antenna booster strip works (on cellulars)?

[burnup]

anyone have or knows if the antenna booster strip works??

[matthew13l]

I've always thought they were gimmicks. I mean it's a sticker that attaches to the plastic case of your phone, how could that have any electrical contact with the phone's circuit???

[Someone Stupid]

They are gimmicks, what does work is having a headset plugged in to the cellphone.. boost reception by two bars - and when I was out in teh boonies so to speak before I moved the other day I needed those two bars else I would only get one out of 3 or so calls, then it'd be silence... with the headset (admittedly one for a house portable phone - not the one from them), the signal was good enough to grab all calls and get zero cutoffs or anything.

[Bovon]

Originally posted by matthew13l
I've always thought they were gimmicks. I mean it's a sticker that attaches to the plastic case of your phone, how could that have any electrical contact with the phone's circuit??? Be aware that an electrical connection is not always needed where RF (radio frequency) is concerned.

Look at the rear window cell phone antennas..they are connected thru glass!! one of the best insulators around.

To be sure, there are many 'gimmicks' "out there"..but just because the 'wires' do not actually connect in some electrical way that we can see...does not mean there is no transfer of energy!.

[matthew13l]

Originally posted by Bovon
Be aware that an electrical connection is not always needed where RF (radio frequency) is concerned.

Look at the rear window cell phone antennas..they are connected thru glass!! one of the best insulators around.

To be sure, there are many 'gimmicks' "out there"..but just because the 'wires' do not actually connect in some electrical way that we can see...does not mean there is no transfer of energy!.

Cool, I learned something new today!:t

[burnup]

yeah i know its through inductance, but i'm asking do they work?

[capybara]

i had a cellphone with poor reception, i went back to tthe cellphone store (cingular) and asked for a booster. the salesman said we have shese stick on strips, but they dont work.
...... i tried it anyway, but the salesman was right, it didnt work.:rolleyes:

[Someone Stupid]

My mom bought two different types of those strips bovon, didn't work on her phone at all, when she switched phones later on, as this one could at least get calls where she lives most of the time she tried them, still didn't work, tried placing them how they should be, and everywhere else... just doesn't work.

[Someone Stupid]

You do have other stuff in the phone which draws the little signal they get away from the attenna - that's why they don't work. The Ceramic speaker will draw more than the antenna will, and even if not closer, it's strong enough to create a direct pull so the internal antenna doesn't get reception, nor will it help the external one - unless maybe you wrap it around the external attenna - talking about the encased ones here, not the flimsy pullup ones.

[genesound]

There's just no telling with RF, that gizmo might actually work on one unit and not on an identical model, in fact it could make it worse. Not to mention the totally different characteristics of a different model. Forget about it, it's a gimmick. I don't know why they haven't been sued back to the stone age except that it's too technical for a judge or a jury, and too cheap to bother with :eek: :r :mad:

[burnup]

thanks for the advice guys!
guess that **** is out the window haha.:t

[ukulele]

Just run a couple of hundred feet of two conductor phone line between two trees and clip it on the phone antenna with an alligator clip. If that don't work nothing will.

[bushmaster]

Some people swear by them, and some people swear at them.

The only ones I've really seen be effective are the home base style that need be plugged in to boost signal in and out.

[j.m@talk]

Originally posted by bushmaster
Some people swear by them, and some people swear at them.

The only ones I've really seen be effective are the home base style that need be plugged in to boost signal in and out.

Question is how are you set as far as SWR goes? :p

Wouldn't want another powerstation calamity now would ya :-@

[burnup]

oh i know this one neat little Italian DOS base smith's chart program that helps u determine the best wave ratio. dang it forgot what its called. it does simulations of different lenghts etc on an antenna and gives u best possible lenght for the best swr.

can't find it anywhere...

anyone know???