Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

[GlueGuy]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

Most of the newer phones can't be boosted. In the old analog days, car phones had a separate amplifier that stayed with the vehicle. Newer digital cell phones are limited to something under a watt of power (500 mW or 750 mW, I don't remember which /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif), and don't use boosters.

The GlueGuy

 

[Bill_in_MI]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

In fact, I just ordered a headset for my phone. I'll watch out for the "matching volume" phenomenon. Thanks for the tip. I wouldn't want to be one of the people I complain about!

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

GlueGuy,

Didn't know about the digital booster thing, but it sounds right. My digital was rated at 1/2 watt. The analog I replaced it with is (I think) something like 3 watts. That extra wattage makes the diff between using and not using.

Also, there's another thread about using the cell phone during thunderstorms. You heard anything about that? Real? Imagined?

SHF

 

[RPM]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

SHF - you referring to the comment I made on the other thread? If so, you can disregard.

There is some anecdotal evidence out there for strikes - but mostly unconfirmed. I ran a check and there is no proven link.

The suggested link was apparently due to cell-phones producing ionizing radiation. They don't. Ionizing radiation is only produced way up in the electromagnetic spectrum (ultra-violet light and X-Rays for example).

My fault - I typed before I confirmed (geez, that never happens!)

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

'Tis no problem.

One warning I can give about lightning. DON"T go to the bathroom during a storm. Learned that one first hand. Just made it back to bed (maybe 30 seconds). BANG! Big hit right on the house! Jumped into the wiring, fried some stuff, jumped into the PLUMBING, fried some stuff.

Only thing I'm glad about is being back in bed. I keep wondering what my wife would have told the EMTS if I'd been 30 seconds longer in the bathroom... /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I did notice that when lightning strikes a half mile off, you hear a bang followed by a rumbling echo. When it hits right over your head, you hear a bang followed by a bunch of yelling. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

SHF

 

[toddler]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

Back to the first question, sorry I'm late to this. I wear a cell phone and pager almost all the time I'm not home or at work. I'm on call 24/7 and wouldn't have much of a life if I didn't have it. I'd spend all my time tracking down a phone. My tech toys are my freedom to go for a hike, a bike ride, or out tractoring. They're also my embarrasment, so I try to cover them up as much as possible, and never leave the phone on. It's even worse when I don't have a pocket big enough for my PDA. Then that winds up on my belt too. Talk about nerdy!

So my answer has to be that my phone is a blessing, because it makes my job possible. The curse is that everyone else has one too, and that they drive with them.

On that front, I got my wife a hands free kit installed in her car. I just slow down and get in the right lane on the highway, or occasionally pull over if it's the only safe thing to do. Still, I'm sure I'd be a safer driver sans cell.

Todd

 

[PBMAX]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

Hey all,Nice long thread here.I have to agree with pretty much every one.especially on the loud talkers at the lunch table...As for the phone in the can I turn mine off before I go in...If they can't live with out me for that short a time they need more help than I can give them.I work for one the cell companies,In the Engineering dept. I'm a field Engineer I'm one of the folks they call,When some calls and complains that"Hey I had good signal at home before. What Happened?"....Usually lightening!!!That or a tree fell and nocked out power all over...Yes most companies have some type of back up but here in Bama it can take a while for the power company to catch up...SO when it storms in your area don't be suprised if the cell phones stop working any were from a few minutes to a few hours after the power goes out....That or there are so many poeple trying to call at once the tower gets overloaded.If you live in an area thats well populated there will be more towers so it's less of a problem.If your like me and live out well I hope your land line works.I don't have one..As a matter of fact I'm using my cell phne as modem now...4.8k per sec average speed...But pure digital so it will only get faster with time.Boss said test it so I'm testing it.../w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif A...Some one mentioned hands free kits.If you don't have one I would recommend them.It is at least less disstracting that trying to hold on to the phone and drive...Especially off road climbing a Mtn to a Cell tower...When the boss calls"hay where are you?"Some of those roads are as close to strait up as they get...!They new cell phones as some one mentioned,not only use less power but most of them will reduce that out put when in good coverage.this extendeds battery life.Those with analog service don't get to used to it,it is slowly being phased out especailly in populated areas...AS for boosting signal on any cell ph. try a mag antenna for the ol' car roof.With some phones they do seem to help...Make sure the person you buy it from sells you one in the right frequency range..It does matter.The folks with Nextel and Southern Link...No luck there unless you have an old LINGO..(1 watt Brick of a phone and Bullet proof).L
Lack of coverage,well there will be holes for a long time to come.I read an article that stated the ideal cellular net work would have one tower every mile at 10miles up.Wouldn't flying be fun...?It is true analog will go further but in most cases you pay for it in clarity...Plus shadows do to Mtns and tall buildings are fun.
Then there are reflected signals that have to be filtered...and much more than I would have figured..possible 2 years ago before I started doing this stuff.There are even holes in the gps satalites.I found one here in Alabama.Boy was that confusing at first..Thought I was lost...Really lost..Even the computer didn't know where we were.

