In article ,
Tony VE6MVP wrote:

Folks

So I'm thinking about emergency communications and it seems to me that
an 800 Mhz Yagi antenna would be useful. I have one of those old
Motorola bag phones which I use when travelling in rural Alberta.

It works nice especially when on a 3' mag mount antenna on the vehicle
roof but it seems to me a Yagi up 20' might be useful at times.

Tony

Here in the USA, we are losing our AMPS Network next year, so all the
3Watt AMPS BagPhones will be non-functional. Most of us bush Folks have
switched to either Digital BagPhones, or handhelds with external Antenna
Ports and 3 Watt Booster Amps. I use a Nokia Handheld with external
10db Panel Antenna, mounted in an Active Cradle that simulates an RJ11
Jack, and has a Cordless Phone plugged into it. I have a "Line of Sight"
shot at our local Cellsite, which is 16 miles away, (over water) so I
don't need the Booster Amp here. Some of the neighbors need them,
however.

Bruce in alaska AL7AQ
--
add a 2 before @

On Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:06:11 GMT, Bruce in Alaska
wrote:

Here in the USA, we are losing our AMPS Network next year, so all the
3Watt AMPS BagPhones will be non-functional. Most of us bush Folks have
switched to either Digital BagPhones, or handhelds with external Antenna
Ports and 3 Watt Booster Amps. I use a Nokia Handheld with external
10db Panel Antenna, mounted in an Active Cradle that simulates an RJ11
Jack, and has a Cordless Phone plugged into it. I have a "Line of Sight"
shot at our local Cellsite, which is 16 miles away, (over water) so I
don't need the Booster Amp here. Some of the neighbors need them,
however.

Ah, very interesting. To my knowledge we're not losing ours in
Canada any time soon.

But I also have two cell phones. The small tri band pocket phone and
the bag phone. I've been wondering if I wouldn't be best off figuring
out a good system of using the pocket phone with an external antenna
and only pay for one cell phone.

But also my pocket cell phone is about four years old now. And I
don't want to get stuck with some technology which requires a specific
make and model of cell phone.

Tony

You'll need very low loss feedline, something along the lines of LDF4 heliax
to take full advantage of it. So, that means working with "N" connectors
until just before it goes into the bag phone. Fortunately for you there's s
glut of that stuff on ebay from all the upgrades cell phone carriers are
doing.

Also, make sure that the phone you're relying on will be served for years to
come. Analog service is under review for possible turndown here in the US by
2008 or so.

You might consider backing a couple of spare 12v batteries (or whatever size
it requires) to ensure an adequate supply of power.

The whole point of the yagi is a directional antenna, so it will be best
suited for stationary applications.

"Tony VE6MVP" wrote in message
...
Folks

So I'm thinking about emergency communications and it seems to me that
an 800 Mhz Yagi antenna would be useful. I have one of those old
Motorola bag phones which I use when travelling in rural Alberta.

It works nice especially when on a 3' mag mount antenna on the vehicle
roof but it seems to me a Yagi up 20' might be useful at times.

Tony

"dave" wrote in message
news:C9e6h.4453$T_.3023@trndny06...
Analog service is under review for possible turndown here in the US by 2008
or so.

You aren't serious! Surely you don't still have analogue phones in America?
How backwards!

Bill

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 01:46:36 -0000, "Bill Wright"
wrote:

You aren't serious! Surely you don't still have analogue phones in America?

And no general access to fiber optics (we still have to use copper).

How backwards!

Yeah, but we kicked out the right-wing socialists who were strangling
business opportunity and growth.