GSM Antenna
Submitted: Monday, Jul 04, 2005 at 12:48
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Member - Sam (NSW)
Am in the middle of installing a car kit, tested it out on the weekend and realised that placing the phone into the cradle disables the internal antenna of the phone.
So am now in the market for an antenna. Can anyone recommend a good antenna? Do the on-glass ones survive the bumps and corrugations etc or would a more robust whip type be a better option? I am also aiming for a dual-band antenna if possible as it will get more of a workout in city driving. If anyone can shed some light on the matter (brand, model, price) i'd appreciate it.
cheers,
Sam.
Reply By: BenSpoon - Monday, Jul 04, 2005 at 13:19
Monday, Jul 04, 2005 at 13:19
RFI and ZCG Scalar make excellent units. The stick on glass ones are weak- Just have a look at their gain. The only real benefit to the glass mounted ones is that you get reception better than your car phone when it is inside the car.
For country work, and to make your aerial of any benefit, you need a high gain. Expect to pay around $140 for the GSM and CDMA band aerials. Buy a decent 9db with spring base, mount it high up and you will be sweet.
If you are running a nokia kit, they come with mini FME-101 couplers. Get an RFI aerial and they come with the same- it saves you the $5 and running around for another connector if you're a tight arse like me.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Monday, Jul 04, 2005 at 14:19
Monday, Jul 04, 2005 at 14:19
Sam,
I agree with Benspoon.
I have just had an external aerial installed on the roof of the Jack.
The aerial purchased was a Laser CDMA UC9SF-800-259.
This has a frequency of 825-890MHz and a gain of 7dBi.
It has a flexible fibreglass element, 880mm long.
Now, this is a bit too long for around town use, so I also purchased a $25 flexible stubby bizzo, which I am assured will cover 70-80% of use with little loss in reception. When going bush, unscrew the stubby and screw on the Laser.
The Installer I used (Electric Bug in S.A.) also assured me that this configuration will work just as
well for GSM as
well as the CDMA phone I use in the Country.
The small amount of "loss" on GSM due to the slight out of frequency imbalance is very slight, especially when compared to the high loss of "through the glass" aerials.
Another misconception clarified by Electric Bug was with the Nokia Couplers working/not working with CDMA phones.
Although Nokia does not provide a part number for a coupler to be used with their CDMA phones, the same coupler as used for the GSM phones will work and work
well.
I have a 2112 CDMA phone and a 6610i GSM phone which share the same cradle connections, etc. I have gone out to the remote country area until the CDMA phone was starting to lose signal (unconnected). Was only showing 2 bars.
Connected the phone into the cradle and the signal indicator rose to full strength.
So, a Nokia coupler WILL pick up the internal aerial of the Nokia phones be they GSM or CDMA jobbies and provide the interface to an external aerial.
AnswerID:
118767