Probe > cell antenna?

[Foggy_Goggles]

and a probe can easily be converted into an portable cell tower to increase your cell phone range (with minor hardware additions).

talk to me goose

[Ireallyliketoski2]

talk to me goose

I was speaking facetiously, although I'm sure it could be done (with minor hardware additions)
JONG!

[Buzzworthy]

Hmm, I just took out my antenna on the phone. You would have to rig the same size dealo, somehow attaching it to the probe (making sure it is a material that would move the signal up the probe, metal of the right sort).

If it worked, it could/would? extended your range to the tower, but not making your own tower.

Need an electrical engineer to chime in here, or maybe the Altagirls know, Mr. AG does tower stuff.

Not a bad idea at all.

[Mountain Junkie]

The only way to "boost" your signal is to increase the power to the antenna. As for receiving, antennas are "tuned" to the particular frequency they are transmitting on. A longer antenna won't perform better than a short antenna. What matters is the size of the antenna relative to the wavelength of the signal.

[char]

On some models of cellphones you can hack the software to boost the transmit power of the antenna. I have no idea how this is done, but I've seen it happen and we got the exact same model of phone to have 1-2 bars better reception-transmission than before hacking.

[summit]

SMA adaptor + solder + alligator clips... probably won't help you though and you could damage your phone if your antenna has a high SWR (transmitting RF gets reflected back into your phone).

The only way to "boost" your signal is to increase the power to the antenna. As for receiving, antennas are "tuned" to the particular frequency they are transmitting on. A longer antenna won't perform better than a short antenna.

Depends on the antenna design.

Yes the manuacturer antenna is tuned to an extent. Not necissarily optimally. Usually pretty darn good. Remember with cellphones size is a consideration.

Those FRS radios you buy at the store actually have antennas that are NOT always engineered for best results because of marketing driven size constraints.

And also remember your phone maybe operating in the mid 800Mhz range but transmits in the upper and receives in the lower 800s (edit 824-896) or it may be using 1.8GHz (antenna tuned for multiple frequencies).

Antenna design is a very complex subject.

Anyhow, yes a bigger antenna could help with reception at least especially if it is tuned and of the right design. You may see an extra bar or two or three.

You can purchase larger omni antennas to mount on your car or your home (or your pack) that can singificantly boost your reception and transmit ranges. You can also purchase directional antennas (yagis) that can boost it even more (if you know which way to point it). These antennas are all larger than the one on your phone. They usually run $10-$50.

[cj001f]

.......................

[Foggy_Goggles]

Hey Summit, enough with the technowennie bullshit. Is their anything small and cheap that I can stuff in my pack that increases the chance I may be able to make an emergency cell phone call in the backcountry?

[Mountain Junkie]

Hey Summit, enough with the technowennie bullshit. Is their anything small and cheap that I can stuff in my pack that increases the chance I may be able to make an emergency cell phone call in the backcountry?

I think bullshit is the operative word.

[summit]

Mountain Junkie. Yes I went into some technoblather, some of which was incorrect (was trying to remember all that shit off the top of my head when I haven't dealt with it in a long time, should be correct now).

Hey Summit, enough with the technowennie bullshit. Is their anything small and cheap that I can stuff in my pack that increases the chance I may be able to make an emergency cell phone call in the backcountry?

Depending on your cellphone, yes.

You can usually buy little antennas that plug into your phone that will give you 2dB to 6dB gain that should be lightweight but you need to find some way to hook them to your poles so you can set them up as a groundplane or some other way to groudn the antenna (since you won't have a car).

I don't see any on ebay now, but occaisionally they have 3-5 element Yagis that aren't overly huge that give you 7-9dB gain. Usually ~13" long or so IIRC, all the ones I see right now look like they are either much large or very heavy duty (for fixed placement). You might have to do a slow sweep of the horizon until you find the right direction to point (unless you know before hand the tower is on that peak over thar) but 3 minutes to find and acquire beats 3 hours to hike out to summon help.

You could also make your own (beyond my expertise but you can find websites).

For possible signalling in the BC, I always carry my cellphone with it's orginal antenna, signal mirror, ability to make fire (and smoke), headlamp, and a 5W HAM HT. Sometimes I carry a 2W FRS/GMRS radio.

Ultimately, I reccomend doing a little research to see if there are HAM repeaters in your usually area and if so getting a HAM radio license and a 5W HT.

If your really need reliable BC emergency communications you need to buy a Iridum phone or a PLB.

[Cornholio]

... a 5W HAM HT.... a 2W FRS/GMRS ... or a PLB.

Christ, Foggy... Doesn't everyone carry this stuff? C'mon, man. How hard is it? (Edit: to summit!)









I think one could stick an aluminum ski pole or probe in the ground to provide an electronic ground to an external antenna, but tuning it and powering the phone to make use of it would be a whole other challenge.

[summit]

PLB = Personal Locator Beacon (~$500 one button press sets off SARSAT and tells the military where you are. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s1168.htm )

I think one could stick an aluminum ski pole or probe in the ground to provide an electronic ground to an external antenna, but tuning it and powering the phone to make use of it would be a whole other challenge.

You might not always be able to easily punch through to the ground and even then you may not get a quality ground (depending on what you stick it into). Right?

OTOH if you took the time to ensure it was good (maybe even requires digging snow and finding the right spot) you could also consider other antenna options that might take some time to set up.

[homerjay]

jesus, where's Ogre when you need him?

[Cornholio]

Good point, J. Might as well get a damn satphone already.

Or, just stay out of trouble.

[splat]

Only two things come to my simplistic mind.

An emergency GPS sat beacon ($500+)or a lightwieght solar mat to recharge the battery.

Problem I have out there is the cold killing the phone battery. Spare batteries kept close to body heat help.

[Spats]

The main thing to remember for BC cell phones is you need one with analog. Your GSM or dual-band CDMA are extremely unlikely to have reception anywhere you need help.

Fortunately you don't need any active cell service to dial 911. Your best bet is to find someone's cheap old TDMA Nokia on Ebay and keep it in your car for emergencies only. Remember that in the USA, those highway call boxes are just analog cell phones, so you can probably get service without walking to one.