyone, “Don’t feed trolls.”
Comment by Blob — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 17:49
Hm. Seems like little Adrian has anger problems. The dimensions look about right to me, and if it works then clearly it’s “good enough”. There is no problem with earthing the reflector - in fact it should be earthed!
Comment by Gordonjcp — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 17:51
This is off-topic, but with all of you antenna experts hanging around, I’d like to ask for a little advice.
Hurricane Katrina launched me from New Orleans and I’m now about 70 miles away. I’d like to build an antenna that can receive a New Orleans ratio station that broadcasts at 90.7FM. (Yes, I can listen on the Internet, but it’s somewhat unreliable.) Can anyone point me to some info? Thanks.
Comment by Greg — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 18:06
Does Verizon care about the Whole Network?
We talked before about cell phone companies’ penchant for bragging about their networks, while literally offering nothing to help with reception problems in the home.
Is this not an opportunity? Improving reception in people homes, expanding the…
Trackback by Good Idea! Now find a better one. — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 18:47
it has been said many time but i will say it again, great job dude.
p.s. maybe Adrian is trying to use this thread to pick up.
Comment by doom — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 18:47
Thx for the posting… I am totally going to try this and adapt it for the US GSM (850Mhz, 1900 Mhz) but I’m not sure what this might mean for US UMTS. It is available in limited areas, but I’m sure as to whether they will employ a 2100 Mhz frequency or not. Any one know ?
Comment by Jonathan Bruce — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 19:11
Active repeater - see . I’ve tried it. Cheap + really works + easy-to-use = innovation! Must have some signal (outside) to boost. If you can’t run cable outside, you will need a directional antenna.
Passive repeaters only practically work if you have really strong signal (outside) and quality (expensive) components.
Comment by wirelessdr — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 20:45
How about creating a repeater? Is that complicated? That way you could use your phone as usual in the whole house.
Comment by Fredrik Rambris — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 20:51
wurelessdr beat me to it =)
Comment by Fredrik Rambris — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 20:52
If you’re concerned about battery life, in the Euro variants at least you can switch the phone from dual (GSM & UMTS) to either-or. I generally run my E61 in GSM-only mode, gets fantastic battery life that way. (Tools -> Settings -> Network -> Network mode)
Comment by Euro — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 21:51
Since this has turned into a bit of a ham radio ops’ meet & greet, I should probably say 73 ES CUL DE WD9GYO/VK2.
Comment by weez — Tuesday, 1st August 2006 @ 23:14
Nice diy! Thanks for sharing.
(obvious) What would be really ideal is a way to get the microwaves into your home, such that your phone doesn’t need to be plugged into the cardle+antenna. I guess it would also need to pipe your phone’s microwaves out of the home and towards the cell tower.
Seems to me such a pipe or repeater would need to be powered…
Does anyone know what else that would require?
Comment by gluino — Wednesday, 2nd August 2006 @ 04:49
Adrian, You sir are a complete asshole. And that comes from an American who is generally regarded by friends to be a huge “prick” at times. Not only are you completely without merit of any visible type or kind, you also show absolutely no indication of ability to reason or learn, or teach….
Step away from the potato chips, or crisps, or rice-cakes….walk towards the light….leave your room dude…..AND KEEP YOUR FUCKING MOUTH SHUT ASSHOLE. You may not have pissed off the poster…and thanks for the article by the way….but the rest of us would like to skin your miserable ass.
Comment by Dehn — Wednesday, 2nd August 2006 @ 11:41
Are there actually people responding to “Adrian” who think it’s all the same guy? Post 2 was from a stupid person, probably actually named Adrian, who plays an expert on the Internet. Post 91, probably an impostor, was a clever piece of mind play. Post 95 is obviously fake - anyone who’d had two gerbils inserted would require hospitalisation - but the “place to sit” remark was at least mildly humorous. Post 99 was just crap.
Comment by Sam — Thursday, 3rd August 2006 @ 07:13
Great work.
Comment by Rick — Friday, 4th August 2006 @ 16:00
http://www.g3pho.free-online.co.uk/microwaves/index.htm
Allot of REALLY great information on microwave transmission/reception/generation on that site. I treid to think of it on the last post but couldn’t recall the URL. Anyway I used the place some years back to build a wide fm 10ghz station.
You may try a wave guide type antenna. Which would actually be smaller than what you have now. These are the Pringle can antennas you see around for wifi. Cushcraft makea comercial antenna that would probably work as well, but it cost about $200.
Comment by Ben Smith - - KE7GAL — Friday, 4th August 2006 @ 18:28
Esta Loca, Loca Gente….
Lo que hace la gente por conseguir señal de UMTS para enviar SMSs… Increible!
…
Trackback by end of wires — Monday, 7th August 2006 @ 13:26
wireless.binarywolf.com has excellent info on antennas. Check it out.
Comment by Rico — Monday, 7th August 2006 @ 14:51
The antenna design is nothing new and while I have had some success with that particular design, there are a couple of improvements to make to it to produce even better results. The ground should be made to the connector’s flange and then the connector can be spot soldered to the reflector at each of it’s four corners. The reflector should be curved in a smooth arc rather than folded as shown. This should yield better signal to noise ratio.
