Can a Cell Phone Booster work in this? More tests on the HiBoost
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- In the second of two parts, I do more in-depth testing to see if the HiBoost Travel 4G 2.0 RV Cell Phone Booster is suitable for my small fiberglass trailer. The results were a little surprising! I also get to try a few of my viewer's suggestions to improve performance. The speed app I used is "Network Cell Info Lite" which is available at Google Play Store.
UPDATE 2/24/2022: After correspondence with HiBoost, I received a response to a very specific question: "Is this system suitable for a fiberglass RV?"
Their answer: "Yes, our booster is suitable for fiberglass RV. But for fiberglass RV, the coverage range seems not good enough if compared with metal (roof) RV. The booster could provide a wider range if it is used in a metal (roof) RV."
Visit My TH-cam Channel for all my videos!
/ @slimpotatohead
Website: www.slimpotatohead.com
Products Mentioned in this video (Amazon Affiliate Link*):
HiBoost RV Cell Phone Booster: amzn.to/351VY5q
My Equipment (Amazon Affiliate Links*):
Camcorder: Sony FRD-AX53: amzn.to/3fqW7jd
Osmo Action Camera: amzn.to/2QCSUlh
Action Camera stabilizer: amzn.to/35nRXD2
Main Camera: Sony A7Sii: amzn.to/2J9voXk
4K Sports Camera: amzn.to/2Dtsygn
Zoom Field Recorder: amzn.to/2WrLZQU
Shotgun Mic: amzn.to/2kOJqqY
Tripod: amzn.to/2X0Vk0P
Editing: Powerdirector 17: amzn.to/2KqY8gC
Sports Chair: amzn.to/3cPTS7U
MPPT Controller: amzn.to/2LHgM5t
Portable Power Station: amzn.to/2LEZt4Z
How I get around:
Trailer: 2008 Outback by Trillium trilliumtraile...
Tow Vehicle: 2010 Jeep Liberty, 6 cyl 3.7L gas engine, 4WD, over 220,000 km
* Amazon Affiliate Links provide me with a very small percentage of the sale with no additional cost to the buyer. Please support Slim Potatohead by using my links for any Amazon purchase. Thanks!
Yes, it is MegaBITs not MegaBYTES, I get it. I have pinned this so I don't have to respond over and over again. Thanks! SP
Hahaha!!! Never post with a mistake!!! Hahahaha!!!
8Mb(Megabit)= 1 MB (MegaByte)
Looks like I left as you arrived. Now at an Army Corp of Engineers spot 2 hours north. Learned a LOT with this video. Thanks! Be real careful with the winds. They took down my CLAM screen tent and E-bike attached in one fell swoop and it was sand bagged down into the sand 6 inches!
Heya Slim! Very interesting experiment. A quick word of practical advice: Secure the Cable running from the exterior antenna to the booster so that the weight of the cable isn't resting entirely on the connector on the antenna itself. It looks like you may be able to clip or otherwise fasten it to the pole easily. That connector is a fairly fragile point of failure and the weight and movement of that cable could easily wiggle it loose if left to support itself. Happy Trails!
Good point!
Great comment!!
Especially in the wind at the beach 🏖🏝
UPDATE 2/24/2022:
After correspondence with HiBoost, I received a response to my very specific question:
"Is this system suitable for a fiberglass RV?"
Their answer:
"Yes, our booster is suitable for fiberglass RV. But for fiberglass RV, the coverage range seems not good enough if compared with metal (roof) RV. The booster could provide a wider range if it is used in a metal (roof) RV."
Vindicated! Now does anyone know if WeBoost has a similar disclaimer? Thanks! SP
Interesting test results! The best outcome of this is that now you have plenty of options for all the different environments you'll encounter.
I appreciate and value your scientific approach!!! You go, Slim!!! Enjoy nature! Blessings!
This was a great video test testing the antenna boosters and effects on services thanks
This series is exactly what I needed. I'm trying to boost signal in my house. Thanks sp
Enjoy and stay safe Slim! Hope to see you in Cape Breton this summer!
