New Tech for Cell Phone Boosters & Antennas

[live4fun]

I’ve decided to research and purchase a cell/Wi-Fi antenna with a booster/cellular router/amplifier. Here are my requirements.

1. I’d like to mount the antenna on my TM and place the booster or router in the unit as well.
2. My primary use is when I’m stationary at a campsite, BUT if i could get a cell boost from it while driving my tow vehicle that would be the superb.
3. My mission is to better receive and increase the cellular signal strength at my campsite so we can better use our unlimited cell phone data plan for various internet uses.
4. Just my wife and I would be using it at the same time. No gaming. We occasionally stream Netflix or Prime if its the end of the billing period and we have data to burn, but usually watch downloaded Netflix shows that we grab off a wifi site or Starbucks.

I have gotten overwhelmed reading specifications for cellular routers, amplifiers, cellular boosters and the like. I’d like to hear first-hand experiences from folks who have the equipment. We are usually camping in rustic and rural park/areas with 1 or 2 bars (iphone) LTE coverage (often the signal jumps around to LTE to 1 or 2 bars 3G). That’s enough to do voice and text, but anything with graphics or complexity doesn’t always work well.

Anyways, if someone has superior recommendations on 1 to 3 year old equipment that would be great and what I’m looking for. I hate buying and installing equipment only to return it after I’ve done all this work.

Thanks

[Shane826]

Why not put it on the tow vehicle? I’m sure it would still broadcast a signal across your campsite, then you’d also have it when you venture away from camp.

[live4fun]

That’s a great idea but then adds a couple of new questions.

1. To keep the booster equipment ON (while camping) I’d need to connect it to a hot DC wire and turn it on and off from the stationary campsite as we used it camping.

2. I’d have to figure out the battery drain on the tow vehicle battery if it got left on by accident overnight or while parking long term.

3. My tow vehicle is usually 20ft from the TM while parked. Would there be significant signal lose between enclosure of two vehicles plus the distance. That’s between router in truck and people in TM?

Is there anything else I’m missing about connecting to the tow vehicle? Thanks for the alternative thoughts. Kurt

[Bill]

Back to basics. The problem with iPads, cell phones, and the like, is that they are very small devices and therefore have very small antennas. Small antennas don't pick up signals well (they have low efficiency or low gain), and therefore the strength of the signal available to the electronics in the device is small. This is made worse by the fact that the TM is a metal box, and metal blocks signals. And further, although an amplifier can increase the signal strength of an outgoing cell or wi-fi signal, it can't do much with a very weak inbound signal.

So the first thing to do is get an antenna outside the TM. Get it up as high as you can. And if you can get an antenna with some gain (aka sensitivity), it will be even better.

Years ago, in the era when campground wi-fi systems were terrible, I bought a wi-fi repeater from a company called JefaTech. Aside from the box of electronics, it came with a monopole antenna with a gain of +8.5 dB (that is a good number) shown in the attached picture. I got a 5-foot length of 1-inch PVC pipe and another 5-foot length of 3/4-inch PVC pipe which would slide inside the larger one. I bolted the antenna to one end of the small pipe, and slipped the other end inside the large pipe so that it could slide in and out. This gave me a collapsible 10-foot mast. Cheap and easy. I then put a couple plastic cable loops on the outside of the TM, where I could drop the base of the mast into the loops. The result was that I could position a very good antenna outside the TM, several feet above the roof. I ran the cable into the TM under one of the flaps, and it made a lot of difference.

In my case, I bought the entire JefaTech repeater assembly, which was kinda pricey. But the antenna itself is much less expensive. Be aware that antennas cover a given frequency band, so you may need one for wi-fi (2.4 GHz is good), and another for cellular use. But either one could be mounted on the TM's crank-up TV antenna mast.

At that time, I posted a picture of the assembly. I doubt that the picture is still there, but if I can find it I will link it. There is still a lot of discussion of wi-fi repeaters at the end of 2011 and into 2012, search for the word "booster". And there is an article in the TM Technical Library at

https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ad.php?t=12478.

Bill

[Bill]

Meanwhile, if anyone has experience with any of the small pack-o-cigarettes boosters with the dual rabbit ear antennas, I would like to hear about it.