As for Adrian, his response should be disregarded since all he did was to unjustly vent his frustrations, probably stemming from the continuous inner battle over his confused sexuality. He added nothing constructive to the project and likely hasn’t the knowledge nor effective communications to do so!
Comment by Charlie Brown — Monday, 7th August 2006 @ 18:25
Adrian, don’t be a goddamn prick.
Comment by ugh Ugh — Tuesday, 8th August 2006 @ 21:37
Conseguir cobertura donde no llega la señal
Este personaje no tiene cobertura en casa gracias a un muro de hormigón, así que ha modificado una antena Wifi para que le dé cobertura para su móvil UMTS.
Trackback by meneame.net — Thursday, 10th August 2006 @ 08:50
Nice. I need ideas to boost my UMTS connection in order to achieve broadband speeds on my Tmobile datacard. No cable providers in the area, and BT is trying to bend me over for £120 for a new connection as I am in a brand new flat. Without a fraction brain power or the patience that Graeme beholds, can anyone point me to a cheap-off-the-shelf solution?
Comment by BA — Thursday, 10th August 2006 @ 13:44
Just a few words of encouragement . Nice work Graeme, I loved reading about it.
ps
Adrian…blah blah
Comment by MechwayEngineering — Thursday, 17th August 2006 @ 03:27
Dude this is awesome but if you kinda like stick the antenna on your roof like and stuff and coax it to like your room and stuff and like what if lightning strikes like and stuff and your butthole gets electrocuted? wouldn’t that be just so awesomely dangerous? especially with all the like bad weather and like rain you always get over there in England like? hu hu hu awesome dude…
Comment by Karl Kanny Kanx — Saturday, 19th August 2006 @ 01:07
Karl:
It’s not going outside.
Comment by Graeme — Saturday, 19th August 2006 @ 21:09
Its a great idea, but I wonder if I’ll be able to try it out because the mobile reception in my whole country is really quite good. Regulators get the telcos to maintain at least 99.9% coverage…
Comment by DIO — Tuesday, 19th September 2006 @ 17:33
I came for the antennae. I stayed for the Adrian.
Comment by Li'l Ol' Me — Saturday, 30th September 2006 @ 20:23
Nice article, shame some idiots feel the need to slate a guy trying something out & sharing his findings.. Good work, hope you learnt alot whilst doing it!
Comment by Mobile phone repair — Sunday, 1st October 2006 @ 21:25
wow its amazing, i’m just looking on internet on how i can boost my signal in the flat. i see you even talk about different kinds of signals in here and i dont even know what they mean lol. anyways how about you build one for me and sell it through the e-bay so i can actually talk to people while sitting on my sofa
over 2 years i cant do that, i have to either sit by the window or go out to talk :’( boohooo
Comment by Lena — Monday, 4th June 2007 @ 19:50
oh p.s if anyone knows where i can get something similar or wants to build it for me hehe e-mail crazylena@hotmail.co.uk thanx
Comment by Lena — Monday, 4th June 2007 @ 19:54
I just have to ask. After looking at the closeup photograph of the antenna you built, and all the diagrams and other construction photographs of this type antenna done by other people. why did you solder wires to the antenna and then to the back panel rather than soldering both sides of the antenna, center and ground, directly to the “N” connector? This seems like you are changing the the effective operating frequency of the antenna, and if that was the case, why didn’t you just change the physical size of the quad elements?
Comment by Fred — Monday, 6th August 2007 @ 02:43
Great idea, congratulate I see experiment what do in New Zealand (bi-quad is most used , also double bi-quad, actually four quad, they measure on WiFi but it is almost same like UMTS) I notice polarization, horizontal why?
Special reason?
I have trouble with GSM network coverage
Not on my mobile phone , but wireless modem (something like Unwired.au use but old technology) But my wireless modem operate in 900/1800/1900/2100 MHz normally , using mobile telephony standard, cut off level, maximum power (900 MHz is 2W , 1800 MHz only 1W , it cannot be enough for nonbreakable work phone/fax unit have integrated antenna only. Data access use proven Canada Novatel Wireless connect card , for the laptop but Chinese assembled in cheap plastic box and cheap electronic. Only what is make serious is Novatel Canada) connect card) Have luck GSM module and connect card have only same plastic case and power supply, nothing else.
I surf Internet and many site want to sold me commercial antenna cell booster. I do not expensive and too much power product. Why, first i make test and make antenna patch to “connect” system with integrated antenna. Need only maximum 0.5W to establish stable connection. All I measured and prove ,this result i send to my provider (Technical support , they say OK go ahead, when I mention that is possible to interfere with local user but I will be reduce Gain in this case they also give me green light).For this:http://static.vip.hr/portal/slike/516391_VF-home-boxy.jpg
So question is, have any body schematic diagram for DIY GSM cell booster.Thank you.
Comment by 9A3HP Zoran — Monday, 28th January 2008 @ 16:31
I would like to make a passive booster for my vodafone 3g USB dongle. Unfortunately it doesn’t have any external antenna connectors so I’m thinking perhaps I could actually incorporate the dongle itself into the antenna, so it effectively becomes the collector element in a directional array. Has anybody done anything like this?
Comment by Matt — Saturday, 16th August 2008 @ 13:59