Well!!!! I’m watching you backwards this trip!! Beach camping is very interesting to me!!!
Good afternoon Slim. I like these analysis videos you occasionally do. I'm up in Quartzsite now. Cheers, Steve
Thanks for satisfying my inner science/Mcgyver nerd!
If you ever have an update, we would be curious about the performance when you have just one bar of base cell signal. That's when we can't consistently get coverage to use the signal.
A few years ago I watched a similar test with similar equipment and the tester found she needed distance between the two antenna’s as well as the orientation of the indoor antenna to the phone position within the area made a big difference. I believe it was all in a very small cabin…… Good Luck from BC.
I've had the same problem in my A-Frame (Chalet). I get some oscillation and I've been tinkering with that because like Slim, I only have so much room to work with. The solution as I see it is to increase the distance between the two antennas so they don't "talk" to each other. The manufacturer of my unit (Sure Call) recommends at least 25 feet. I now use a 25' telescoping aluminum flagpole sitting in a flagpole hitch receiver mount at the rear of the camper. It's not extended all the way to give it some strength so I probably get 21 feet out of it. The interior antenna you have is omni-directional and you can try to shield the side of it that faces the exterior antenna or try a different interior antenna. I now use an indoor desktop antenna from Weboost that's semi omni-directional that I got on Ebay for $10.00 and I shield it from the back with a thin sheet of aluminum. The small aluminum sheet lets the antenna sit on a cell phone stand and I can move it around and adjust the height a bit. It hasn't eliminated oscillation in all cases but overall it's been a big improvement for me.
I know a trucker that got that one for his truck & he loves it !!!
The fact that the indoor antenna has to be within a couple of inches of the phone would be a deal killer for me. Has to be something better out there.
Got a kick out of your beach comment. I was trying to see the beach as you were wrapping up. Thanks for the info, especially the bit about using a power pack. Enjoy your trip!
Best way to separate indoor and outdoor antenna is a faraday cage. That is basically a metal box to shield the signal from passing through. That is why your Jeep got a better signal, there was less interference from any outside signal and not just from the outside booster. In the event of an EMP they recommend you place electronics in a metal can, the strong signal can't penetrate. Best you could do is build a box with a fine screen mesh. That way you could still see the device and shield it from outside signal. My best advice, if you need to upload, get closer to the cell tower, or best go somewhere where you can get an ethernet connection.
....or you can cover the camper in tin foil.....won't look strange at all
I was going to suggest something similar, no need to put a big piece of metal over the roof of the trailer, just put a small piece around the booster. The problem I see with a faraday cage (while I'm sure it would work better at reducing interference) is that you'd have to have the cellphone inside of it.
Slim great videos, most entertaining and informative. I like your style. I couldn't find a video on the vertical wind turbine. Would like to know how it turned out. Not to good I'm guessing. Keep up the great videos. Jim H.
Slim, be cautious on your cable. you can ruin the cable’s impedance permanently when fan folding the cable. it is better to coil the cable for storage, just not too tight as it can mess the cable up as well.
Glad to see you add speed tests to your testing. It seems like most of the larger video streaming services allow you to download the video to your device. In that case, it doesn't matter so much what speed you have so long as you plan ahead and have at least a stable connection to download from.
EXCELLENT REVIEW !! What app are you using ?
As a ham radio operator, I can tell you if the cable shielding is good, you won’t get the coiling effect. So you have rather good cable, which will also mean 20 ft vs 30 ft loss won’t matter much, as you mentioned.
Always fun to follow you, and Fla is no exception ! Cheers Slim !!
Safe travels to you Slim!
