• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Please help two loving hearts to join or antenna design problem

 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 130
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My friend has no means of communications with her husband who works some place surrounded by mountains, so no cell phone reception there. I though maybe some radio station with a custom designed antenna could help. Any suggestions?

Confused in Mountains.
 
Master Rancher
Posts: 4806
72
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Well, there's always shortwave radio. Assuming, of course, that both parties want to be able to communicate, and someone isn't just using the mountains as a cover for, I dunno, an affair or something.
 
Rancher
Posts: 4803
7
Mac OS X VI Editor Linux
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I thought that shortwave relied on bouncing off the ionosphere. Most radio is really line of sight. If you are deep in a mountain range's valleys, its hard to get anything. Even satellite coverage is bad, as the mountains keep you from seeing the bird on the equator. There are lots of places in West Virginia that have no radio, tv or cell coverage.
 
Rancher
Posts: 13459
Android Eclipse IDE Ubuntu
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
satellite phone or snail mail.
Possibly RFC 1149?
 
author & internet detective
Posts: 41860
908
Eclipse IDE VI Editor Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
No landlines out there?
 
Sheriff
Posts: 67746
173
Mac Mac OS X IntelliJ IDE jQuery TypeScript Java iOS
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Cans and a string?
 
David O'Meara
Rancher
Posts: 13459
Android Eclipse IDE Ubuntu
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Cans and a string fixes the common line-of-sight problem, but you probably need wire rather than string. Could be prohibitive if the mountains are more than (say) 200 meters wide.
 
Pat Farrell
Rancher
Posts: 4803
7
Mac OS X VI Editor Linux
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
There are laser based signal senders that work well line of sight, assuming no trees, rain, fog, etc. And line of sight works well for even 2.4gHz radios, you can get a few miles with proper antennas and amps.

So far, this is either an overly generalized problem or impossible, we need the OP to clarify things.
 
David O'Meara
Rancher
Posts: 13459
Android Eclipse IDE Ubuntu
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
You see problems, we see solutions. Not good solutions, just 'solutions'.
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1162
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
flare gun? fireworks? homing pigeons? telepathy? reiki?
[ September 05, 2008: Message edited by: Arvind Birla ]
 
Martha Simmons
Ranch Hand
Posts: 130
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Mike S. Assuming, of course, that both parties want to be able to communicate, and someone isn't just using the mountains as a cover for, I dunno, an affair or something.

Yeah, the situation also looked suspicious to me. Anyway, if to treat the problem strictly technically, there is something called "cell phone antenna and/or power booster" and "wireless extender repeater" which is supposed to help. Anybody has any experience with those?
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic