I was reading the recent newsletter from Active Captain regarding the FCC's action to regulate Cellular booster amps ( bi-directional amplifiers). Here's a copy of the label that is supposed to be attached to all new amps:
Basically, you have to register your device and get permission from the carrier to operate, even older amps. Here's a link to the FCC rule that supposedly went into effect March 1st.
Contrary to what Active Captain describes as Booster users "blowing out the cell phone providers' towers", but is more about creating noise and occupying more bandwidth that reduces the bandwidth for regular users. In 3G/4G networks, power is bandwidth and one improperly installed, or poorly designed amp can cause big trouble for many users in the area. Active Captain goes on to say "Put enough cellular carriers together and new FCC rules seem to magically appear." as if to say they aren't necessary, or the carriers are making a big deal out of nothing. I can vouch that isn't the case. I have worked in this field for many years and these devices are the source for major expense and lost revenue to the carriers, mostly because they're often used improperly.
I was recently working for one of the big carriers at a location along the Mississippi River that was experiencing high noise floor levels and harmful interference. After searching the area, I tracked the offending signal to an oil refinery. The refinery staff allowed me and my test gear to roam their property and I found a construction office that consisted of a shipping container with windows. The contractor had one of these amps with the antennas installed about two feet away from each other on the edge of the roof of the container/office. This was a cheap model that didn't have circuitry to detect oscillations and it subsequently picked up it's own signal on the input and amplified it. So, the owner probably thought it was getting weak or something, but the noise floor increased at the local cellsite tower and every other user's signal had to be stronger than the noise from the oscillating amplifier. Noise floor is the amount of radio signal ( noise) picked up at the cell tower when no real signals are present. It's usually pretty low, which allows 1/2 watt cellphones to operate from miles away. This one device affected thousands of people over the week or so it was out there. There are others on workboats that move up and down the river and are much harder to locate. At least one carrier has resorted t installing extremely expensive active filter systems that search out the offending signals and attempt to filter it out.
A cruising sailboat could present problems like the boats on the river. I was curious if anybody registered theirs or plans to just ignore the rule. What would you do if an engineer from one of the carriers approached you at a marina and asked you to shut down your amp? Would you admit to having one even, or tell him to shove it?
Basically, you have to register your device and get permission from the carrier to operate, even older amps. Here's a link to the FCC rule that supposedly went into effect March 1st.
Contrary to what Active Captain describes as Booster users "blowing out the cell phone providers' towers", but is more about creating noise and occupying more bandwidth that reduces the bandwidth for regular users. In 3G/4G networks, power is bandwidth and one improperly installed, or poorly designed amp can cause big trouble for many users in the area. Active Captain goes on to say "Put enough cellular carriers together and new FCC rules seem to magically appear." as if to say they aren't necessary, or the carriers are making a big deal out of nothing. I can vouch that isn't the case. I have worked in this field for many years and these devices are the source for major expense and lost revenue to the carriers, mostly because they're often used improperly.
I was recently working for one of the big carriers at a location along the Mississippi River that was experiencing high noise floor levels and harmful interference. After searching the area, I tracked the offending signal to an oil refinery. The refinery staff allowed me and my test gear to roam their property and I found a construction office that consisted of a shipping container with windows. The contractor had one of these amps with the antennas installed about two feet away from each other on the edge of the roof of the container/office. This was a cheap model that didn't have circuitry to detect oscillations and it subsequently picked up it's own signal on the input and amplified it. So, the owner probably thought it was getting weak or something, but the noise floor increased at the local cellsite tower and every other user's signal had to be stronger than the noise from the oscillating amplifier. Noise floor is the amount of radio signal ( noise) picked up at the cell tower when no real signals are present. It's usually pretty low, which allows 1/2 watt cellphones to operate from miles away. This one device affected thousands of people over the week or so it was out there. There are others on workboats that move up and down the river and are much harder to locate. At least one carrier has resorted t installing extremely expensive active filter systems that search out the offending signals and attempt to filter it out.
A cruising sailboat could present problems like the boats on the river. I was curious if anybody registered theirs or plans to just ignore the rule. What would you do if an engineer from one of the carriers approached you at a marina and asked you to shut down your amp? Would you admit to having one even, or tell him to shove it?