Megabits per second.. Divide by 8 to get actual megabytes per second! :)
Hey Slim. Good ideas with the testing so far. I agree with the theory that you're getting some feedback between the two antennas. Here's some different advice. If you roll up to a campsite and your speeds are good, don't activate the booster. Signal strength does matter, but signal to noise matters more and as Mike Mainer states, the booster is amplifying the signal and the noise. -95dbm is a fine signal for LTE, as long as the noise floor is low, that's a very usable downlink signal. If your speeds are acceptable, just use the phone as-is. The booster is boosting the uplink and the downlink from your cell phone and the tower (they are two-way radios using separate transmit and receive frequencies). The suspected feedback is sometimes hurting your downlink as evidenced from the download speed changes, but the uplink is being improved. It's a balancing act. I also do not recommend touching the phone to the antenna, I don't think that's helping your performance overall, but just giving a high reading on an app, if nothing else, it's not designed to work that way. If you want to tweak, I suggest you continue to chase usable speeds vs a high signal reading. Also note that the phone is only reading the signal down from the tower (and through the repeater), your upload change is the only indication that you as a consumer have of your uplink (from phone to the tower) RF quality and strength. All of this could be validated with an engineer on-site and some test equipment, but as a layman, you only have so many test options. BTW if it matters, I've been in various technical roles in wireless communication (paging and cellular) for 26 years. I'm trying to keep this simple and applicable to your equipment in hand but I've still written a lot :)
Great review! I suspect the improvement moving to Jeep was primarily increasing the distance between outside and indoor antennas thus reducing negative interaction. I have a different Hiboost model and the instructions are to have indoor antenna behind the directional outdoor antenna, separated as much as possible vertically and horizontally.
That was my thought too. We need one more experiment with the test in the camper, but the external antenna moved as far away as the car.
i think the big thing for a booster is getting signal where you wouldn't have it, or better signal when it is really spotty. As always, the video was a great watch. Thanks.
Great program safe and healthy travels
Interesting stuff, Slim. My own experience with cell phone boosters is that they are only useful if you're at a location where you struggle to get a single bar of reception and can't get a decent data connection. Otherwise, they are a waste of money and not worth messing with to get negligible improvements in data download/upload speeds. IMHO. :)
Our experience is not consistent with yours, we routinely get improved signals.
Hi Slim. Nice one! Just a few observations if I may? I'll not write a dissertation like last time. As mentioned in the comments that ground plane is for the external antenna. You can fashion a small one from metal. That can be quite fiddly though, has to do with tuning antennas. There do exist aftermarket antennas with integrated ground planes designed specifically for fiberglass vehicles. The in-jeep test which made a good ground plane looks like it did help considerably. That internal antenna seems a little suspect to me. You typically don't need to have them that close to your device. Honestly, you might want to go back to Weboost with a cradle antenna as you previously had. They make some good kit.
Throughout your tests at the beach I kept thinking you were right on the edge of useable service. You had decent throughput without boosting. The booster may have been causing you to hand off to a less desirable site and the uni antenna would exacerbate that (too much gain). Like you alluded to, you need to consider both RSSI (signal strength) and throughput via speed tests. Try an app that monitors RSSI, RSRP and RSRQ. That's more accurate. Really, once you find a kit that works well, you'll probably need a small arsenal for best results. A couple of antennas to try and good testing apps to help you determine when and when not to boost should be good enough. That's about all I use. MIMO vs. boosting is something you might want to look into as it eliminates traditional boosting issues (like ground planes). Works well for me but it does require a separate hotspot. Lastly, there are apps that report service data about cell sites in a given area. Another good tool to have. And like you said, now it's time for less cell-signal nerding and time for more camping ;-) I'm looking forward to your next adventure report. Thanks for all you do and happy camping!
Forgive me if this has been suggested before. Try the antenna on the car? You may get the ground plain effect for the antenna which will improve antenna performance if that is an issue. The metal on the car may help. But bravo on the testing. Yes indeed mega bits - 10 bits to a Byte. My old out to lunch sign used to day "out for a Byte be back in a Bit!" Ha ha ha. Regards =Cosmo
Super interesting content. Thanks fir all your efforts.
There are a lot of variables that determine how well these boosters work!
