So, you bought a Cell Phone Booster? Watch out for wide-band RFI!

[ThaDood]

Since my AT&T coverage, as well as any other cell phone carrier, is very marginal, at best, at my home QTH, I bought the WeBoost #470144 Multi-Carrier, Multi-band, Cell Phone Booster. And, It works kind of like a satellite transponder. I am bouncing off of a hill to reach, not the closest, but the most accessible cell tower. If I were to try to do so direct, I'd be going through thick foliage, which sucks at 800MHz and above. However, in-house, I can make cell calls and not depend on hogging more DSL wifi bandwidth with VOIP, like I did with Verizon's Network Extender. So, from nothing, to usable cell signal. What's the caveat??? Wideband RFI from MW to 10MHz! Wipes-out the 75M band, especially. The treatment??? Ground the chassis of the WeBoost's duplexer / amp unit. That, and ferrite clamp both antenna ports and especially that switching 5VDC, 3.5A, power supply. That made 75M, 40M, and the MW Broadcast bands usable, again. So, if you get such a unit, it works as intended, but watch out for that RF hash from hell.   

BTW, here's what I wrote to WeBoost about that, and their response:


"Carrier: AT&T
Description: Came across one big drawback on my WeBoost #470144 Booster, emissions of wide-banded HF Spurs from 1MHz to 10MHz. Fortunately, I have reduced these by up to 70% by grounding the chassis of the WeBoost unit itself and adding ferrite clamps to the power supply cables and both the INDOOR and OUTDOOR Antenna connectors. So, doable.
 
 
 
 
Hello,
 
Thanks for reaching out and letting us know. We will pass this information along to the appropriate department. "


Well, at least it doesn't sound like a blow-off.  https://www.wilsonsignalbooster.com/weboost-470144-home-multiroom-signal-booster.html
 
 

[~SIGINT~]

Any certification labels (UL, FCC etc ...) on the unit? I find it hard to believe this apparatus would have passed any EMI tests or certification standards.

[UncleJohn]

Don't you mean "...that RF Rash from Hell"?! That's a rhetorical ? Mistah Dood. Several years ago I watched the 1st. of a two part documentary on of all places "RT America", though the docu. did Not originate from Russia. Interviewed persons claimed the electromagnetic energy affected their health, etc. & chose to move to places with reduced such pollution. Here is I think a nice succinct short article of more info. www.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32289567/
          I mean seriously I AM gettin' closer & closer to going to my dentist & ordering him to do a Thorough exam & Fixing me up for an extended vacation in this or that or the other cave somewhere north of Kathmandu.  "Doesn't Mean Sh*t To A Tree!"

                   www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROBaoiJK0wc

[Pigmeat]

My Dad, in one of the few smart things he ever did, told the cellphone industry folks, "You're not putting one of those big ugly things on our property." He was a lineman for the power company and knew quite a bit about EME and it's effect on living things

As the place is held in trust, that part of three counties is going to be a dead zone for cell service for a long time to come. My Mom's people have been holding up a US highway for 15 years, my family tree is nothing but Luddites, Lud bless them.

[ThaDood]

Signal-wise??? I have X100 amount of signal from the wifi MODEM, than I do from the Indoor Antenna from the WeBoost. Signal RF Out has got to be in the pW, (picowatts.), if that. Not being line-of-sight from a cell tower only boosts me usable signal indoors, where I had none before hand. Also, I do not have the system even working at it's MAX potential. I 1/2-ass set it up, when everyone was out of the house, and out of town. My MIN antennas distance, (For Indoor and outdoor.), from each other are suppose to be 50ft HORZ and 20ft VERT, and they are not. I do having it working to the point where it senses total RF feedback and auto shutdown, which it does. So, still working out the bugs for my particular location. The outside beam is bouncing off a hill right now. Will this change when foliage is off of the trees? Maybe... Hey, this is RF still, with all of its idiosyncrasies, albeit 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1.1GHz, and 1.9GHz. Hmmmmmm... This, in the future, might indicate upon whether I can finally have a QSO on 1296MHz SSB and 1,294.500MHz FM simplex. I certainly paid enough for that band capability.