50 foot antenna cable extension?

thebordella · EVDO User Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Posts: 26

Hi,

My house sits in a hollow surrounded by dense, tall forest. I can barely squeak by with an EVDO signal around -110, but it is unreliable. Am currently using a Wilson dual-band trucker antenna connected to a USB720 (Verizon). I have tried the antenna throughout the house and this is the best I could find. Placing it just outside through windows/skylights doesn't help much.

About 50 feet from the house the treeline ends where there is a road. Using my cellphone's service menu, I can see the signal strength jump from -100 in the house to -72 at the edge of the road.

I have some satellite mini-dishes already pole mounted in the clearing by the road. I could mount the trucker antenna there. But this is a good 50 feet from the house. (Not a problem for the satellite coax runs.)

Does the potential signal loss over this length make this idea a lost cause? If not, where would I get a cable that long with compatible connectors? Any other ideas? Is there some way to "reflect" the signal from the clearing to the house? Quite frustrating with -72 signal sitting right at the edge of the property and no way to get it from there to here.

thanks!

magicjimmy · Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:47 am Post subject:

I'm no expert like the guys at 3GStore are, but, I would think that if you can run power out to that clearing and provide a weatherprrof enclosure for it, an amp at the antenna then the 50 cable run with low loss cable ought to do the trick!
_________________
Nevermind...

deparson · EVDO Junkie Joined: 30 Aug 2006 Posts: 248

Can you get power to to the clearing? If so, you could invest in a wireless router and just use WiFi to connect.

That way you would not need much of a run at all thought it does add cost.

nomoresat · EVDO Newbie Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 9

You should be able to run a cable out to the treeline and add an amp at the house if you still need it. I have:

Yagi <-> 30 feet cable <-> amp <-> 50 feet cable <-> 595U

I use the Wilson 9913 Ultra Low Loss Cable, which is advertised as 1.2 db loss and 2.0 db loss for the 30 and 50 foot sections. With the addition of the amp I get a signal of 80 - 90.