Great experiment
I'm thinking that the real value of a booster is not when you have adequate signal to use your phone but when you have next to no signal and the booster can increase it to a usable signal. Just something to think about. Keep the good stuff coming.
Thx Slim 💕😀
Yor correct. To get the best results the ground plane needs to be between the receiving and transmitting antennas. I would suggest a circular disk of metal (3mm alumuinium slightly larger in diameter than the external antenna) underneath the external antenna to increase the isolation between antennas. This will stop the signal feedback and make your signal more stable. i have a similar system in my house and this did the trick. have fun.
One of the things you need to remember about boosters/amplifiers is that if there is any interference it will also be amplified and can in effect drown out the signal you want.
Another interesting test would be to test on a fringe signal area.
It's still very interesting to see real world tests though.
Glad you talked about the cable, I was wondering if the old cb antenna thinking made a difference at cell frequencies.
Sir, good luck with your trip. I do not remember why you have chosen to use AT&T cell phones with GSM technology rather than Verizon CDMA technology. GSM is shorter range and has strong coverage in the cities and along major highways but has weak coverage for out of the way places. As someone with experience with coverage in the American west and in remote parts of the US the Verizon technology definitely offers better cell service. I found it to be a little more expensive but the additional coverage was definitely worth the difference.
Anyway, good luck with your phone.
Regards,
Richard
That is no longer true, Verizon 3g was on cdma and they are shutting that down December 31,2022 So there will be coverage loss, gsm has no difference att coverage has expanded with first net they have matched Verizon and best them in square miles of coverage also att has better speeds they have band 14 which is superior to Verizon’s band 13 Verizon is no longer the largest network in the USA.
Buy a cheep large cookie sheet. Cut hole and mount horizontally just below the outside antenna. Possible offset to shield front of trailer where inside antenna is. To simulate a metal roof. Feedback-crosstalk is the daemon of any amplifier. Think the feedback with a microphone on a stage.
Also the internal antenna needs upgrading the same as you did with the external one
somewhere along the gulf of Mexico? Texas? The sound of the ocean will make you sleep like a baby.
Hey Slim, I had a cell phone booster on my trailer I used for the oil patch. I was in some remote areas. What I did was i attached the antenna to an extendable pole that could retract into itself and extend an extra 20 feet above the trailer. The difference it made for reception was 10 fold
Mb/s is megabits per second, not megabytes per second. Divide your Mb/s by 8 to get MB/s. Example, 50 Mb/s = 6.25 MB/s
He responded to that same comment 20 minutes before yours.
Doesn't matter in the comparison as long as you are comparing bananas to bananas.
Personally, I like the first review, if I'm gonna buy a booster I wanna know that it works out in the middle of nowhere not where it's wide open next to a cell tower. Because if I'm next to a cell tower I don't need a booster. Thanks for the reviews though those were helpful.
Just like anything in the nomad life, ya gotta make concessions. Good signal, or pristine camping 🤔
Great video Slim!
Very interesting Slim you know with Ham radios the solar can really cause problems
Thank you Slim for this review. I have a fiberglass camper, a Parkliner, and have been wanting to buy a booster for a while. I’m glad you did this review. I think I’ll wait a while for technology to improve. I’d be upset if I spent several hundred dollars for a device that didn’t give good results. I guess we all need some digital detox once in a while. I love your videos-keep them coming!
Slim, great info, though I have one concern with your test inside the jeep. When you moved to the jeep you changed two factors: first, the distance from the outside antenna; second, you surrounded yourself in a metal “cage.” Which factor changed the results? The first? The second? Or was it a combination?
Thinking aloud. Safe travels. Stay well.
Unless you want to see a 4 hour video....
🤣😂😄
Coming soon to theaters near you:
Slim Potatohead the movie!
You'll possibly not get full data speed on the booster as it doesn't appear to be MIMO capable device. Do a bit of research on MIMO and this may help explain the situation but I reckon the phone is probably doing mobile MIMO but when on the booster it isn't.
