Thread: Installation of mobile phone antenna

Which phone? I went down the road of researching an antenna for the iPhone and while the information was inconsistent there was a lot of murmurs on a now forgotten USA technical forum that opined that an external antenna offers little meaningful improvement to the reception of an iPhone because the iPhone connection port does not support an external antenna (like the Blackbury's of old). As such the antenna and cradle only captures the transmission and puts the signal next to the internal antenna on the phone.

Best do your own research on the topic and see if an antenna will be an improvement to your current set up. Might save you the grief of installation if the reward is less than the effort and cost.

MLD

unless your phone has an external antenna port, its a waste of money.
the sales pitch about how the cradle boosts the signal is snake oil talk

iPhone 5S

I'm aware of the likely lack of impact but it's going in anyway so I'm keen on some help with installation.

At the very least, if it doesn't work, I'll have learned something about the environment behind my dashboard, vehicle electrics, installation of electrical devices and I will have a smashing phone holder that's bluetooth compatible and charges my phone for me.

Originally Posted by The Cone of Silence

At the very least, if it doesn't work, I'll have learned something about the environment behind my dashboard, vehicle electrics, installation of electrical devices and I will have a smashing phone holder that's bluetooth compatible and charges my phone for me.

these are good reasons
good luck.

If the cradle uses a magnetic interface for the antenna, you may find that it obliterates the GPS reception.

At least that is what happened on both my Samsung Galaxy SII and Galaxy S4, removed the magnetic interface and got the antenna compatible back and can now plug the antenna into the motherboard and I still have GPS.

Not however convinced the antenna is much more effective than without it.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

If the cradle uses a magnetic interface for the antenna, you may find that it obliterates the GPS reception.

At least that is what happened on both my Samsung Galaxy SII and Galaxy S4, removed the magnetic interface and got the antenna compatible back and can now plug the antenna into the motherboard and I still have GPS.

Not however convinced the antenna is much more effective than without it.

with they galaxy, they are a tuning port, not an external antenna port.
i got caught out with my s2 before i did some reseaarch

Re access routes, you could follow what I did with my UHF.
I got a gutter mount aerial ($25 on Ebay) because the higher its mounted the less the vehicle blocks it and the better the signal.
I ran the aerial wire down the outside of the snorkel next to the windscreen (using long cable ties around the snorkel), across the back of the firewall, down to the chassis rail, along to under the front passenger seat and then up through a grommet into the battery box.
From the battery box its easy to run leads, including power, out the grommet on top at the rear near the seat belt, and across to go up the side of the transmission tunnel to the dash.
This has the virtue of not needing to tap into existing power anywhere.
I have actually also run a 6mm power lead from the battery box up to the dash and then installed twin Narva USB plugs on the passenger side (The Navigator is happy to have her own USB plug and I have the reversing camera plugged into the other one), leaving the cigarette plug in the dash untouched.
I found several leads already running from the battery box under the floor mat on the front passenger's side, so I cable tied them all together and then ran them through plastic sheathing for extra protection.
Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by Eevo

with they galaxy, they are a tuning port, not an external antenna port.
i got caught out with my s2 before i did some reseaarch

There are two ports!