Cell booster

FrozenNorth

FrozenNorth

New member
I have a cell booster right now that I'm using, a Sure call flare. It seems to work but having issues with the directional antenna (why can I never spell that word on the first try?). Basically when I'm in a park with a few cell towers the signal jumps from one tower to another and then I have to run outside and re-align and then an hour or two later it's back on a different tower and so on.

I'm thinking I might have better luck with an omni antenna instead. I understand range is a little less with omni vs directional but I've often had 4 or 5 bars with the booster plugged in so I can afford to lose a bar if it means a more stable connection.

Anyone have any product suggestions or tips?
 
Thinking of getting one of these off of amazon. Prices range from $30 to $120+. They all look the same to me, anyone know what the differences are?

Listed in order of price. I'm leaning towards the third one here, only because its the cheapest one that comes with a cable that can be disconnected right at the base of the antenna, and also a few different connector fittings:

 
Also I'm a little confused by the ohm rating, for example some are 50 ohms and others are 75 ohms. So I guess I should match the antenna to my booster but I'm wondering what happens if you mismatch them?
 
FrozenNorth said:
Basically when I'm in a park with a few cell towers the signal jumps from one tower to another and then I have to run outside and re-align and then an hour or two later it's back on a different tower and so on.
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This is because in the cellular world, received signal strength is incredibly important both to the phone and the tower. The RAN controller in the tower also has the ability to push your phone off to another tower by decreasing the tower's transmit power to your phone. This makes your phone prefer a stronger tower signal.

How the cellular network works is highly complex. I just might work for one of the largest carriers in the US. In my opinion you're better off with a high gain omni directional antenna, than trying to outsmart the cellular network. You aren't going to outsmart the cellular network.

You also need to understand which bands your carrier uses and get an antenna tuned to those bands for the best gain.
 
FrozenNorth said:
Also I'm a little confused by the ohm rating, for example some are 50 ohms and others are 75 ohms. So I guess I should match the antenna to my booster but I'm wondering what happens if you mismatch them?
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If the antenna isn't matched to the frequency, then the signal won't propagate correctly and you've pretty much wasted your money on the antenna.
 
Wayne said:
If the antenna isn't matched to the frequency, then the signal won't propagate correctly and you've pretty much wasted your money on the antenna.
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I found this article, do you think there is any truth to it? Reason I'm asking is because that antenna I listed in my first post is 50 ohms but my sure call flare is 75 ohm and other than the ohm mismatch I think the antenna would be a great fit in terms of supported frequencies, cost etc.

They're saying it would be about a 1db loss which I probably wouldn't notice, and I suspect the overal experience would still be better than the unidirectional I'm fighting with now.

blog.solidsignal.com

Can you use a 50-ohm antenna with a 75-ohm cell booster? - The Solid Signal Blog

Here are the results from real testing.
blog.solidsignal.com blog.solidsignal.com
 
FrozenNorth said:
I found this article, do you think there is any truth to it? Reason I'm asking is because that antenna I listed in my first post is 50 ohms but my sure call flare is 75 ohm and other than the ohm mismatch I think the antenna would be a great fit in terms of supported frequencies, cost etc.

They're saying it would be about a 1db loss which I probably wouldn't notice, and I suspect the overal experience would still be better than the unidirectional I'm fighting with now.

blog.solidsignal.com

Can you use a 50-ohm antenna with a 75-ohm cell booster? - The Solid Signal Blog

Here are the results from real testing.
blog.solidsignal.com blog.solidsignal.com
Click to expand...
I asked my PhD EE friend who designs and builds antennas for a hobby. He said you won't see any difference between 50 and 75 ohm antennas. The larger concern is the cable length between the booster and antenna, keep it as short as possible, that's where your signal loss will be.
 
Wayne said:
I asked my PhD EE friend who designs and builds antennas for a hobby. He said you won't see any difference between 50 and 75 ohm antennas. The larger concern is the cable length between the booster and antenna, keep it as short as possible, that's where your signal loss will be.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks!
 
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