The outside antenna needs the ground plane. put it on the pole just below the antenna.
fiberglass vs metal bodied vehicles does not make any difference with a yagi antenna like your using. its only a thing with ground plane/unipole antennas, ask an old radio ham...
Hi, I’m confused.. I always thought the ground plane should be under the outdoor antenna. You might try putting some flat metal or rods under the outside antenna. Like a CB antenna. That should increase the receiving part of the antenna. Showing my age, like the old CLR2 CB antenna that was used back in the 70s. I would have thought you would have mounted the outdoor antenna on the Jeep to make the top of the Jeep to make the ground plane. I would try attaching small aluminum rods under the outdoor antenna . Make them about 36 inches long. I’m probably terrible explaining this. You might want to research how a CB antenna works and it’s design. Safe travels.
It's possible he might get better results if he could mount the outside antenna on his Jeep, and make sure the pole going to the antenna is 'seeing' a good ground to the vehicle, that is an issue in Amateur Radio when someone puts a antenna on their vehicle. Make sure that antenna is 'seeing' the whole vehicle, not just the bumper, trailer hitch receiver. Unless it's a brand new vehicle there is a good chance that rust has caused it to lose some metal-to-metal contact. I'm old enough to remember the CLR2 antennas myself and understand why the radials on it.
Ground plane size is different depending on frequency. Old CB days, the gound planes were like 20 feet for 30 mHz. This is something like 700 to 1800 mHz. At that frequency, the ground plane is tiny. The directional antenna is probably a Yagi design. Like the TV antennas it needs no ground plane.
The outside antenna of this unit is designed to work without a ground plane otherwise it would be either a magmount like the inside antenna or require a roof mount such as seen on police and fire department vehicular radios.
You could be loosing signal and having ingress by not tightening down you fittings and use a better quad shield RG 6. Your booster and antennas should have some distance from them. I just bought the Wilson hone boost and hope to install in the next few weeks.
Already looking forward to your beach boondocker video!
Thank you for your time and energy Slim. I am blessed that there are people like you who do this research for me (or at least some of the research). I'm still working part time and likely always will. So when I get time to go camping I want to make the most of it. You and many others facilitate that immensely. Many thanks again and happy travels!
I noticed that you said that you aimed the antenna at one of the towers that you saw. We have the same sort of directional antenna with our booster and when we use it here at home, I use an app that shows what tower that we are connected to. We have 4 AT&T towers close by our home and our phone does not use the two closest. It seems to like one that is a bit farther away and, hence, the need for a booster. If you are using one tower and testing on another your results will be skewed... I am enjoying this series as I have gone through the exact same issues as you are experiencing. keep them coming.
Slim maybe try to place a metal disk like a squirrel bird feeder shield on the pole just below the antenna… that may replicate a metal roof on your camper 👌
Hooray for Nature! I get why the booster is important and appreciate that you're working hard to share what you've learning with the community but for me, nature is the key.
Great, thorough reviews on this.
I'm curious with this model, or your previous one, if the boosters make any difference when you're at a park with a weak signal that cuts out a lot? Wondering if the booster antena gives you a more consistent signal
This is a cell phone booster, not a WiFi booster. It should give you a better cell signal wherever you are. SP
Love your videos - even though I probably will never get to do what you are doing it is a joy to watch each one of your videos - also you are very handy in solving problems - keep up the good work
Hello well anyways Mr slim it's always good to keep that brain active because in the long run you'll never get Old timers so that's a sure thing to always remember God bless you dearly thank you for all your videos amen
it is not the metal roof that is the problem, it is the distance between the antenna and the booster, you want them to be at least 20 to 30 feet between them. that is why it worked better in your vehicle than in your trailer.
