Low signal in metal building

[tenpinmogul]

I've been searching threads for awhile and found a number talking about using an external antenna in fringe areas and one inside an office building, but none for in a metal building with metal roof. I am a fair distance from any windows or exterior doors and in my office I get hit and miss reception (between 0 and 1 EV bars but often drops to a weak analog signal). Even at 0 bars EV the data connection works well enough, the problem is it too often drops to the analog signal.

I have an external antenna that doesn't help at all (granted, it's actually for 2.4ghz...but I hoped that would be close enough for some improvement), and I am hesitant to buy another antenna based on this one not doing anything. I also can't afford to spend a couple hundred dollars on an amp / repeater, though would be open to that if there was a less expensive one that might work (in the $50-ish range would work but haven't seen any that cheap). Are there any other options? Maybe a directional antenna? I know being in a metal building is a tough situation but the signal does get through, it just needs a little more help. Heck I was even thinking about drilling a hole in the wall to attach a wire to the metal studs! (I know...not likely to help).

Thanks.

[subhumanderelict]

The 2.4GHz antenna shouldn't work at all considering Sprint operates on 1900Mhz (800MHz when roaming, I think). As for the building being metal, I'm not sure if that would matter. I mean, metals do tend to screw up signals more than other materials of comparable size, but if you're still getting some signal, that means no more is being attenuated than if the building were made of some really thick dielectric. Agh... I gotta look back at my communication electromagnetics book to check this.

[tenpinmogul]

So there might still be hope for an antenna tuned to the correct frequency? The one I have is simply a thick wire with a 5 loop coil in it toward the bottom, total length about 7"...is there anyway to modify it to work at 1900mhz?

[subhumanderelict]

I'm not exactly sure about what the exact mechanism is that makes an antenna tune to different frequencies, but in this case, I would imagine you would have to do some modification to the circuitry. I'm sorry to say, but that's beyond me... electrical engineering is only my minor :-/ I do know the size of the antenna isn't always the most important factor. I mean, what you're using is much larger than what you would find in your cell phone, but it picks up the same frequencies, right? The only difference is how much of that frequency it detects. The impedance which the circuits may provide can determine what frequency it tunes to. So, if you're up for a challenge, you might want to read up on this stuff and try it out for yourself. Sorry I couldn't give a more useful answer...

[w8tvi]

Actually, you can get a cell repeater that uses a bit of coax to put the repeater's antenna out side and then the base part of it can be inside wherever you need it.

[rainfreak]

I doubt that he wants to pay a few hundred dollars for a building repeater, unless it is his building or his business. But in case I am wrong, I found a nice repeater system for a mere $449.00...

http://www.criterioncellular.com/rep..._repeater.html

[shovelhd]

He can also wait until July for the Airave.

[mike6043]

shove one of these babies on your filing cabenet thats what my dad has at work he claims it makes a big diference

http://cgi.ebay.com/7dBi-External-An...QQcmdZViewItem

[bakntyme]

I do not believe that Sprint has released it yet, but when it is available, this device will hook up to the internet and provide a cell signal like a mini-cell tower in your building:
Sprint AIRAVE

If you are inside a metal building, it is like being inside the shielding of a coax cable, so an external antenna might help a little but probably not very much. Also, the external antenna connector on the Titan is notoriously delicate, and allegedly the internal connection to it can easily break when plugging in an antenna, which will permanently disconnect the internal antenna also.

WARNING: boring technical info below
If you want to try the external antenna anyway, antennas are tuned by adjusting the length of the antenna; it should be an integral multiple of half of the desired wavelength. The wavelength is the speed of radio waves, which is the speed of light, divided by the frequency; so a frequency of 1900 MHz would have a wavelength of approximately 0.15789 meters, or approximately 6.216 inches. Therefore, an antenna of a length that is a multiple of 3.108 inches would provide the best signal.

See Wavelength and Frequency, Univ. of Oregon

[tenpinmogul]

Thanks for the info.

I have looked at the building repeaters and while they are a great idea, it isn't my building / business so can't spend that kind of money on it. I am also aware of the airave but have one big problem...my cell phone is my internet connection. I have a landline phone for phone calls and could use it for dialup (ick), but we don't have broadband internet.

So I guess I will play around with the external antenna some more. I am pretty sure the one I have is right at 7 inches so I will see if I can trim it down and get it to work.

Thanks again.