toddler,I feel for you.I carry 2 cell phones a palm3,pager and laptop with street atlas and gps.Plus I can use either lap top or PDA to talk to the equipment in the tower.Once I get there and plug in. I guess this is long enough.If you have any questions on how some of this stuff works..Feel free to ask, if I can I will...I''ll warn ya, after 2 years I'm still learning stuff...It is kinda cool though...

P.S All cell phone should have a vibrate mode by law...MY LMO...

Lil' Paul
Proud owner of TC21D
Laziness is the Father of invention.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[gws]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

Cell phones were great. Now they have gotten so small they are impossible to use in a car.
I still have an old analog mobile cell phone that I refuse to give up. Its a big dash mounted phone that
I can see use and hold without problems. I would love to go digital with all the new features, but I want a real mobile phone and they dont exsist in the digital world. I have a nextel from work that is almost impossible to use while mobile. To small to make a call while driving.

Gary (N8EMR)
gws@redbird.net

 

[gws]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

To bad nextel coverage is crap. I use them at work because I had to. If I was paying it would be history.

Gary (N8EMR)
gws@redbird.net

 

[gws]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

THe only "power boosters" are on analog phones. Digital phones dont support boosters.
Now there are things called boosters for digital phones but all they boost is the audio of the radio not the transmitter power

Gary (N8EMR)
gws@redbird.net

 

[gws]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

Me too.. I guess I am part of the 100mile club here. I have lots of do-dads in my truck. In addition to my cell phone, I have several ham rigs, a cb and some commerical radio gear. Allways someone somewhere to talk to. Operating the HF rig takes a bit of work moble but the others are easy. Check out
http://www.k2bj.com/images/Photos/MOTM/sanders_3.jpg for a pix of my mobile console

Gary (N8EMR)
gws@redbird.net

 

[RPM]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

It's the old story though - if you want to improve the signal on any radio based device you can increase the signal power or get a better antenna.

I installed a multi-band magmount antenna (3dB gain) on my truck for my digital cell-phone (Nokia) and it has made a big difference. It's about a foot tall.

My manager is notorious for yacking on the phone at the end of the day, so now I just put my headset on and talk to him on the way home. One call, one hour commute. The man can talk.

The signal stays strong for my whole 38 mile commute from the suburbs into a rural area (without diversions!).

 

[PBMAX]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

My drive to and fro the office is 112mls round trip.When I have to go in.I work on the road driving from tower to tower most days.Some time I put 500 miles a day on the new ford.Had it 2mnths am up 2 17k mls.The one good thing about the 10pm to 9 am shift I now work.Theres no one to keep me on the phone.

Did any one else see the test they showed last night on NBC Dateline about distracted driving?They covered evrything from cell phone to changing tapes or CD's.Of course they had reading while driving and taking knotes while on the cell phone.It's a wonder we make it home every day.

