Cell phone booster external antenna

[John Linck]

My business requires connectivity, but we like to camp in National Parks with their weak or absent cell signals. I chose to add a Wilson Sleek cell booster to my rig. This is especially necessary in a Scamp with its aluminized bubble wrap insulation that attenuates radio waves. I mounted the Sleek's antenna on the Scamp's roof. The antenna works better with a metal ground plane, like a car roof. Fiberglass will not work. So I made the antenna base of an eight inch square of aluminum with a steel washer glued on for the antenna's magnetic mount. Some tricky angles in the aluminum bends gave it a nearly level position on the double sloping fiberglass. I used 3m tape for mounting and fed the wire thru the roof vent. You can see a 100 watt solar panel in the background.

Haven't tested it yet. Will update this when the results are in.

Happy Trails, john

[Darwin Maring]

Straighttalk.com sells a Home unit that is a cell phone unit that works over the Verizon network and you plug an ordinary home phone to it. It costs $15 a month for unlimited nation wide calling. You can buy it at Walmart or a refurb unit straight from Straighttalk for very little.

This uit would be ideal for camping as you could activate only when camping. It has a battery in it so you could unplug it and take it outside to make a call if you had low coverage inside the camper.

[Jon Vermilye]

For anyone wishing to install an external antenna without the need for a ground plane, the WirEng BoatAnt is a solution.