On Jul 18, 10:38 pm, "Donald Newcomb" <DRNewc...@NOT.attglobal.net>
wrote:
> "szilagyic" <ch...@groupinfo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1184776639.860365.204020@o11g2000prd.googlegr oups.com...
>
> > ). It is attached to a 30 ft RG58U coax cable that runs back to a
> > TNC-
> > to-FME adapter, then to the Sierra card.
>
> Here's your first problem. Assuming that you're using a 1900 MHz signal,
> you'll only get about 10% of your signal at the end of 30' run of a stock
> RG58 cable. There are some "super" RG58 cables (RG8X Ultra) that work much
> better and are much more expensive. Normally, for this length of cable you'd
> need a foam dielectric RG8.
>
>
>
> > We tried the yagi at another location where we only get about 30%
> > signal strength with the stock antenna. We do not know where the
> > tower is at so we started in one spot and went in 5 degree increments
> > in a complete circle, noting the signal strength at each stop. The
> > highest we were able to get is about 20%.
>
> The other thing you should keep in mind is that your phone won't necessarily
> be looking for the strongest signal. The phone will lock onto the cell that
> the system tells it to lock onto. In general, a Yagi works best in remote
> places like an island where the cell towers you are "working" are all in the
> same general direction. They will not work as well in places where the cells
> are all around the antenna. No sooner do you get the antenna properly
> pointed than the system decides that your phone should be talking to a
> different cell.
>
> --
> Donald R. Newcomb
> DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

Thanks for the reply. I did not realize that the RG-58 has that much
loss. I have also read that LMR-400 would be a good alternative. I
will do some more looking and replace the RG-58 and see how that
works.

Thanks much,
--
Chris