The better external antenna!

8GrnBars · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 3:12 pm Post subject: The better external antenna!

I just joined, so I may be in the wrong pew for this topic, but ... I've been having great success with a KPC650 since mid-September, using Cellular One/Alltel as my provider.

The standard external booster antenna sold and discussed on this forum, and at "Antennas.com" (or whatever the sister-site is called), is NOT the right antenna for the KPC650, in terms of signal strength or price.

Kyocera Direct Accessories sells a 9-inch, clip-on mast, with cable, for $59. Although it's really omni-directional, it can be made to *be* directional if you know where your tower is. (I get a full set of bars, that's 8 green on my display.)

The directions which come with the antenna, as well as the new user guide downloadable from Kyocera, are *incorrect* for this antenna (part #TXANT10019).

I have run countless trials from my home office. One, and only one configuration gives maximum signal strength and a full 144 Kbps download (with 1xRTT). My transfer rate averages 15.2 KBps at all times of the day, which translates into about 50 seconds per MB of data. (I live about 90 miles southeast of Colorado Springs; this network does not support EVDO yet, but I'm betting it will by year's end, when Alltel puts their $8.9 Billion to work from the spinoff of their wireline division to VALOR in early summer '06.

I will post the configuration for this antenna later today. Meanwhile, I recommend that anyone interested take a look at the TXANT100 on Kyocera.com/accessories page for the KPC650.

Cheers! Cool

-John
_________________
1xRTT-KCP650-boost ant-1.6 MHz P4-Dnlds@ 1MB<50s

8GrnBars · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 6:15 pm Post subject:

Nope -- I'm using my wife's 5x 10-inch diameter makeup mirrow, which is polished chrome instead of glass. Mr. Green

Mr. "...weisen* doesn't think I've done my homework, do ya?

Why not guess which port and the position of the built-in lift antenna, while you're at it?

Remember, we're talking directionality and signal strength, here (as well as price and who's telling the truth about whose antenna). When the tower is line-of-sight, with only a window or an exterior wall for an obstruction, frequency isn't going to make any difference.

Most of what I've seen on the web are not calculations, but actual screen shots. And I only threw in my own throughput for down stream data as an aside to the primary point. The flat-panel, arch-shaped blade antenna is junk. When I do get EV-DO on that hill out yonder, I'm gonna mount a yagi on the roof.

'Course we all know that network traffic has a little something to do with true data transfer rates, but having the best possible connection to start with do make a difference.

-John
Cool

(at 8800 feet, there's a lot of UV, don'tcha know.) Wink

_________________
1xRTT-KCP650-boost ant-1.6 MHz P4-Dnlds@ 1MB<50s

8GrnBars · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:54 am Post subject:

Well, James, I'm glad you're laughing. Of *course* I was gonna share this super discovery of mine with the California Unwashed, else I would never have started this thread.

It's the LEFT port. The shorty, lift-up antenna MUST be raised.

Mount the booster antenna in any convenient spot, so long as it is in direct line with your cell tower and between the tower and the shorty antenna.

Contrary to recommendations, the booster should be tilted so that the long axis is perpendicular to the top of the tower. Similarly, the shorty antenna should be tilted to be parallel to the booster. You now you have a vertically polarized "beam" antenna array that _should_ produce better than a 3 dB gain over the shorty antenna signal strength if used alone.

It sure works for me...

So, whereabouts on the central CA coast are you? North or south of Half Moon Bay? Do you teach reverse engineering at Apple U. in Cupertino or what? Wink

_________________
1xRTT-KCP650-boost ant-1.6 MHz P4-Dnlds@ 1MB<50s