If you want a more powerfull nextel or southern link phone they still sell 3watt mobile phones but you will pay for it...$600 or more installed OUCH! and of course you have to leave it when you get out o the car...
I think Nokia and a couple others still sell 1watt phones.But It will probable get lower as the sytems get better coverage.

gws,Yea I have gadgets to CB,Laptop,2 Cell phones One of the cell phones is linked with the lap top so when I pull up under a tower I can watch what the tower is doing,Considering a Ham ticket.


Lil' Paul
Proud owner of TC21D
Laziness is the Father of invention.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[glennmac]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

I, too, am a member of the 100+ mile roundtrip club. Maybe we should have our own forum.

As one with troglodytic tendencies I HATE all phones, but given telephonic reality I find cell phones to be a wonderful convenience and safety device. I use a headset with microphone in the car. I take my cell phone in a waterproof bag when I go kayaking in remote places. I took one on my tractor when I was doing heavy brushogging in my back woods last fall. We had a good thread on how people attach and carry them on their tractors.

My firm provides me one. Been looking at one for my wife, and they are pretty reasonable in price now. For $35 per month you can get 350 hours of digital air time per month to anywhere in the country during weekday peak hours, plus ulimited calls anywhere in the country after 9 pm and all weekend, pls a free (and good) phone.

I like the free after hours bit. Does that mean I can go out in my kayak or on my tractor under the stars with my laptop and connect to the net with my cell phone for no charge except battery juice. Sounds like it.

 

[PBMAX]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

glen, I carry my cell phone on the tractor.It's a small flip phone type,easy to carry.All my stuff is company provided I need it to test the system with.Unfortunatley no,you you can't just plug in to the laptop with any phone.Like everything else it ain't free to the public.It's a service and if your cell co offers it I doubt it would be cheep...Plus it's not high speed yet in most areas.Our baud rate is a physicall 19200.But it is a purely digital signal.Routed straight to a segment of a T1 provided by the phone co's in the towers area.Which I can only guess at the burst rate of with compression today..I have connected at 48k per sec.But average is 4.8k a sec download speeds...Still it's kinda /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif! And convinient for me when I'm out at a tower in B-Freakin-K and need to send a log file back to a fellow enginer at the office for there 2cents.

Lil' Paul
Proud owner of TC21D
Laziness is the Father of invention.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[3930dave]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

I went looking for a recent thread, but found this one...... things change, but not really .... 17 years later we are still discussing many of the same issues.....

I know someone who collects and uses old high-end (rugged enough to survive to today....) flip phones.

Some new-production minimalist phones:

BBC - Future - The new phones that are stuck in the past

^ some interesting non-tech points raised about smart phone use.

Rgds, D.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

So? I own and use a flip phone. All I want is something that says "hello" with conversation in between and then "goodbye". I bought my wife one maybe 20 years ago when she was working, as a safety device. I wanted a phone with a rotary dial, but couldn't find one.

 

[4get gto]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

So? I own and use a flip phone. All I want is something that says "hello" with conversation in between and then "goodbye". I bought my wife one maybe 20 years ago when she was working, as a safety device. I wanted a phone with a rotary dial, but couldn't find one.

Showing my grandkids (3&5) a rotary phone was crazy cool for them.. Didn't know what it was for but fun to play it. :cool2:I

Felt like I was on Green Acres...

 

[turnkey4099]

Re: Cell Phones - Blessing or a Curse?

So? I own and use a flip phone. All I want is something that says "hello" with conversation in between and then "goodbye". I bought my wife one maybe 20 years ago when she was working, as a safety device. I wanted a phone with a rotary dial, but couldn't find one.

Same here. Wife bought me on way back when, changed providers a couple times, lost a few phones, etc. but still carry the flip phone and that for emergencies only I doubt if I have made 30 calls on using one since way back in the early days.

I almost got run over on a sidewalk by some broad whith thumbs going 80 miles an hour and head down. She didn't even see me as I dodged her.