I think those stick-on passive "boosters" work great. No help on reception, but if you stick 3
or 4 layers of them on, it keeps the battery from rattling arround.
--
Stephen Sank, Owner & Ribbon Mic Restorer
Talking Dog Transducer Company
http://stephensank.com
5517 Carmelita Drive N.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico [87111]
505-332-0336
Auth. Nakamichi & McIntosh servicer
Payments preferred through Paypal.com
"NSM" wrote in message news
ojse.64563$9A2.58628@edtnps89...
"Dan" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the reply. At least one company offers a solution along
these lines, but a repeater incorporating an amplifier rather than a
"passive" arrangement, which they claim is not feasible due to the low
signal levels (but then, they WOULD say that, wouldn't they?). Around
700 bucks. Yeeesh. They do offer a $100 800 mhz yagi (my freq), but
unfortunately no adapter for my particular phone. I'd have to do some
surgery. A final option appears to be a magnet mount vertical whip with
a ground plane (square of sheet metal), about $50 w/o cable, still faced
with attaching it to the phone. Might be worth a go. I'll check out
the article you suggest, futzing around with a cheap yagi might be fun,
once I solve the no-jack problem.
The secret of all these things is to try something and then see if you can
improve it. For a vertical, all you need in a piece of heavy copper wire or
small tube. You could also try a Radio Shack telescoping antenna.
I also remember people selling those passive boosters (for as low as 1 cent)
that you stick in the battery compartment but they seem to have died out -
guess they didn't work.
As for an 800 MHz amp, try the library for a copy of the Radio Amateur
handbook which may have a design. But always do the easy things first.
N