On 27 Oct 2003 15:39:00 -0800, (Parallax)
wrote:

My posts havent been gittin through fer some reason so I'm gonna
repost this one.

For ppl who really want to stay connected while afloat ( I dunno why
but they do). Useless Idea #3734

Put a T in the output of your VHF so your cellphone can be connected
to your VHF antenna waaaaaaaaay up thar on your mast. Since your 900
Mhz cellphone is even more line-of-sight than vhf, this will give you
more more coverage when you are a few miles out. In this case, I
expect coverage will then be limited by cellphone power instead of by
not being able to see a tower. I would expect to be able to get
coverage from 15 miles out. I once experimented, while standing on my
cabin top, I was able to use my cell phone while being 6 miles
offshore. Would a cell phone booster be illegal?

I have seen boosters advertised for some cell phones.

As for the VHF antenna, if it does come out to a multiple of the cell
antenna its gain would be so high, and its vertical angle so narrow,
that it couldn't be used in anything but dead flat calm, with no
ground swell. There is also the little problem of impedance matching
and coupling the phone to the coax.

The booster seems likelier to work.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"Religious wisdom is to wisdom as military music is to music."

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote in message . ..
On 27 Oct 2003 15:39:00 -0800, (Parallax)
wrote:

My posts havent been gittin through fer some reason so I'm gonna
repost this one.

For ppl who really want to stay connected while afloat ( I dunno why
but they do). Useless Idea #3734

Put a T in the output of your VHF so your cellphone can be connected
to your VHF antenna waaaaaaaaay up thar on your mast. Since your 900
Mhz cellphone is even more line-of-sight than vhf, this will give you
more more coverage when you are a few miles out. In this case, I
expect coverage will then be limited by cellphone power instead of by
not being able to see a tower. I would expect to be able to get
coverage from 15 miles out. I once experimented, while standing on my
cabin top, I was able to use my cell phone while being 6 miles
offshore. Would a cell phone booster be illegal?

I have seen boosters advertised for some cell phones.

As for the VHF antenna, if it does come out to a multiple of the cell
antenna its gain would be so high, and its vertical angle so narrow,
that it couldn't be used in anything but dead flat calm, with no
ground swell. There is also the little problem of impedance matching
and coupling the phone to the coax.

The booster seems likelier to work.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"Religious wisdom is to wisdom as military music is to music."


I never said I had good ideas. However, I realize that somehow you
better disconnect the connection when the VHF or radar is used. I
also forgot about impedance matching (my god, alzheimers, I taught an
engineering lab on impedance matching once). I really don't know how
a radar antenna works on small boats. If it is just a rotating dish,
it oughta work with the right transducer.

On 28 Oct 2003 05:05:13 -0800, (Parallax)
wrote:


I never said I had good ideas. However, I realize that somehow you
better disconnect the connection when the VHF or radar is used. I
also forgot about impedance matching (my god, alzheimers, I taught an
engineering lab on impedance matching once). I really don't know how
a radar antenna works on small boats. If it is just a rotating dish,
it oughta work with the right transducer.


The kind with a dome has a printed-circuit board with an array of
little antenna elements with fixed phase relationship that produces
the beam and receives the echoes. The open ones are slotted wave
guides AFIK. I don't see how either would help a cell phone.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"Religious wisdom is to wisdom as military music is to music."

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On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 16:18:57 -0500,
Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:
On 28 Oct 2003 05:05:13 -0800, (Parallax)
wrote:


I never said I had good ideas. However, I realize that somehow you
better disconnect the connection when the VHF or radar is used. I
also forgot about impedance matching (my god, alzheimers, I taught an
engineering lab on impedance matching once). I really don't know how
a radar antenna works on small boats. If it is just a rotating dish,
it oughta work with the right transducer.


The kind with a dome has a printed-circuit board with an array of
little antenna elements with fixed phase relationship that produces
the beam and receives the echoes. The open ones are slotted wave
guides AFIK. I don't see how either would help a cell phone.


If they were the right freq, it would work, at least the antenna part.
Still have to deal with impedence issues.

The slotted wavguide type, are called "Alford" antenna's and they
basically act like an array of verticle dipoles. Except they are
horizontally polarized. The PCB looking ones, are microstrip patch
arrays.

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--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
Think for yourselves and allow others the privilege to do the same.
- Voltare