Anyone with experience regarding cell phone signal boosters? They range from the joke printed circuit stickers which are pasted to the back of the set to expensive 3 watt units.
Any brands to avoid? Anyone other than the Holland Michigan guy ever get brain cancer from one of these things?
It has to be a non direct connect unit, as the phone has no removable antenna. Are there still 'bag phones' available? They were pretty powerful if memory serves.
Any insights, or circuitry for a home brew unit would be appreciated.
Cell phones are great if the coverage is decent enough. But, it depends on the individual provider. And yes,people do get killed while driving and talking and especially 'texting', all the time.Very sad,but true...
- Cell phones are great if the coverage is decent enough. But, it
- depends on the individual provider. And yes,people do get killed while
- driving and talking and especially 'texting', all the time.Very
- sad,but true...
Latest is Drivers Looking at their iPhone Screens ?GPS? while Driving; saw one today and wondered what he was doing with something in his right-hand in front of his face just over the steering-wheel. Luck for him the Stop Sign was for the Cross Traffic and he managed to keep it centered in the TH Arch but slightly on the white-line.
e-Mail me privately if you want the scoop on what to get / what to avoid, etc... I am very well-versed on the topic of boosters.
I can pretty much tell you a home-brew is out of the question! Plus, it would be totally illegal at the power output you would require (more than is allowed under FCC Part-15, assuming you are located in the USA). Also, any home-brew attempt is almost certainly going to cost a gazillion more dollars than even the most expensive amp you could purchase off the shelf.
There is an on-going proceeding at FCC regarding the use of cellular boosters. Link:
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Be sure to check the filings of the major carriers who serve your area. You should be able to glean a lot just from that. There are only (3) manufacturers that I would personally steer you away from, and luckily, one of those is now out of business. But I don't want to mention names in an open forum.
To my knowledge, nobody makes a 3-watt digital handset anymore, and as already pointed out, older 3-watt bag phones were AMPS-capable only, and WILL NOT work on today's modern cellular networks. And even if they could, I think you'd only encounter a new problem trying to find "fresh" batteries for that old equipment! Also, even if you had a 3-watt digital phone, my guess is the macrocellular network would never turn it up that high anyway. (The newer digital networks control the phone's output power.)
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