Great video! I am in the RF Industry and was glad to see others chime in as well around the Oscillation and the Auto Gain Control in the BDA (Bi Directional Amp) or "Booster". If the AGC in the BDA is kicking in, it does that to meet the spec and not overload the tower with "Noise" that would cause issues for other users on the tower. We see this all the time in the commercial markets with in building BDA's. As far as performance of having to have it right on the phone, that could be that the "Hi Boost" is just to transmitting a very strong signal to also combat issues with oscillation. I believe We Boost handles this a bit better with their model that does NOT use the cradle. Good luck!
It’s a beach of a life sometimes! Mind you, someones got to do it!
Hey Slim, I never really thought much about oscillation, and I don't know if it's mentioned on all documentation for all boosters, but, I do think I heard when the RV geeks (I think it was them) put a cellular booster on their RV, they mentioned about the documentation mentioning about a minimum distance that had to be between the antenna reciever and broadcast side. It definitely could be possible that you/your booster was suffering from oscillation. I'm not sure.
Thanks for your effort to produce this. Your conclusion was right on. You weren't really enjoying the location while you were testing it. I'm glad you gave us the review, but I'm more glad that you signed off and enjoyed the rest of the day, on the beach. I really do appreciate your sharing your life with us. Be safe.
Internet Speed, is measured in Megabits per second, not Megabytes per second, small m, is megabits, Upper Case M, is Megabytes. 1 Mbps (Internet Speed), equals 125 KBps, 1000 KBps, equals 1 MBps. 8 Mbps, equals 1 MBps, at 1 Mbps, it takes 8 Seconds, to Download 1 MB.
Sure wish people would read the pinned note before repeating what others have already mentioned. SP
using a cast "iron" griddle is not a good groundplane. A cookie sheet made of steel would be far better
I wonder if the gain had more to do with the distance from the antenna than the metal shell of the jeep or the fiberglass shell of the camper.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻, interesting research!
the shot where you stand the pole up shows the sky sea and other things. the tonal graduation is great. there is detail in every part of the frame. the sky had detail which is normally washed out as too bright. yet the shadows also have detail which is normally too dark to see
2:45 Eh, you using that metal rod instead of plastic... Better ground that sucker. It's a perfect lightening rod.
Edit: The one antenna you used that dropped your speed to 1 meg a sec, that sounds more like that antenna was set up to find unlocked wifi signals. The other 2 antennas seem to be picking up cell towers. I would try moving the antenna you had only 1 megabyte on, move it around a bit and test it in different directions to see if anything changes. I don't see how a fiberglass trailer will affect a signal from a cell phone tower, especially when you have your antenna actually outside the trailer.
There are 2 antennae, the one outside picks up the tower signal, connects to a booster, which connects to the inside antenna which transmits the boosted signal. What can happen is, if the 2 antennae are too close, it starts a feedback loop sending the internal signal back to the outside antenna and this cycle repeats, reducing the effectiveness of using a booster. Make sense?
Slim, Mb means megabits, MB means megabytes. Megabytes measure size. Megabits measure speed.
Tom-AY-to, Tom-AH-to. The results are the same. SP
@bogtrotter ... A "Bit" x 8 = 1 "Byte." Both are used to measure speed and data size but in different scenarios. i.e. applications use Bytes, networks use Bits. I'm a retired Network Engineer.
Excellent example of controlling variables when troubleshooting!
Very interesting yeah did all that with we boost yep you covered it awesome job buddy 🛠️🇨🇦🛠️
Slim, how many times did you do the speed tests for each type of device? I’ve found results can be different even on the same setup.
As mentioned, the signal was constantly changing. If I did 3 or 100 they would all be different. SP
If that exterior antenna is magnetic then that antenna needs the ground plane not the inside booster
I was trying what my viewers suggested. SP
If distance between exterior antenna and interior antenna is a big factor, maybe try mounting exterior antenna on Jeep bumper and have it 30 or so feet from camper. Then you could sit in camper to do your work.
Slim - your signal was decreased because you dropped your phone and the screen is cracked! Lol just kidding!
I wish you would tell us the places you stay.. The only thing I could think of to help prevent the pieces interfering with each other would be a faraday cage type of thing, maybe using your shower curtain rod to hold some copper mesh screen or try supporting your comal over the antennae
Dr. Potatohead I presume.
