Nice hack to increase signal strength

[JuMpMaN6235]

Hey guys, i have HORRIBLE reception in my room, many times calls just get sent straight to voicemail... So i started messing around with this and now im getting a consistent FULL signal strength lol ... I changed the NV value to “1” for these three files:


File # 1670: NV_C0_BC1_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1
File # 1749: NV_C0_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1
File # 1776: NV_C1_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1

EDIT: also File # 1698 NV_C1_BC1_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1

Then soft reset

[fenixjn]

Im using FieldTrial to measure how good (or bad) I'm doing... so far:

L0 = Original Values
L1 = Original Values - 1000
L2 = Original Values - 500
L3 = OV - 1500

L0
C0 = 2293
C1 = 2915

FT(L0)
RxP(1X) = -70 dBm
RxE/I(1X) = 7 dBm
Rxp(HDR) = -60 dBm
RSS(HDR) = 62 (no unit)

FT(L1)
RxP = -65 dBm
RxE = 10 dBm
Rxp(HDR) = -60 dBm
RSS(HDR) = 60

FT(L2)
RxP = -89 dBm
RxE = 17 dBm
Rxp(HDR) = -60 dBm
RSS(HDR) = 63

FT (L3)
RxP = -73 dBm
RxE = 7 dBm
RxP(HDR) = -59 dBm
RSS(HDR) = 61

The tendency, taking RxP(1X) as measuring point, seems to be that a value lesser than L0 - 1000 but greater than L0 - 1500 should get better signal but since this modifies the internal amplifier and filters, I dont want to kill the whole radio.

Am I doing this right?

[xconwayx]

Originally Posted by JuMpMaN6235

Hey guys, i have HORRIBLE reception in my room, many times calls just get sent straight to voicemail... So i started messing around with this and now im getting a consistent FULL signal strength lol ... I changed the NV value to “1” for these three files:


File # 1670: NV_C0_BC1_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1
File # 1749: NV_C0_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1
File # 1776: NV_C1_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1

Then soft reset

Any reply on how your battery life is doing? As soon as I get to work I am doing this. I am in the same boat as you. It sucks.

[PPCGeeks4ME]

Uh oh...I just went back into QPST to try some more tweaks, and realized that after testing last night, when I went to set my values back to defaults, I actually wrote my default C0_BC0 and C1_BC0 values to the C0_BC1 and C1_BC1 keys. Now, I have no idea what my default values for those keys were.

I'm guessing there's no way to factory reset these values. Can someone with Sprint please post their default values for the C0_BC1 and C1_BC1 keys? I know they vary by phone, but at least then I can get a ballpark. Right now I think I remember C0_BC1 was 1746, but I have abo****ely no clue what C1_BC1 was.

[PPCGeeks4ME]

Originally Posted by JuMpMaN6235

Hey guys, i have HORRIBLE reception in my room, many times calls just get sent straight to voicemail... So i started messing around with this and now im getting a consistent FULL signal strength lol ... I changed the NV value to “1” for these three files:


File # 1670: NV_C0_BC1_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1
File # 1749: NV_C0_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1
File # 1776: NV_C1_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1

Then soft reset

Just tried this. Signal results are average of six samples taken once every ten seconds. Battery life results based on a 1:10 phone call to It Could Always Suck More.

Defaults: 1746 / 2285 / 3044
1X: -92
HDR: -81
Battery: 440mA, 11mAh

Tweaked: 1 / 1 / 1
1X: -73
HDR: -69
Battery: 394mA, 10mAh

Conclusion: Holy crap! An increase of 20dBm for 1X and 10dBm for HDR with no apparent impact on battery life!

Now, before everyone gets all excited, realize that this is almost certainly empty amplification, meaning the noise is being amplified as much as the signal, resulting in pretty much unchanged call quality. In fact, while testing I noticed that while the signal strength changed significantly, Ec/Io (I believe this is signal-to-noise ratio?) did not. Still, this has the potential to work wonders in low-signal areas, where the SNR is good but the signal is too low for the phone to detect. I cannot wait to test this on the road.

At lunch time I'll try setting C1_BC1 to 1 as well; I see no reason why we should leave that one out.

[cchris81]

Originally Posted by krohnjw

For what it's worth this was apparently an issue for the Sprint Treo Pro dropping/missing calls (not the GSM version) and was resolved by *upping* the GAIN_OFFSET values all above 3000 from around the values that are being discussed lowering the settings to here. http://treo.discussion.treocentral.c...d.php?t=180933

I read this, and this was the EXACT problem I've been having with my touch pro. Instead of lowering them, I raised them. I went to the same places that I had trouble receiving calls, and wallla, It Rings!!!. i haven't run field trial yet, but in areas of 1 bar, I'm getting 2 or 3 now.

[JuMpMaN6235]

Originally Posted by xconwayx

Any reply on how your battery life is doing? As soon as I get to work I am doing this. I am in the same boat as you. It sucks.

So far i only had this throughout the night, so i cant comment on it too much, but so far seems normal. Even if the battery does get consumed at a faster rate, thats a small price to pay instead of missing an important phone call

Originally Posted by PPCGeeks4ME

Uh oh...I just went back into QPST to try some more tweaks, and realized that after testing last night, when I went to set my values back to defaults, I actually wrote my default C0_BC0 and C1_BC0 values to the C0_BC1 and C1_BC1 keys. Now, I have no idea what my default values for those keys were.

I'm guessing there's no way to factory reset these values. Can someone with Sprint please post their default values for the C0_BC1 and C1_BC1 keys? I know they vary by phone, but at least then I can get a ballpark. Right now I think I remember C0_BC1 was 1746, but I have abo****ely no clue what C1_BC1 was.

These are my default values:
File # 1670: NV_C0_BC1_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1 (default 1772)
File # 1698: NV_C1_BC1_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1 (default 2550)
File # 1749: NV_C0_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1 (default 2271)
File # 1776: NV_C1_BC0_VGA_GAIN_OFFSET_1 (default 2989)

Originally Posted by PPCGeeks4ME

Just tried this. Signal results are average of six samples taken once every ten seconds. Battery life results based on a 1:10 phone call to It Could Always Suck More.

Defaults: 1746 / 2285 / 3044
1X: -92
HDR: -81
Battery: 440mA, 11mAh

Tweaked: 1 / 1 / 1
1X: -73
HDR: -69
Battery: 394mA, 10mAh

Conclusion: Holy crap! An increase of 20dBm for 1X and 10dBm for HDR with no apparent impact on battery life!

Now, before everyone gets all excited, realize that this is almost certainly empty amplification, meaning the noise is being amplified as much as the signal, resulting in pretty much unchanged call quality. In fact, while testing I noticed that while the signal strength changed significantly, Ec/Io (I believe this is signal-to-noise ratio?) did not. Still, this has the potential to work wonders in low-signal areas, where the SNR is good but the signal is too low for the phone to detect. I cannot wait to test this on the road.

At lunch time I'll try setting C1_BC1 to 1 as well; I see no reason why we should leave that one out.

Hey, thanks for pointing out C1_BC1, i guess i missed it.. i just changed that to 1 now. Thanks!

[PPCGeeks4ME]

Just changed C1_BC1 to 1; now my signal strengths are closer to -65 than -70. It would be really great if those numbers are real.

[ncwildcat]

I tried this and it immediately worked - kinda
However, I am now stuck roaming and on 1x
Any ideas?

[91ludesit]

You guys changing the values to 1 are risking burning up your radios.