Cell phone Booster

[The Godfather]

I purchased a cell phone 3 watt booster kit from Smooth Talker. Test on car worked great so I'm taking my RV into the dealer to remove the CB antenna and replace it with the cell phone antenna and coaxial cable. They do not recommend a "through-the-glass" type antenna since it degrades the range. Anyone with any experience with doing this?
Dick

[John_Canfield]

Dick - I have sucessfully used through the glass ham VHF antennas, but there are better choices. These mainly appeal to people that can't bear the thought of putting a hole in the roof. I'll have to agree with your dealer on this one.

I like the Wilson cell antennas. You can look at my installation on the web site.

Discovered also that the three watt amplifier was needed. In a marginal signal area, I could hear the called party but they could not hear me. So now we have the Wilson three watt amp.

--wb5tht-- Extra-class ham of 30 years

[DonavonP]

Dick, Years ago I had a through the glass antenna for my car phone. I really think it degraded the signal although I don't have any data to support that comment. After going to a "bag phone", the outside antenna that hung on the edge of the rear window did work better than the through the glass.

I'm really interested in your results with the Smooth Talker. I can't seem to get off the fence and order one.

Smooth T. has a great Q and A section on their web site.

There is a guy on one of these forums that is trying to hook up a Yagi antenna to his bat wing TV antenna stem so he can zero in on a cell site.
I think your Smooth T. connected to an antenna like John Canfield has is the best solution (very nice work John - )

Dick - please post your results with the booster.

[RVRon]

Dick, I have a SmoothTalker set up. Used it in my Winnie and now in my HR. For an antenna I use a short (1.5 inch) magnetic mount cellular antenna. This is sitting on a 14" by 14" sheet of galvanized, painted tin from the local tin-knocker and glued to the roof with probably 1/4 tube of silicone. I just lay the wire in throught the door on the HR. Did the same with the Winnie. My cell phone gets out like a bandit. Where I had 1/2 of a bar, I now have 5 bars, no problem. - Ron

[Maximum Signal]

Smoothtalker is old technology . The inteligain amplifier is much better. Check them out at WWW.MaximumSignal.com. We are offering a $25 discount for any Forum Members on an amplifier purchase till October 31 2005. Contact us through our website for details . Also The Inteligain Amplifiers are the only cellular amplifiers licensed and approved by Motorola for use an all cellular networks in North America.

[DonavonP]

Here's the data for Inteligain:

FCC IDENTIFIER: RCUSG819-807

Name of Grantee: Inteligain Corporation, Inc.

Equipment Class: Amplifier
Notes: Cellular and PCS Band Full Duplex Amplifier

Grant Notes FCC Rule Parts Frequency
Range (MHZ) Output
Watts Frequency
Tolerance Emission
Designator
22H 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp F1D
22H 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp F8W
22.901(d) 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp DXW
22.901(d) 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp F9W
24 1850.0 - 1910.0 0.59 Amp F9W

Power is conducted. Antenna gain is not to exceed 3 dBi. The antenna(s) used for this transmitter must be installed to provide a separation distance of at least 50 cm from all persons and must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter. Users and installers must be provided with antenna installation instructions and transmitter operating conditions for satisfying RF exposure compliance.

It really pays off to buy a band specific booster rather than a "one size fits all"

For my phone in the low 800 MHZ band, the Smoothtalker puts out 3 amps.
For the Inteligain I would get 1.36 amps under ideal conditions with no sun spots or aluminum foil on my head.

[Roy W.]

I have a Wilson dual band cell amplifier ($200 at Flying J) and Wilson Trucker antenna ($60 at Flying J) which works great for me. Everyone else is complaining about no signal, and I've got 3 bars.

