External phone aerial

[luke91]

Had bit of a look but didn't find much about it. Wondering who has a external phone aerial on there cars and what they think of them if there worth it or not. And there set up. Cheers

 

[gazza414]

I have one on both my Landcruiser and my Navara,,I have an i4 and it makes a difference in otherwise marginal areas

 

[Tappet]

I have a Lazer brand whip 7.5 dB gain. It works very well. Can make the difference between a clear call or no call at all. It's looks a bit light duty but hasn't broken after being hit by low branches a few times.

Mounted it on a home made "L" bracket off the bracket bolts holding the snorkel. So most of the Antenna is above the roof line which also helps performance.

Couple of things to be aware of is for best results have a blue tick phone with a direct antenna connection. Most don't. Capacitive coupling kits for cars do not perform as well.

Found in the past Motorola phones seem to be the best at fringe reception/calls. An old V3 I use only on trips is truly amazing.

 

[Old.Tony]

Almost identical setup to Tappet here, except my antenna is just mounted on the bullbar (I ought to move it to my roof bars). I keep the phone in the glovebox without a sim, it's one of those bluetick phones from Telstra. I only have it in case there's an emergency and I don't have my satphone with me.

Reception is marginally improved in hilly regions, significantly improved in the outback - but I should add that in the outback we've found that Telstra have covered the major highways rather well.

 

[nakedape]

A decent antennae and a phone with a direct port out the back is all you need. Blue tick phones are almost the only ones with ports - but check before you buy.

 

[Old.Tony]

I should add that if you are in an emergency somewhere that you don't have phone coverage in Australia under your provider, calls to 000 (or 112 with a digital mobile phone) will be carried by any available carrier in that region (except satellite).

 

[luke91]

Cheers for all the info. I currently have a iphone 5 and looking at buying a cradle for that. But if I'm in real trouble I'll make sure I have a blue tick phone in the glove box that's a great idea! I was thinking of putting the aerial on the bullbar. If I run a earth wire from under the aerial to under the bonnet to a good ground will that help ground it better than the bullbar will?

 

[Old.Tony]

The bullbar should be fairly well grounded anyway. My antenna doesn't have a ground wire that I have to earth outside, the cable runs into the base and plugs into the phone on the other end - no separate ground.

The only caveat with the phone-in-glovebox is that you have to keep it on power when using it - leaving it in the 'box will kill the battery.

 

[Foxtrot16]

I have just bought a 7.5dB antenna and power cradle for my Sony Xperia Z from Telco:

http://www.telcoantennas.com.au/site/CD2197

http://www.telcoantennas.com.au/sit...dle-dash-mount-charger-and-antenna-connection

They get wired up next week so I can't comment on whether they work but these were recommended to me by someone who does lots of country driving.

Hope this helps.

Karl

 

[luke91]

Cheers Karl. Let me no how they go if ya don't mind. Looking at getting one in the next few weeks

 

[Hugh9359]

I have one of the cheap Carcomm cradles off ebay for i5 phone to a RFI 6.5db on bulbar works fine,Most of these higher freq ariels are base loaded so don't need grounding,but I have yet to use an antenna that doesn't work better with a good ground,or a flat plane to work off [eg,roof]Hugh

 

[Cometbreeze]

i too am wanting to do this as some fishing spots have next 1 bar or nothing but my mate plugs his i phone 5 into cradle and gets 3 bars instantly.
Can you direct me to which one you recommend Hugh9359 ?

Cheers

 

[Cobez]

I use this set up, ran the aerial cable through the firewall, behind the dash and M to F screws into each other under my dashmat and the sensor is on the back of my phone holder.

Only just fitted it today so will test it on Saturday up at Thornton where i get one bar to none where we stay.

 

[Cobez]

After you mentioned those Carcomm cradles, i picked one up so i can ditch the Jaycar sensor and use the cradle plug.

 

[leo d40]

I'm using a smoothtalker cradle and 6.5db RFI antenna for my iPhone 5. In areas with sketchy service of 1 bar to none, it bumps it up to 2-3 bars.

Even though it uses an inductive antenna coupling, it does work well but obviously not as well as a direct connection.