Bill

[inghamm]

Here's what I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/SureCall-Fusi...30&sr=8-3&th=1
I mounted the outside antenna on the TV mount on the roof. (I've had to re-do that part a few times because the antenna catches the wind and bends the piece of metal that I used to interface the antenna with the mount.) At first i tried to use the already existing coax in the trailer, but I found that was very poor and I lost a lot of signal. So I bought the highest quality coax cable I could find, routed it across the roof, down an arm, under the trailer, up next to the bathtub. That way the booster is as far away as possible from the antenna. You want the antenna to pick up the cell signal from the cell tower, not the booster. So I usually point the antenna forward. It was a lot of money BUT I have been very pleased with the results, usually adding 2-3 bars to the signal, often able to pull in the 4G signal when I could not without it, and sometimes I would get a few bars so I could at least have call and text use when without it I would have nothing. So I have used it with hotspot on my phone to stream to my computer and watch Netflix etc, where without it it would not have been possible. When I was testing, I ran the coax into the trailer through the flaps. The booster amp is very sophisticated and can automatically find the right level of boost. This set-up could be improved with the antenna further away from the trailer and higher up, but that was more than I wanted to deal with. To do this install I removed the power convertor so I could work in that space behind the tub.

[Bill]

That is a real nice setup. I bet there is a similar one for wi-fi - I just haven't looked.

You are right about the need for good coaxial cable. Coax cables are specified using RG- numbers. The stuff that is commonly used for connecting over-the-air TV signals to your TV is called RG-58. It is cheap, and works well for those low-frequency signals. But wifi and cellular, as well as satellite TV, use much higher frequencies. For those, you need something called RG-6. Retailers will try to up-sell you to something more expensive called RG-11, but you don't need it.

Thanks for your input on this.

Bill

[live4fun]

I’ll follow up on this idea. I was wondering a few things.
1. Does the booster constantly drain the 12v batteries or does it have an On /Off switch when in use?
2. Does the booster need a clear line of sight to your cell phones? I see a thick black wire coming out the top of the unit and wondered where that went too and what that functioned as?
3. There are times when we don’t get any cell signal in our tow vehicle. Can this booster- antenna combo do anything for the tow vehicle when moving or is it just a stationary setup device? And if it did work for the tow vehicle, how could it be turned on if needed when folded down.

Great dialogue, I really appreciate the new ideas to look into. Thanks !

[Shane826]

Bill-

For WiFi I have the one linked below. Antenna is mounted on the Bargman TV antenna (I had the folks at the factory run the cable during the rebuild). Parked in my driveway, I can pick up a WiFi signal from McDonalds 0.3 miles away, it is then boosted and broadcast through the router as its own network, and I can stream Netflix on my phone using that signal. Without the booster I don’t pick up the McDs WiFi until I’m almost in the parking lot.

https://www.amazon.com/Network-Unive...99467930&psc=1

[inghamm]

Originally Posted by live4fun

I’ll follow up on this idea. I was wondering a few things.
1. Does the booster constantly drain the 12v batteries or does it have an On /Off switch when in use?
2. Does the booster need a clear line of sight to your cell phones? I see a thick black wire coming out the top of the unit and wondered where that went too and what that functioned as?
3. There are times when we don’t get any cell signal in our tow vehicle. Can this booster- antenna combo do anything for the tow vehicle when moving or is it just a stationary setup device? And if it did work for the tow vehicle, how could it be turned on if needed when folded down.

Great dialogue, I really appreciate the new ideas to look into. Thanks !

In case you were asking about my set-up:
1. It runs on a wall wart (AC), so you would need an inverter to run on DC. On/Off switch, yes, but in use? I think it is always boosting the cell signal, whether anyone is using it or not, so if it's on, it's draining the battery. Output of the wall wart is 5.9v @ 2.8 amps
2. The black thing coming out of the top is the broadcasting antenna. Line of sight is not crucial. No issues inside the trailer.
3. It's important that you understand how this works. It takes a faint signal reaching the directional antenna on top of the trailer and amplifies it inside the trailer. If it amplified the signal enough to go outside and reach the antenna, then there would be a signal loop, which would not be helpful. I have set up the broadcast antenna as far away vertically and horizontally from the directional antenna as possible, and I keep the directional antenna pointed away from the broadcast antenna. So no, it is not going to help get signal to your tow vehicle. I have never seen anything that does that.