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Cell booster antenna

TomCanadaTomCanada Member Posts: 290
edited April 2022 in Modifications & Upgrades
Ordered a cell booster kit from SolidRF (way cheaper at $200 than the Weboost branded kits and effectively the same hardware) and a telescoping pole (25 feet, collapses to 6 feet for storage/transport) and took the Tab for its inaugural drive with our new TV (2022 X3) to a known dead spot in a valley.  Plugged in, went from zero data and one bar to streaming speeds and full 5 bars. Works like a charm!  This kit is a directional style which gets you more range but you need to point it in the direction of a known cell tower.  Should allow us to get more time in the parks if I can work remotely a bit more as a result and use up less vacation time! 

External antenna mount is a breeze with a plastic base foot and two adhesive mounts on the side of the trailer.  I doub the effectiveness of adhesive but I cleaned the area well with alcohol first and then found inserting the pole to the base and sliding the pole's brackets to align to the Tab's mount points was a good way to avoid stress on the mounting points and they held well in some fairly windy conditions during my test today.

I routed the external antenna to the cable input in the Nautilus panel, then stuck the internal amp + internal antenna on the back of the tv using some heavy duty double sided tape and thick rubber bands, grabbing the coax from the TV as well as patching into the TV's 12V power line.  The amp only draws 0.3A according to the BMV so even boondocking we will be rocking some data :). At least until we get on Elon's newfangled satellites that is!

I also had a friendly York region (north of Toronto) officer slow down to ask if everything was ok - after telling them what I was up to they gave me a "have fun" lol.  

Ps. The antenna in the photo only looks a bit askew because we're half-parked on a shoulder on this country road..


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Comments

  • N7SHG_HamN7SHG_Ham Member Posts: 1,261
    Note that there is probably an impendence mismatch as I believe the TV coax is 75 ohms and the cell booster is likely 50 ohms. If so, that affects performance and can could damage to the transmitter in the booster.
    2019 T@B 400 Boondock Lite
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  • Denny16Denny16 Member Posts: 5,431
    edited April 2022
    @N7SHG_Ham, whilst most ham type radios use 50-52 ohm antennas and cables, cell boosters mostly use 75 ohm antenna and coaxial cables.  Both the Weboost and SolidRF use 75-ohm RG6 coaxial cable.  So using the TaB’s TV antenna F connector to install a cell booster antenna will work just fine, and saves pulling RG6 cable inside the trailer, as it already has one pulled.  Another option is use the blank satellite F connector on the Nautilus panel to connect the portable outside antenna and pull a RG6 inside to,the location of choice for the booster unit inside the trailer.  Both will work just fine.
    Cheers 
    2018 TaB400 Custom Boondock,  Jeep Gladiator truck, Northern California Coast.
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  • N7SHG_HamN7SHG_Ham Member Posts: 1,261
    @Denny16 good to know, I wasn't sure and just a caution that there is more to coax cables than the mechanical connectors for those that didn't know. In this case sounds like all good.
    2019 T@B 400 Boondock Lite
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  • Denny16Denny16 Member Posts: 5,431
    Yes, coax cables can be very confusing, different impedance and more connector types than I can count.  
    Cheers 
    2018 TaB400 Custom Boondock,  Jeep Gladiator truck, Northern California Coast.
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  • stephengstepheng Member Posts: 112
    Do you have link for pole?  Amazon for booster?
    2022 T@B 320S Boondock
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