[Maximum Signal]

Quote:

Originally posted by DonavonP: Here's the data for Inteligain: FCC IDENTIFIER: RCUSG819-807 Name of Grantee: Inteligain Corporation, Inc. Equipment Class: Amplifier Notes: Cellular and PCS Band Full Duplex Amplifier Grant Notes FCC Rule Parts Frequency Range (MHZ) Output Watts Frequency Tolerance Emission Designator 22H 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp F1D 22H 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp F8W 22.901(d) 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp DXW 22.901(d) 824.0 - 849.0 1.36 Amp F9W 24 1850.0 - 1910.0 0.59 Amp F9W Power is conducted. Antenna gain is not to exceed 3 dBi. The antenna(s) used for this transmitter must be installed to provide a separation distance of at least 50 cm from all persons and must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter. Users and installers must be provided with antenna installation instructions and transmitter operating conditions for satisfying RF exposure compliance. It really pays off to buy a band specific booster rather than a "one size fits all" For my phone in the low 800 MHZ band, the Smoothtalker puts out 3 amps. For the Inteligain I would get 1.36 amps under ideal conditions with no sun spots or aluminum foil on my head.

Those are very old outdated numbers . i have plenty of customers that have switched from Smoothtalkers to Inteligain's and swear by the Inteligain .I wonder if you can find any that have switched in the other direction. Nowadays if you are on a major carrier and travelling you need a dual band as the carriers use different frequencies in different cities . And you decide to switch carriers you don't need to buy another amplifier. Check ou The specs on this FCC # RCUDBA819-807.

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Amplifiers will provide more signal outbound from a cell phone, but some of you are saying you now have additional bars (received signal level) on your cell phones with these different types of amplifiers. Unless these amplifiers have a receiver pre-amp built into them they will not increase received signal level. If this is the case then the additional bars is coming from your external antenna's, not the amplifier. I'd first try just the external antenna before spending money on an amplifier.

Bob, WA0MQE
Retired Radio Communications Engineer.

[RVrs R US]

Quote:

I like the Wilson cell antennas. You can look at my installation on the web site.

We also purchased the Wilson Truckers antenna after finding we had no cell phone signal (absolutely no bars) at a recent campground on Route 27, south of Clermont, Florida. Before purchasing an amplifier, we wanted to see what results the antenna gave us by itself. We had our eye on the Wilson after seeing it on many trucks at Flying J's and Loves.

Were we ever delighted to see the signal bars improve to the 3 to 4 bar range when I hooked it up! I attached the antenna base to the roof hand rail which allows the antenna to easily be removed for travel.

I ran the antenna wire down the side of the rig, through the window next to our desk and attach it to a 2' adapter cable which hooks up to either of our LG 1400's cell phones.

We also have a "thru glass" cell antenna mounted in front window of our F-450 and can move the cell phone (with adapter cable) between the Fifth Wheel and the truck with ease.

Tania and Dave

[DonavonP]

Quote:

The specs on this FCC # RCUDBA819-807.

The results of RCUDBA819-807 are identical to the one I posted. Lets try a newer one and please post the link for me. Thanks.

Here's the link
for the FCC report.

I stated "amps" in my earlier post. It should have read "watts". Sorry for the confusion.

[The Godfather]

I wanted to report back with the results of the Smooth Talker 3 watt cell phone booster.
OUTSTANDING!
The dealer charged me 3 hours of labor to install both the antenna (on the roof)and the power supply cord (wired hot). The antenna cable is snaked down the inside of the driver's side windshield post. Both cables come out just above the utility shelf over the doghouse which is a convenient place to rest the amplifier (which we move to my wife's car/toad when not in the RV). They did add a circular aluminum plate to the antenna base to make it more sturdy.
On a trip from Grass Valley to Mendocino, which goes over the coastal mountain range, we had a constant useable signal on the whole trip. We compared the signal strength on my phone (amplified) to my wife's phone and her phone had the old "no service available" for most of the trip. Both the transmitter and receiver are amplified. In other words, the antenna is not "dumb" but active. It still can't get a signal through a mountain but I would strongly recommend this product and the safety net it provides.

Dick

[DonavonP]

Thanks for the report Dick. I was hoping you'd report in.

Did you use the little antenna that Smoothtalker recommends? I am wondering if the big Wilson Trucker would be a good combination with the Smoothtalker or if it would conflict.

[The Godfather]

Donavon, I would visit Smooth Talkers web page and read about "antennas" at https://www.smoothtalker.com/faq/cel...ennas/ch01.php
You will find their information easy to read even for us "non techies."
I chose the SEM105 antenna for my set up which seems to work fine and, at only 10 inches, does not stick up too far above my roof.
Hope this helps,

Dick