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Idea: A small plastic package about the size of a first-aid kit that can be carried in a backpack or in a pocket into mountainous areas or areas at the periphery of normal cellular coverage. Inside is a medium-size mylar balloon with an attached lightweight cellular antenna, an exceptionally fine, light
electrical wire of as much length as can be lifted by the balloon, and a small container of helium...as much as would be needed to fill the balloon (special adapter fill mechanism to insure easy balloon fill-up if needed), and a small device that sits near the phone (which is comprised of a little bit of circuitry/battery needed to receive and transmit cellphone signals a few feet).
The idea is that any time you want to extend your cellphone range when traveling in remote areas or outside of normal cellphone coverage, but where coverage may exist just over the horizon or just outside the limits of the mountainous terrain you are currently in, you simply attach the helium injector to the balloon and fill it then release. As the balloon rose, unspooling the VERY light wire would begin to unspool. The wire would already be attached to the antenna on the balloon and to the small electronic relay device. One would simply need to insure that the relay device did not float away by securing it. Then one would make calls as normal and signals would be relayed to a position some distance above you. If the wire were especially light and sturdy and you could haul a mile of it or more up with the balloon, you could easily extend your distance to the horizon by a hundred miles or more.
Thoughts?
Loft the whole phone
Emergency_20Phone_20Range_20Extender_202
[CaptainCrunch, Jul 12 2008]
(?) Phone Lies
http://blogcritics....06/08/24/221016.php
This link goes to mis-information and lies. [Caine, Jul 14 2008]
A1, this was something else I'd considered
https://a.co/d/7xotNjg
[21 Quest, Aug 13 2023]
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This won't work as described. Thew wire would itself act as an antenna and since cell phones are very high frequency, it would act as a very badly matched antenna. Wht you need is to replace the wire with coax and then it might work. Or dump the wire bit and use string attached to a balloon with a relay and two antennas, one pointed down the string to you and a second omnidirectional antenna. You may not even need any booster, but obviously it would work better with a battery and a booster. |
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How about just having the balloon carry aloft a repeater with a long string attached so you could reel it back in when you were done? |
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But, [Spacecoyote], won't power poles be few and far between in the kind of place where this device would be needed? |
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Two strings held apart by seperators with the antenna being held horizontally between them... |
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A better way to avoid the cable problem is to loft the whole phone. See link. |
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[CaptainCrunch]'s idea, an acknowledged derivative of this, offers a significant improvement, but this one gets a bun for originating the idea. [+] |
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I like the whole phone idea, but was thinking that this might be more useful if it could extend the transmitter as much as a half-mile or more up in the air. |
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Number 1 is Europe only, and only works when you're near a tower. Number 2 is a lie. Number 3 is a lie. Number 4 only works on Nokia phones. Please to be removing your link. |
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Not sure who put that link on there, but I removed it. |
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Well wasn't that nice of you. |
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I'll make sure to contribute more to your ideas in the future. |
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Perhaps I had a hankering to know that; Number 1 is Europe only, and only works when you're near a tower. Number 2 is a lie. Number 3 is a lie. Number 4 only works on Nokia phones. |
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Perhaps I was under the mistaken assumption that these emergency features would actually save my ass if it was in a bind. |
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Perhaps others also lacked, and therefore would have appreciated the linked dis-information as well, rather than decipher a swiss-cheesed idea. |
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Well, there you go...I put it back. :D |
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I live way out in the sticks and there's still power poles everywhere. Besides, one idiot and you've got a lawsuit on your hands. |
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A1, what comprises a "significant obstacle" might surprise you. It could be a field of corn that you're driving past, or a raised embankment to the side of the road... some dense shrubbery, or even your own vehicle can make the difference between a single bar of service and none at all. I spent 6 years working in customer service, sales, and tech support for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint and I got these calls all the time. |
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How do you get calls from customers who have no service??? |
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An unfortunate victim of physics, I'm afraid. |
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I did suggest standing on the roof of one's vehicle once. My supervisor happened to be listening in and I SWEAR I heard a muffled scream coming vaguely from the direction of his office shortly before he called me in for a pretty impressive ass chewing. |
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It actually did! He wasn't concerned with it being stupid though, he was concerned about it being dangerous, and our company getting sued if the customer fell off lol |
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