Digital Antenna

[shorty]

Looking to intall my Digital Antenna antenna. They say 3' horizontally from any parallel vertical object, mast, other antenna, etc. Projecting from mast top the unit would be close to VHF antenna. Any experience w/interference between these on installations?

 

[Mark]

I give up

What is a digital antennae?Mark

 

[Carl Dupre]

Cable Length??

Hi, Shorty. Can you install at the top of the mast? I thought that the cable length on these things was "fixed". You may be able to get a fixed-length extension, but I didn't think that you could get enough extension to get it all the way to the top of the mast.We found that we didn't always need ours to get a good signal, so we ended up not installing ours permanently. When we needed to use it we would run it up the flag halyard, bring the cable in through a hatch, and hook up to an amplifier at the nav station. On the flag halyard it was parallel to the mast, and about 2 feet away from the mast. We did notice once when the boat was swinging on a mooring a bit in the wind that there was "dead spot" when the boat hit a certain direction. We thought that for a moment the mast came between the antenna and the signal. But it was only once, and other than that we didn't have any problems.Carl and Jule s/v Syzygy

 

[Cap'n Dave]

Digital antenna?

I'm with Mark on this one. As a retired electronic engr. I have no idea what your talking about. What's it forFair WindsCap'n Dave

 

[Trevor - SailboatOwners.c]

Digital Antenna is a manufacturer of a complete line of antennas - VHF, CELL, AM/FM, AIS etc, as well as cellular boosters and adapters. My guess is Shorty is referencing a VFH antenna (although I can be sure) made by Digital Antenna. We'll wait and see!Trevor

 

[shorty]

clear as mud

I am referring to a Digital Antenna brand cell booster amplifier & antenna. Your cell transmits to a small antenna inside cabin, through amplifier, up mast to ~2' long antenna. Booster for poor reception areas (like Maine).Carl, yes extra long cable from DA themselves, per their instructions. I thought to post the query after reading your post at the thread about laptops on board. I had been thinking of a rig like yours, but now that the stick is out, a permanent install is my preference. I try to minimize my bozo rigs, although my wife thinks that's why I like sailing.One goal is to get reliable enough cell reception to be able to use a laptop for e-mail etc.Anyway, I'm wondering about potential interference from & to the VHF antenna that's already up there.

 

[patrick]

I think this is a cell phone repeater

/ booster with an antenna on the top of the mast. I have thought of putting one of these up but it is really far down the list.

 

[abe]

Dont buy one....I am ready to throw mine away.

I bought one and I do not think it works as good as they claim... Tried many different positions short of placing the outside antenna on the mast....that was their suggestion. Finally I bought satelite phone.

 

[Peter]

Cell phone antenna/amps

While none of my equipment is Digital Antenna, I do have a remote cell antenna (Shakespeare) and 3 watt amplifier (maker I don't remember). It's a wired installation, rather than the wireless repeater type. The antenna is not at the masthead (where my VHF antenna is), but on the radar tower a the stern, about 9ft high. Sitting in my slip, I usually get 2 bars on my digital Nokia cell phone without it hooked into this system. Hook it to the amp and antenna, and sometime I get 3 bars, sometime stay at 2 bars. Out and about, I usually see no improvement. For the cost of the setup ($300+/- for the amp, $80 for the antenna, plus mounts, cabling, connectors, etc.) I haven't been real impressed. Used to get better with my old motorola 3 watt "bag" phone with flip-up antenna. (I could make calls from the Farrallons - 25 miles offshore -with that.)No interference with the VHF with my setup. Wouldn't expect it with the masthead setup either, unless you're trying to use both the cell phone and VHF at the same time. And a 3 watt amp won't help with cell RECEPTION for the internet. Since cell reception is line os sight, the higher the antenna the better. Your best bet is stay near cell towers. There are few in my sailing area of the California delta, which is probably the biggest reason for my dissappointment.Try this link to see if you are near them:

 

[Dick McKee]

We followed Gordon Wests instructions to a "T".

We purchased a 3 watt cell booster from Digital Antenna corp. Used times micorwave LMR cable, installed a Shakespere cell antenna 70' up on the top of our mast.The result it dont work for ****. A waste of about 400 bucks. Like Abe I now have a sat phone for off shore.

 

[Bill Roosa]

OR you could

I know I'm just an old kedger on this one but Ahim! don't you go sailing so you can get away from the cell phones and e-mail?There I was at the sailing club talking to my buddies about how to get the best reception on my cell phone ........just is not going to happen on my boat.To each his ownBill

 

[Dick McKee]

Bill..depends on if you take off for 2 to3 weeks

a time like we do. If you do, to be out of touch with family for that length of time is not a good thing.

 

[Cap'n Dave]

WiFi anyone?

If you want to keep in touch why not WiFi? Going up and down the ICW I am hardly ever out of some coverage. Alot of marinas have WiFi systems and there are open networks in alot of towns. It's less expensive to get a WiFi card with an external antenna for emails.Fair WindsCap'n Dave

 

[Shorty]

why

WiFi ain't gonna happen gunkholing in ME.The why of obsessing about it is that I own a business and managed more time off than ever for sailing this summer, and one way to do that is to stay in touch

 

[Shorty]

why again

I am surprised by the negative comments, because I think it was in Practical Sailor that I saw reviews saying that these things worked pretty well. I may be dead wrong on that, but . . . . I already own the unit, just working on placing the antenna.

 

[Carl Dupre]

More on Our Experiences

Hi again, Shorty. Just a few more comments on our experiences. For us the DA antenna and amplifier have performed as advertised, and they have served us very well for the last two years. However, they can't work miracles. The antenna and amplifier will increase the signal strength quite dramatically IF there is a signal to amplify. Digital cellular is line-of-sight, and you still need to have a path to a tower. Don't expect them to turn "zero signal" into something. They will probably not work 25 miles offshore (need satellite for that), and they will not work with a mountain between you and the tower.The other factor is that you need to be in some provider's primary coverage area. When we did the coast of Maine the summer of '04(yes, we did get to Mt. Desert)we had Verizon and we went onto "extended service" when we went North of Sebasco and we lost internet/email. With those two limitations, we have had very good service from these devices. We had no interference problems with anything else that we are aware of. I don't remember ever trying to use the VHF at the same time as the antenna/amplifier, however. Perhaps there are some interference issues out there that we just have not encountered because of our equipment usage patterns.Carl and Jules/v Syzygy