Kyocera 650 best right now? antenna options?

zbarnes · EVDO Newbie Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 6

Hello,

I live about 2 miles away from where my phone can actually log into vcast, so I going to try to get a Kyocera 650 and hook it up to an external antenna to see if I could get EVDO access. If I can't, then I will still use National access.

Anyways, I was wondering if the Kyocera 650 is the best card out right now, especially for this purpose. I have seen the booster antenna, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with hooking up an antenna with a 20-30 ft. connection and then running it up to the roof to get a better line of sight. Is the connector on the 650 standarded or proprietary?

Any recommendations would be very helpful.

Scott · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:03 pm Post subject:

The Kyocera KPC650 is still the best EVDO data card in PC Card form-factor sold by Verizon, though using external antennas lessens some of the benefits (the KPC650 has a very good radio sensitivity partly due to the excellent on-board antenna).

If you are newly signing up for Verizon's Broadband Access service, it is the EVDO data card to go with, especially for use with a router since routers don't have ExpressCard34 ports yet.

I wouldn't recommend the Booster Antenna for rooftop use. It is intended for indoor/inside-vehicle use. Its not intended for long-term exposure to the elements (though a little water or sun shouldn't hurt it a bit). Also, by adding 20-30 feet of coax to that particular antenna, you would likely end up with a net loss of signal.

For $20 more, choose the Omni External Antenna, which is intended for outdoor use. I comes with the mounting bracket and adapter cable (yes, proprietary connector for the Kyocera KPC650).

While you can add a 20-30 feet length of coax, we don't recommend adding over 15 feet of good smaller-gauge coax.

Going longer necessitates thicker coax and even possibly custom ordering the Omni External with custom terminated and shortened attached RG58 cable. That way it leaves the antenna on a larger RF connector and immediately jumps up to thicker coax for longer runs. It will need to be stepped down on the far end using an RF adapter which allows connection of the tiny adapter cable (aka "pigtail).

Long runs of thin-gauge coax may work, but again, you'll likely end up with a net loss, directly counter to the goal of mounting an antenna to the roof.

I haven't even touched on the use of signal amplifiers, which is another technique for dealing with long cable runs. I think its better to start with a good antenna and cable first, rather than use an inappropriate antenna, long high-loss coax and then attempt to 'fix it' with an amplifier.

zbarnes · EVDO Newbie Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 6

I just realized that this post is probably in the wrong sub-forum, sorry about that. Anyways:

zbarnes · EVDO Newbie Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 6

It won't let me edit the above post, but here is some more info:

Anyways, I got the kyocera 650 tonight, and I've been experimenting a little.

I live in Midwest Illinois, so its all flat cornfields, but obviously I can't see the cellphone tower from my roof, however I do know the direction. Not that much vegetation between here and there, but obviously there is some (so a yagi antenna shouldn't be used, right?)

From my roof, I get strong 1xrtt signal, but the EVDO is at zero bars. It tries to connect, but it automatically switches back over to NationalAccess. A mile outside of town, I get 2 EVDO bars, but then it still switches back to NA before connect. This happens until I get 4.3 miles from my house, then BAM! its like a light switch turns on, and I can EVDO at 700kbps (actual).

So the question is: is this distance a plausible distance to overcome? Will the latency be too high if I do overcome it? If not, what antenna set up do you recommend?

I was thinking maybe a combination between a parabolic dish and an omni antenna or something, but if any of you experts know what to do, I'm open to suggestions.

Also, is there anyway to get a better indication of signal quality than with the bars in VZAccess? Like a numerical dB level?

Anyone find a way to only lock onto the EVDO towers with this card?

MaximumSignal · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:35 pm Post subject:

zbarnes · EVDO Newbie Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 6

Ok that's good to hear. I've looked around but I couldn't find a definitive "this is how far you should be able to extend the signal" kind of post.

So a yagi antenna is out probably, but a good omni directional antenna should work.

Now, what about a program to show dB level? If I buy an antenna and I can't pick up the signal, am I stuck with it then?