Using external antenna with newer phones???

Hello!

I have an odd question hopefully someone can shed some light on. I
live in the boonies and use Alltel. Around the towns reception is
fine, but out in the sticks (a hunting cabin and in my truck) I've
used makeshift external antenna to improve the reception on my older LG
phone. It has one of those little pull-out antennas that you can
easily unscrew from the phone, which allows me to screw in a makeshift
adapter connected to my external antennas. For the cabin I simply
insert the stripped end of coax so it is touching the threads of the
antenna input on the phone. 'Obviously not mobile, but at least you
can get reception inside the building when necessary.

The problem: I need to upgrade phones, and few if any seem to have
easily-removable antennas. In fact the phones I like most (e.g.
Samsung SCH-U520) has only an internal antenna.

I guess my question is what my options might be at this point. I
suspect that simply having the stripped end of coax near that internal
antenna area of the phone would improve reception, but perhaps not (I
note that the phone has a warning on it for users not to touch it while
using the phone). Perhaps there are other decent Alltel models out
there with removable antennas I haven't seen. I guess keeping the
old phone and simply adding a phone/line is a possibility, but since I
would only be using the old phone infrequently this doesn't seem
ideal.

Any thoughts appreciated...thanks!
Coyotefred

---

› See More: Using external antenna with newer phones???

Most Motos, if not all, have an external antenna connection. The folks at
http://www.canyonriver.com sell antennas and adapters. There are several
other good vendors for this stuff, but I don't have the links handy. I think
Treos and a lot of Kyoceras also have antenna ports.



<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello!
>
> I have an odd question hopefully someone can shed some light on. I
> live in the boonies and use Alltel. Around the towns reception is
> fine, but out in the sticks (a hunting cabin and in my truck) I've
> used makeshift external antenna to improve the reception on my older LG
> phone. It has one of those little pull-out antennas that you can
> easily unscrew from the phone, which allows me to screw in a makeshift
> adapter connected to my external antennas. For the cabin I simply
> insert the stripped end of coax so it is touching the threads of the
> antenna input on the phone. 'Obviously not mobile, but at least you
> can get reception inside the building when necessary.
>
> The problem: I need to upgrade phones, and few if any seem to have
> easily-removable antennas. In fact the phones I like most (e.g.
> Samsung SCH-U520) has only an internal antenna.
>
> I guess my question is what my options might be at this point. I
> suspect that simply having the stripped end of coax near that internal
> antenna area of the phone would improve reception, but perhaps not (I
> note that the phone has a warning on it for users not to touch it while
> using the phone). Perhaps there are other decent Alltel models out
> there with removable antennas I haven't seen. I guess keeping the
> old phone and simply adding a phone/line is a possibility, but since I
> would only be using the old phone infrequently this doesn't seem
> ideal.
>
> Any thoughts appreciated...thanks!
> Coyotefred
>

[email protected] wrote in news:1168026704.786038.150220
@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com:

> The problem: I need to upgrade phones, and few if any seem to have
> easily-removable antennas. In fact the phones I like most (e.g.
> Samsung SCH-U520) has only an internal antenna.
>
>

Cellular has been lowering the output RF levels in all cellphones since
digital came in vogue. The reason is so they can put up more towers,
closer together, increasing the number of users per square mile in the
revenue-generating cities where demand keeps rising.

The only way to make this work is to reduce the power the phone puts out
to a worse antenna so it doesn't radiate very far, in addition to digital
cellular's ability to turn the transmitters power down by remote control
from the tower software. The idea was great, but there were so many
holes in the systems the little phones kept running full power, taking up
too many cell sectors of too many towers they could resell to others.

So, the phones' maximum power output keeps dropping....600mw AMPS
handhelds became 300mw digitals, then 200mw then 150mw into an internal
antenna comparible in radiative power to a bent pin. How much range do
you thing THAT will have in the country. They stopped selling long range
cellphones long ago....er, ah....in the interest of RF safety, you know,
the scare tactic used on the public to get them to swallow it. It
worked!

So, what can you do with this new toyphone and it's micropowered flea
whistle of a transmitter??

http://cellantenna.com/repeater/cae50_gemini.htm

If you climb up on the roof of the cabin, can you make a cellphone call
from up there? If so, it'll work. If not, it probably won't....

If you know your system is the 800 Mhz cell system, a better antenna far
more directional than the panel is a yagi like is on:
http://cellantenna.com/Antennas/yagi.htm
I'm using an 11 element Decibel Products paging yagi on my cellular
mobile repeater for service in the country. I erect it at my worksite
over my steel stepvan about 30' up and point it at the best signal on the
bar graph meter on my Motorola V60i when it's out of range. Works great
on 850 Mhz cell A or B.

Read the webpages for more info and call 'em they'll help you figure out
the best system for your location.

On 2007-01-05, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
> I have an odd question hopefully someone can shed some light on. I
> live in the boonies and use Alltel. Around the towns reception is
> fine, but out in the sticks (a hunting cabin and in my truck) I've
> used makeshift external antenna to improve the reception on my older LG
> phone. It has one of those little pull-out antennas that you can
> easily unscrew from the phone, which allows me to screw in a makeshift
> adapter connected to my external antennas. For the cabin I simply
> insert the stripped end of coax so it is touching the threads of the
> antenna input on the phone. 'Obviously not mobile, but at least you
> can get reception inside the building when necessary.

You might try looking here:

http://www.alternativewireless.com/c...onnecting.html

A lot of phones have an external antenna port somewhere, usually
near the phone's antenna and usually covered up by a rubber disk.
If you get a phone that has one you can buy a cable with a connector
that matches the phone on one end and a standard connector for an
external antenna on the other. If you connect this way you'll probably
find it works better than what you do now.

The only thing I'd worry about is I suspect those teeny tiny little
connectors have a limited life with respect to the number of times
they'll survive being plugged and unplugged, though I have no idea
whether "limited" is closer to 100 times or 10,000. If you buy one
maybe you can report back on how long it lasts.

Dennis Ferguson

[email protected] spake thusly and wrote:

>I guess keeping the
>old phone and simply adding a phone/line is a possibility, but since I
>would only be using the old phone infrequently this doesn't seem
>ideal.

If you had something like the Dock-N-Talk (if your phone is
supported), you could leave it nailed up and just use regular
phones or a cordless phone and get a second line for the phone
you take with you. We just switched two of our lines the same way
to some old Motorola phones and it works fantastic.

We have to have antennas to get our Alltel to work here as well.

Steve
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