please help me improv my signal

littleogre · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

I brought home an alltell usb card yesterday and for the most i get 1xrtt service but for some reason i will get DO and RA service at times and sometimes i get no service at all. I called tech support and they said i live in an area with fringe coverage. So would it help much if i got an amp or an outside antenna. How much does an outside antenna cost? i know an amp is like 300 bucks. My goal is to get better service then what i get on the basic wildblue package. To me better means similar speeds with the benifit of a lower ping rate

littleogre · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

I know my post is vaugue but i'm not sure what kinda info you guys actually need.

khordale · EVDO Newbie Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 6

Do you have better signal outside your home than inside? (can you make and recieve calls on your cell better outside?) If so an external antenna may help you.

I have an almost identical story to yours. ABout 8 months ago I got an Alltel usb card. I had spotty service, but most of the time I could get something. It disconnected all the time though and was a hassle. I ended up getting a Zboost wireless extender. This enabled me to basically bring the signal outside my home to the inside where the card was.

Even with the 12" omni that came with the kit however, I was unable to get a really reliable signal.. it was better, but still not good. After some research I ended up using a spare DirectTV dish to boost my signal. Now it works like a charm! Here is a picture of my setup.

Hope that helps.

-Erik

*I tried to submit a picture, but the anti-spam guard got it so I'll try to answer your question without one. What is the procedure for posting a link to a picture or just the picture itself in the message? *

khordale · EVDO Newbie Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 6

Ok, I found the way I am supposed to submit a link in a message. As a new user I am unable to post a direct link, but I can post this:

img.photobucket.com/albums/v653/Khordale/Antennae/dishomni.jpg

Just add this to the beginning to see a picture of my home-made dish antenna. "http://"

I understand why they don't want new users posting a lot of links. I am sure it uts down on a lot of spam :>

-Erik

littleogre · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

I went to http://www .ask.com/web?o=1251&l=dis&q=%22http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv653%2FKhordale%2FAntennae%2Fdishomni.jpg without the space but it said nothing was their. Also my cell phone reception is iffy wether i am inside or out side but slightly better outside.

littleogre · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

would one of those 57 dollar indoor booster antennas help much

wavrider · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 19

Reception.

I recently got a compass 597 card. Realy enjoy the speed long time hughes net user, goodbye hughes and your overpriced, overrated service you provide.

The reception for me also is a fringe area, far fringe as in almost no signal. but there are ways to increase signal strength, cheaply.

You have to have a signal to increase, antennas or amps can not strenghten or amplify what is not there.

External antennas are great, but not as efficient if you use high loss cable. IE 174 which is usually what comes with the little ground planes that can be purchased.

I have tried the ground plane, with a 2 bar or as my sprint service window states in signal strength. Takes me from 10% to sometimes 40% strength but not a steady 40%. This is outside on a pole 8 feet in the air with a 24" sq groundplane.

I built a yagi 14 element for 1920 center freq. I can get 80% sig strength sometimes, usually down to 40% consistant. again using 174g coax, probaly get better using a low loss coax but that is in the future.

Finally I got a usb extender cable, found an old metal folgers coffee can, cut a hole in the can 1.5 inches from the back of can,( this is a little over .2 wavelenghts for the 1900 mhz range but was not exactly sure where the antenna is on the card so made it a little longer than .2 optimum).

I am consistantly getting 80% signal strength with this set up, the usb extender has no loss like a coax cable so all the transmit power from the card is available. cheap, easy to do, and it works. It keeps the antenna in the house and not exposed to elements in the weather.

You may have to adjust azimuth and elevation and it is directional. I just used a piece of 4"X4" for a base and a wood screw in the mouth of the can to attach it to the 4x4 and it allows me to adjust azimuth in a 360 degree pattern.

good luck and hope you can get your signal improved.

fordrhs41 · EVDO User Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 93

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 8:45 am Post subject:

As well as perusing the forums here you can visit my blog for many tips about antenna types and signal improvement: http://evdotips.blogspot.com/ ..just a friendly suggestion.
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fordrhs41 · EVDO User Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 93

wavrider · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 19

Jim in Va

Nice blog on cloverleaf towrs and reception. I prefer yagi for communication but not up to speed on the upper frequencies, all of my antenna building until now has been for hf freq.

Is it particular to have line of sight for the 1900 mhz yagi to perform? I was rerally disapointed in the performance of the yagi i fabricated, but then again it may need true LOS, which is impossible in my rural location, I am miles from the tower.

Would a grid work better than a yagi? I have tried the magnet mount ground plane, not impressed.

If I am not mistaken a grid is a simple di-polw with parabolic reflector. feed it with some belden 9913, have a few feet of it laying in the shop.

I just can not get the outside antenna of any type to out perfom the folgers coffee cantenna with usb extender

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:59 pm Post subject:

Between the omni, grid, yagi, and panel...the grid by far has the narrowest RF pattern, so yes LOS is going to be optimum for that design. Consider that the lower the dBi rating of an antenna, the wider, taller and shorter its pattern will be. That can be beneficial in an environment that has many obstacles but doesn't help in long range applications.

I use a panel antenna in a heavily wooded area but I am close to a tower. If you are getting good performance from the Folgers can, then a panel will probably work for you. They all work better with LOS but of course that's not always possible. Whatever you get, put it as high as you can and use good quality cable like LMR400 or equivalent.
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wavrider · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 19

Jim in Va,

Success!!!!!

Used Trevor Marshall's bi-quad optimized for 1920 mhz. Steel reflector fabricated out of .20 steel, Directway sat dish.

I do not have the test equipment for VSWR measurements at this freq. but fabed the antenna as close to the specs as the formula said. Made the first bi-quad out of 10 gauge copper, poor performance, could have been my ground plane was also to large blocking some of the signal but did manage to get a 60% with around a -94 to -97 DBm on the sprint meter RSSI I believe.

Second bi-quad was out of 16 gauge copper wire, changed ground plane dimensions and moved the bi-quad about an 1/8th wave length from the ground plane reflector, re arranged my feed point on the directway sat dish, now achieve consistant 5 bars 80% with -82 to -79 dbm. Speeds greatly improved both up and down. consistently over 1.2 to 1.4 MB down and from 180 to 330 MB up. Speakeasy speed test site conducted at 6 PM East coast time.

I called sprint tech support to inquire about the tower service. It is tower number 46, revA and it is targeting a North West direction. This tower is only 3.3 miles from my residence, but it is transmitting away from me so I am not in the direct beam width pattern, actually on the back side so I am catching a sidelobe or back lobe off of this tower.

I thought I was going all the way to the next town 12 miles from the residence, I do get about the same signal from that tower as I do the tower 46.

I thought all towers were a clover leaf configuration but sprint support said not always, some just target a certain area, explains why I only get one bar of service on the sprint phone.

Thanks for all the help, this higher frequencies is sort of fun to build antennas for, and way less expensive than HF. Smile

littleogre · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

i think this may all be a little over my head but i'll look into it. This brings up another question when is WImax coming out. I've heard you can live up to 30 miles from the tower and still get a strong signal.

n6gn · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:06 am Post subject: