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From: George Hechtman (no email)
Date: Wed Jan 02 2008 - 12:14:59 EST
Gee, another topic I have some bit of expertise in. I come from the
cellular and mobile electronics industry, my old company is a
wholesale distributor and resell of a range of these products. See
archives for previous writings. We sold and installed a wide variety
of both wired and wireless systems. In the consumer/small business
arena, Wilson and Digital Antenna (DA), with the vast preponderance
of sales in the latter. DA does come out of the marine industry since
they started out as a high end boat antenna company.
When it came to equipping our new-to-us boat, I pretty much could do
what I wanted equipment wise. I ended up keeping it fairly simple.
One of the main reasons for that is that cell coverage, at least for
our provider, AT&T (nee Cingular) is very good along the waterways of
the eastern seaboard. I ended up installing a DA 8 ft antenna, wired
to one of their DA4000 amplifiers. In turn, I I can hardwire that to
our Sierra Wireless 875U USB data modem and one of the phones. If I
wanted to, I could leave the phone safe and sound and use a Bluetooth
handsfree as I wandered the boat. One of these days I will get around
to hooking it up to the intercom/phone system using a Dock 'n Talk,
which in our case involves some fiddling with the existing Charles C-
Phone set up.
From North Carolina to Miami, we have felt the need to use the
system once; mostly to improve data speed in a remote anchorage
(remote anchorages being our venues of choice). Our boat would be
almost ideal for one of their wireless systems, using one of their
indoor directional antennas. Since I can get one super cheap, I may
do that someday, but I doubt it. I can take the amplifier with me in
its carrying case and use it in cars or wherever; it has both 12v and
110v capability. The wireless units, even the newer boat/RV models,
require specialized installation and conditions.
One thing one must keep in mind, there has to be a signal to amplify.
If you are in a total dead zone, only the deadness will be amplified.
In various cruises in other places and on other boats, I did find the
amplifier remarkably useful in making something out of seemingly
nothing, so you do have to try it. A nice antenna is the first and
most important element, but if you end up with too long a cable run,
its un-amplified benefits are mitigated by signal loss. I always
suggest trying to improve the antenna first, before investing in
electronics.
George
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