[TriLUG] slight OT: multi-band cell booster

[Joseph Mack NA3T]

On Mon, 27 Jun 2011, David M. wrote:

> My CEO has a place in Martha's Vineyard which is 
> apparently fairly remote. He has both AT&T And Verizon 3G 
> type connectivity at his house but the signals are weak.

Here's a cheap solution that may not fit a CEO's 
temperament. I expect Chris' is better in that respect.

My FiL's house in ME has a similar problem. For wifi access 
to a wap across a bay (1/2 to 1 mile away), I use a standard 
piece of foam board insulation (8'*4', like sheet rock 
except blue foam) with aluminum foil on one side as a 
reflector. To make it pseudo parabolic, I make lengthwise 
(8' long) cuts on the foam side almost through to the 
aluminum backing and then crack open the cuts. Here's the 
board from above

  ___
/   \
   x

The arms of the parabola are about 1.3' long

I sit my laptop on a table at the "x" and adjust its 
location for max signal. I get about 3db gain, enough to 
dhcp and keep the link up.

virtues

o freq insensitive

problems

o need to position the laptop correctly (at the focus) and 
point the parabola at the cell tower. Presumably the CEO 
would have to sit in the right place to make phone calls.

o your body blocks the aperture. I sit to the side. 
Presumably you could have a squint geometry instead.

enhancements

to work as a parabola, the dimensions of the surface have to 
be large with respect to the wavelength. It would be better 
to have turned the board sideways and make the cuts across 
the short side making the arms 2.6' long

Joe

-- 
Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map
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