Digital cell phones for emergencies?

In one of the discussions of the recent SAR incidents, mention was made of carrying a cell phone. For years I've carried an old analog phone on which I could call out from most places I've been in the Cascades provided I was moderately high up.

However, as I understand, all carriers will soon discontinue analog service. Verizon will stop their coverage this coming February. What experience have you had using a digital phone in the Cascades?

Digital phones put out a far weaker signal than the old analog phones. My sister's phone will not get reception at anywhere in the mountains where we have tried it for example.

Has anyone played with booster antennas? (Cantennas, yagis, etc.)

OK, I'll admit it. I am doing that now with a digital phone.     I've made a flexible yagi on a piece of blue foam with a theoretical gain of maybe 12 db. I sort'a gave up testing for the winter, but maybe I should get back at it.

Larry

Larry, I'm sorry I only have questions for you. How many elements is your Yagi? How is it connected to the cell phone? Impedance matching? What is the polarization of a cell tower? I would like to try this.

I've been playing around with a Spot sat. messenger and it works nicely so far.

Larry, I'm sorry I only have questions for you.  How many elements is your Yagi?  How is it connected to the cell phone?  Impedance matching?  What is the polarization of a cell tower?  I would like to try this.

Hi David,

I should say that I know nothing of antenna theory and design. I did however pass some of the ideas past my father Lon who had among other things worked on antenna design at Boeing.

My blue foam yagi has 9 elements, tuned to 1900 mhz, est 11.2 db gain. It's about 12 x 3 inches. I simply followed the design guidance on this site:
www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=11183 . See this page too:

www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=11183
You just fill in the design details like element diameter, boom material etc. and the length and spacing of the elements are generated. I tried for 1/100 inch accuracy in length and placement, although I gather that it may not be that critical. I made the elements from .031 solid ss fishing leader.

I chose this antenna type over cantennas for portability. Here's a site that discusses cantennas:

www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html . I noticed that Fry's is now carrying commercially made cantennas!
Cantennas work well by the way; I found one website that describes contests enthusiasts have to see whose design can get the most gain. 

I followed the "Feed Setup for use with 75 Ohm Coax" design on this page for impedence matching using RG 59 coax. www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=11183

Wilson has coax to cell phone adapters:

www.wilsonelectronics.com/Adapters.php

From my reading, cell phone towers are vertically polarized; the antenna elements should be held vertically.

I'm not at all convinced that I made this antenna correctly! I'll see if I can text it more this week.

Larry

FWIW, I have a Samsung Quad band phone with At&T and get good coverage around the Mt Baker ski area. That said, I got zero reception this summer on top of Mt Maude. That was a bummer- it was a nice day so I wanted to text some pics to friends at work.

I have 2 very small GMRS radios with "17 mile range" that I carry with me on solo outings.  My girlfriend knows what channel I will be monitoring if I am in trouble or immobilized and knows the general area I am covering.  They are line of sight and have not performed as well as I had hoped in tests I have performed.  However, if a SAR team looking for me was in my vicinity and were making attempts to reach me via the GMRS channel I monitor, I'm pretty confident they could reach me.  They are also handy in group outings in case one member gets hurt and one of the group members needs to find medical help.  The group member who has gone ahead can stay in radio contact with the group members helping the injured for at least a little while depending on the terrain encountered.

One of the things I love about being in the mountains is the lack of cell phones.  They are one of the things I feel society as a whole needs to improve their manners on.  People who talk on the phone in line at the grocery store or at restaurants infuriates me.  The last place I want to have them is in the mountains.

I have experimented a little with directional Wi-Fi antennas and it's quite fun!!  Keep up the antenna research!!

Larry -

At the risk of being labled "old school" in today's phone-centric world, another alternative you might consider is spending a few hours studying for a "No-Code Technician" amature radio (ham radio) license. 

A guy who can build a Yaggi for his cell phone will have no problem passing the test, and you can pick up a small VHF/ UHF hand-held radio (144VHF/ 440UHF) pretty cheap enabling communications through a fairly good repeater network here in the PNW.  Some of the repeaters are regularly monitored by the SAR community as well. 

Most of the newer radios allow you to receive NOAA weather frequencies (handy for overnight trips in changing conditions) as well as broadband UHF and VHF transmissions so you can pick up your favorite broadcast radio station or sports event when you crawl into the tent at 4:30 in the afternoon for a long night.  With local SAR freqencies programmed, you can even listen to see if the rescue efforts to find you are under way. 

If you ski with a partner who has a license/ radio, it also provides a solid "simplex" connection if you are not in sight.

I've used mine on ski tours to report an early summer forest fire in the Greenwater area and to pass a message to family when an overnight trip required me to stay out longer than planned. 

Happy to share more info if you are interested. 

J.P.