Is there any hope of improving a signal at 16 miles?

sevenfoldTr8or · EVDO Newbie Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 6 Location: VA

My setup is:
Alltel with KPC680

Currently receiveing inside:
RSSI: -95dB on a good day
Download: 500 kbps to 600 kbps
Upload: 50 kbps to 60 kbps

Outside:
RSSI: -87dB on a good day
Download: 600 to 700 kbps
Upload: 60 to 80 kbps

I have finally discoverd that I am approx. 16 miles from the Alltel tower. I can see the tower in the distance. It is above my elevation. Is there any hope of improving a signal at this distance.

Thanks
_________________
In the sticks.

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:07 am Post subject:

If you have LOS (line of sight) as stated, a directional antenna such as the parabolic grid can easily make that link.
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evdo-tips.com

sevenfoldTr8or · EVDO Newbie Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 6 Location: VA

Are there amps that work well with these types of antennas. Alltel Evdo in my area uses 1900mhz band.
_________________
In the sticks.

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:39 am Post subject:

Yes. 3gstore sells'em. I'd try it without a amp first.
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evdo-tips.com

xrayman · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:57 am Post subject:

sevenfoldTr8or,
Because your are receiving EVDO at 1900Mhz you may want to read this thread. http://www.evdoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5106
Look at the postings by n6gn about the parabolic grid "dish" antenna. You can search this forum and find many other threads that talk about this antenna as well as other parabolic grid antennas. When setting up any outside antenna, especially at 1900Mhz, use a low loss cable like LMR400. I agree with Jim about the amp, try the grid antenna first. You can find great info about how to set up the antenna at his web site. http://evdotips.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20Top-Notch%20antenna%20...
When setting up an outside antenna system I always add an lightning protector and direct grounding for the antenna. This could be a requirement by your insurance company.

powrby4d · EVDO User Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 54

sevenfoldTr8or

I use Sprint at 1900 Mhz to a tower 15 miles away, lots of intervening trees with a parabolic grid and an amplifier. Once everything is connected with insertion loss from lead cable, lightning protection, etc. The amp takes the signal from -100db to about -83db, last test showing ~550kbps down and ~180kbps up. The application on this connection is video telephony which is about as demanding as it gets. Last week I switched out an amp that produced .5 watts (conducted, or linear power, as measured at the antenna connector) to one that produced over 1 watt and the stability of the throughput on the uplink improved substantially, but in your case if you have LOS that is probably less of a factor than my case where there is much interference from intervening obstructions. So yes in my experience an amplifer can help overcome interference, but also in my experience if you already have LOS then an amplifier may either not show an improvement because the negotiated power will be reduced to a nominal level anyway, or can actually cause the signal to be slightly less stable than it would be with just an excellent directional antenna.