Quote:
caltexflanc - 3/22/2008 6:12 PM
Like where?
Disagree that amps are a waste, mine has paid for itself many times over. Do agree that one should start with a good antenna and see if that gets you what you need before spending extra bucks. You'll need the antenna anyway.
George
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In the North Gulf there are many cell towers out on Oil rigs. When the FCC created cellular licenses back in the 80's they created one for the Gulf of Mexico, two carriers were awarded cellular licenses for the entire Gulf of Mexico.
Because of this many land based carriers could not extend their coverage into the water as they would be infringing on the Gulf license area. Some land based carriers did file major Modifications into the Gulf that did not get protested by the Gulf carriers for one reason or another. So there are a few places where land based cell service extends out into the gulf, sometimes out to the 25 mile area.
As cell service has expanded the land based carriers have had to lower antenna heights and short space cell sites to provide the capacity needed in a frequency reuse network, as a result of this engineering the land based coverage is now interference based and the network engineering is optimized over land creating interference on the water where the propagation characteristics are different. This adds to the lower service levels we notice on water based cellular communications as the signal goes farther than on land and towers interfere with one another. In a digital world this creates dropped calls and muted interruptions while talking and listening. In the old analog world we just heard other people talking. The reduced tower heights have effectively reduced coverage out into the water.
Basically the coverage in the gulf over water from land based cell sites is line of site communication as there are no structures or foliage to attenuate the signal. Because of this line of site communication it is not power based but antenna height based. So mounting a high gain antenna up on top of the vessel raises the height above water for the boat based mobile and takes away the near field attenuation of the vessel and people/equipment next to the cell phone's internal antenna and in the line of site to the land based tower.
So you can raise the output power all you want and all you are doing is shooting signals out into space as the land based tower is below the horizon. In addition cell phone operation is duplex operation, the signal goes in both directions so raising the output power of the cell on the vessel is only one link, that does nothing for the tower signal back to the cell phone. You are also creating problems for the entire cell network as the cellular engineering assumes mobile power outputs of no more than 600 milliwatts. So by raising the cell phone output power up to several watts you are just creating more interference on the cellular network. In addition many of the new power amplifiers respond to the networks dynamic power control signals, so even if you install one it will most likely just be powered down to the original power level associated with the Station Class Mark of your mobile, meaning you paid for nothing. Manu cell networks now set a maximum power level for all mobiles that is transmitted in overhead messaging to each mobile/amplifier combo.
Jim
Cell Phone Boosters? 
