Creating a 4G signal booster for cellphones

2020-12-30
2 min read

Recently I have very bad signal so I’m researching on how to improve that. My current research led me to the manufacturing of yagi antenas, which will help me on this problem. First the band of frequency of my provider must match to the yagi antenna band of operation, there are yagi calculator online that gives you the actual measurements for each element of the yagi antenna, this is important or it will not work at all. According to this site https://repetidorcelular.cl/antena-gsm-2g-3g-4g.html Entel operates at 2600 MHZ so the my antenna should match these metrics:

http://www.changpuak.ch/electronics/yagi_uda_antenna.php
Javascript Version 12.01.2014, based on Rothammel / DL6WU
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Frequency     :  2600  MHz
Wavelength    :  115  mm
Rod Diameter  :  10  mm
Boom Diameter :  20  mm
Boom Length   :  198  mm
d/lambda      :  0.040    ( min.: 0.002 , max.: 0.01 )
D/lambda      :  0.050    ( min.: 0.01 , max.: 0.05 )
Elements      :  8
Gain          :  10.61 dBd (approx.)
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Reflector Length   : 60 mm
Reflector Position :  0 mm
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Dipole Position    : 28 mm
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Director #1 Position : 36 mm ,  Length : 56 mm
Distance Dipole - Dir. #1 : 9 mm 
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Director #2 Position : 57 mm ,  Length : 56 mm
Distance Dir. #1 - Dir. #2 : 21 mm 
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Director #3 Position : 82 mm ,  Length : 55 mm
Distance Dir. #2 - Dir. #3 : 25 mm 
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Director #4 Position : 111 mm ,  Length : 55 mm
Distance Dir. #3 - Dir. #4 : 29 mm 
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Director #5 Position : 143 mm ,  Length : 55 mm
Distance Dir. #4 - Dir. #5 : 32 mm 
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Director #6 Position : 178 mm ,  Length : 54 mm
Distance Dir. #5 - Dir. #6 : 35 mm 
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Directors / Parasitics are not isolated.
The length has been increased to compensate for that.

To measure the signal on an iphone call this number

3001#12345#

Then a new menu appears, choose Service Cell MEAS, then choose LTE then check for values “rsrp0” which is the Reference Signal Received Power for the tower closest to you (although you may be connected to a secondary, further tower, whose power is listed under “rsrp1”).