PCS_CELL Phone Accessories by Wilson Electronics.
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PCS Frequently Asked Questions
GENERAL INFORMATION
External
Antennas connected to portable cellphones, (AMPS, E-AMPS, CDMA, TDMA, GSM, PCS) greatly
increase signal output, or propagation to the cell site tower. The improvements in signal
pattern, strength, and effective range can be dramatic. Using an external antenna adaper
will allow connection to any external antenna. The portable phone can be connected to an
antenna on top of the car, SUV or even a filing cabinet at the office. Or connect to a
marine antenna up 20 feet on the boat. Or connect to a directional
antenna outside the home or factory to beam to a distant cell site. Plus, battery
power is extended and radiation is kept away from the user. Below, in various paragraphs
are the details wanted by users so they can also improve their antenna performance.
ANTENNA PERFORMANCE WITH
STANDARD ANTENNA
Most phones on the market today may have a very well designed antenna on top of
them but they are usually performing with a gain of -3 to as much as -15, that's negative
3 to 15 dBd using a dipole or quarter wave as rough reference point. The lower number
could be the phone as a stand alone item and the highest negative numbers come when the
phone is in your hand and one inch from your head. Not to mention the radiation pattern
which is far from omni-directional, PLUS the polarization is not vertical, which is what
the cell site prefers. And don't forget, on top of all that you may be inside a metal
roofed car!
As we can see, signal propagation off the top of a portable phone can be pretty bad.
Fortunately though most users are working well with on-phone antennas because of the
supreme cellular coverage enjoyed in the US and some other highly developed countries.
Today, cell sites are covering the land and providing a nice blanket of signal coverage.
BUT, there are lots of exceptions to this good coverage.
CELLULAR/PCS COVERAGE AREAS
Today, the super coverage is in analog cellular signals. Even some of the most remote
rural locations are covered. Digital cellular is second best and gaining fast but has a
long way to go in the rural areas. Then there is PCS which is mostly in highly populated
areas or along well traveled roads between these areas. Then you add in the multitude of
newer competitors in Digital cell and PCS and you end up with very spotty coverage. Plenty
of weak signals for thousands of users.
EXTERNAL ANTENNAS: ADVANTAGES
The antenna placed away from the phone and in the clear will provide enough performance to
increase usable distance between 2 and 50 miles. Small 3" tall magnetic (0dB gain)
antennas are at the low end of this distance estimate and 8-element Yagi directionals
(10dBd) can be at the high end. See the
Yagi tech info page for more info on those. While the Yagi or Panel antennas are for
fixed locations and provide terrific gain in one direction, the popular external antenna
is a magnetic based or glass mounted antenna on the car. This type will be address here.
We would never really state an exact distance increase because it is all very dependent on
conditions that are changing constantly. For example cell-site tower distance, site
antenna height, design, type of terrain and placement and efficiency of the external
antenna. We can safely say that, the external antenna will provide a vertically polarized,
omni-directional signal at 0 (zero or unity) gain up to 7dBi (5dBd) which will be a
noticeable and effective signal increase. Depending on the phone and what antenna is used
outside the car, signal improvement should be on the order of 6 to 20dB less aproximately
1 dB for cable losses to the antenna. This equals, anywhere from triple to 5 times the
power (on the horizon) that was being radiated by the phone-top antenna!
EXTERNAL ANTENNAS: AUXILIARY
ADVANTAGES
Use of an external antenna will keep the signal radiation away from you. Instead of
radiation 1" from your head (ruining the signal pattern) you will be sending your
signal out to where it works best. This also addresses the safety concerns of radiation so
close to the head.
Use of the external antenna can greatly increase battery life! Your phone has 7 output
power steps. It is instructed by the cell site how much power to put out between
approximately 1/20th of a watt to the full power 6/10ths of a watt. If you are using the
external antenna in a moderate to good signal coverage area, your phone will power down
because of the increased antenna efficiency.
EXTERNAL ANTENNAS: CONNECTIONS
The best way to get the signal out of the portable phones is by using the manufacturer's
"Car Kit" or "Hands Free" kit selecting the model with RF out or RF
interface for antennas. Sometimes the RF version costs substantially more or is not
offered, or the user wants total freedom instead of placing the phone in a cradle or
holder. AlternativeWireless.com carries cables (external antenna adapters) which can
connect directly to the phone. These cables, aprox 8" - 24" thin cable where one
end plugs into the phone's antenna and the other end provides a popular coaxial connector
(TNC, FME, miniUHF are examples) receptacle to allow a thicker, lower loss cable going to
the cellular antenna, to be connected. The thinner 1/8" (RG-174) cable near the phone
allows free movement and is not as restrictive as the 3/16" (RG-58) cable supplied
with most antennas.
EXTERNAL ANTENNAS: AVAILABLE CONNECTIONS
Some phones have the tiny "coaxial" jack as part of the multi-pin connector
block inside the bottom of the phone. Our connector will plug into that and use only the
coaxial pin while the other pins are blank and not used. In this case you would not be
able to connect another one there to access audio, charging or data pins. For some phones
we offer a combination charging/antenna plug as a unit. But remember, external antenna
usually means longer battery life due to lower RF output in moderate to good coverage
areas. Phones in this category are the families of Nokia 2120/2160 etc, Mot Startac,
Elite, Ericsson 738, Sony 100 etc.
The other type of output on phones places the RF jack all alone usually on the back near
the top but it can be on the bottom or side near the bottom. This stand-alone RF jack will
not interfere with the multi-pin at the bottom. Examples of this are the Ericsson 300 or
600 (non retractable antenna types) and the Nok 6100/5100 series.
