Driving and staying connected... Lucky? Antenna?

horsessmellfunny

Hey,
Well, I decided to be advantageous tonite on my way home from school. I know that barely 6 miles south of here there is EVDO coverage. So, I wantetd to see how far I could get to my house while on EVDO. I busted out my laptop rite under the EVDO tower. I drove while pinging Google to see where I would drop packets, etc. I make it all the way to my house an im connected trite now on EVDO! I have no signal bars and my ping times are around 400-800. Not too bad. It is a little zippier then 1xRTT which is what I connect to normally while sitting rite here. I was surprised I made it all the way home, driving through known deadspots, and not dropping the EVDO! I am obviouslly close enough to the tower that I can connect, and therefore drive home and stay connected. If I were to disconnect rite now, I would get immideietlyt bumped to 1xRTT. Let me ask those of you who sell booster antennas which would be best? I have an AirCard 580. I want to hook it up to see if I can pick up the EVDO without having to start in an EVDO artea and drive all the way home. hat are your guys's return policy if it doesnt work, etc.? I can practically see the dng EVDO tower flashing at me. However far enough where I cant connect and 1xRTT over powers it. I know I can set my card to lock on EVDO. The signal is weak enough where it wont pick it up, just 1xRTT. So let me know guys!
Thanks!

Scott · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:00 pm Post subject:

Fer cryin' out loud... break down and buy yourself a Booster antenna. Even with the antenna you will be nicely mobile (you can suction-cup the antenna to a car window when you're mobile). Add an amp for home (and/or the car), and you'll be REALLY stoked.

horsessmellfunny · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:04 pm Post subject:

heheh yea i know i can be a little excentric (spelling) at titmes. I was actually asking what is the best booster antenna, that tis reasonably priced? I am unemployed, so economy at the moment, is the way to go lol. Yea, I like tot play around and do thngs like that sometimes lol

MaximumSignal · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject:

horsessmellfunny · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:26 pm Post subject:

Actually, contrary to your beliefs (and my confusing post), I am not looking to be mobile. I am more interested in getting it here at home. I am on it now, just so dang weak. I think an antenna may help it enough to give me some nice EVDO. It will also be awesome for when I am mobile. Like the magnetic mount.

Scott · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:59 am Post subject:

Budget gives you limits. ;]

I've used a Booster in the car as I carry one in my lapdog case. I was looking up new car info with family as they drove headed to car dealers. Worked in a pinch (mine has the suction cups, so I stuck it on the window... SAR be damned). I have the mini-mags on my Honda's roof (two of them).

If you want directional power, bug MaxSig^ or the WPS guy about a yagi. If you're really just going to stay static it may work better for you. The cost may climb slightly since you will need the correct pigtail/connector for you card.

Maybe since you're a starving student a scratched n' Bent special might turn up... or you could post a wanted in the 4sale area. I recall you being handy with a soldering iron... ?

Semi75 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 230

I know it sounds odd but after several attempts I tried the same thing and even with bad terrain issues once I connected to EVDO and drive the few miles home I can stay connected but the service is not really usable for surfing. I can ping sites as you did and keep most packets while dropping a 1/4. Now if I disconnect it's gone and there is no getting it back.

I tried a trucker antenna and a duel band amp and was only able to get a weak signal that comes and goes but mostly stays in "searching for service" mode when in EVDO only mode. I'll probably try a Yagi next or a Grid antenna but I know very little about them. I know the signal is out there but very weak, it's been as low a ~95 but most flirting with ~120 range.

Anyway my point is try what you can and if you have good los I would skip all the others and try a Yagi first since you were always unable to connect or even see EVDO service w/o being connected at a previous closer location. P.S. I'm definetly not an expert so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Scott · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:23 am Post subject:

You could need every bit of signal you can pick up. A powerful directional antenna and the shortest/lowest loss cable directly connected to an amplifier may be something to try. No guarantees.

Since amps have the larger connectors (TNC or FME depending on brand), I re-terminate my thick main antenna feed cable to directly connect to the amp (not using step-down pigtails), since you will lose a fair amount on the pigtail and connectors.

In a few instances now for 1900 MHz, I have carefully removed the original cables attached to antennas and directly terminated RG8/LMR400 cable. Or I will cut down the original antenna cable to a foot or eighteen inches and crimp an N-male connector so I can connect another thick feed cable on down to the amp.

All this helped in remote situations, though in one instance we get cell-shrink at night and on weekends, even if our signal looks 'good' we still can't transmit (the connection is refused).