Run a wire from outside antenna to inside antenna to bypass the fiberglass
That makes no sense to me. Can you explain what are trying to accomplish? Thanks! SP
@@SlimPotatohead I might be my era, apologies. If the outside antenna has a wire that can bring the signal in to a receiver inside your camper (which it may my ignorance) then the receiver inside will get the outside signal from your antenna.
Dang it. I was so looking forward to your putting a tinfoil hat on your trailer. .But here is an idea: could you make a metal cone, think dog no lick itself, on the antenna pole.
Have you talked to the manufacturer about this problem?
I did. So far little useful info. My last question remains unanswered. Will this work in a fiberglass camper? SP
@@SlimPotatohead good question!! Maybe do a poll or something to see if anyone else had a fiberglass trailer and see if it works for them! Or maybe it’s time to get a new phone that is for 5G
There are few 5G towers in remote locations. The big cities get them first. SP
The unit that I have for my camp - and my camp has a steel roof and has terrible reception on a good day - has a unit for inside with 2 antenna's on it. It is meant for a 2000-3000 sq. ft home, and does well with the phone away from the unit. Not much change. I would say it may be the actual indoor antenna that is the problem. I love your testing and I am glad you did all the tests including uncoiling the "left overs" as mine is coiled up under the deck. Glad to hear it doesn't make a difference. Mine does tell me though if it is too close to the outdoor antenna. I am not sure if yours does that or not. Cheers Slim.
I wish I had any good suggestions. But yes, enjoy the outdoors. ✌️😘
Great video Slim. Thanks for taking the time to do this for us. We need a cell booster and your videos have been a great help including the other viewers shared knowledge. Have a great week.
Hi slim been watching your videos for a while my first comment... Something not significant I believe you are measuring mega bits not megabytes I believe that would be a capital b for megabytes. As I understand that the indoor antenna acts as a router.. it's communication with the outdoor antenna is supposed to be only through the cable and your little box. And the setup between the indoor antenna and your phone should be similar to a Wi-Fi setup..
One thing to remember with boosters is that a booster with your antenna setup is only one antenna whereas a phone has multiple antennas in it. That affects speed throughput.
30 feet or 10 m cable is standard for this type of system
I put a WeBoost studio booster in my cargo trailer conversion a few years ago, and it works great. I have it on a 10ft piece of 3/4" electrical emt with the tv antenna. I run it into the camper through the same cable input as the tv coax, but use an A/B switch. I don't use both at the same time. My cargo trailer camper is all aluminum as well and I loose significant signal strength between being inside and outside which is why I got the booster in the first place. Your camper being fiberglass is an advantage when your in an area with a descent signal to begin with.
Maybe the conflict isn't between the indoor and outdoor antennae. Maybe it's between the indoor antenna signal and the cell tower signal. Instead of creating a ground plane with the frying pan, put the pan vertically between the indoor antenna and the cell tower.
My download speed is 13.4 Mb/sec and upload speed is 5.7 Mb/sec. It's TracFone service.
Also need to consider other users on the bandwidth like rush-hour traffic slowing down system.
But did you try the cone foil hat?? Ha Ha! Hope you are having a blast Slim!!
About -25C in Calgary right now. Do you miss it? I am envious!!!
Great video. Have you considered lightning with that metal rod sticking up in the air? Can you ground it?
The pole is attached to the frame, frame to stabilizers, stabilizers to ground. I'm not really concerned. SP
The antenna system, as you are running it, has no ground at all. You pretty much only have half an antenna system. Had you mounted the main box to a vehicle, it would at least be grounded to that vehicle. You pointed out you don't want to throw money at the problem... But you could go to any harware store and buy some hardware cloth which is just a wire mesh. Tractor Supply sells 1/8" mesh that is 2' wide and 5' long, for $15. Then you would need to tape a piece of wire to your coax, and tape or solder it to the outside of the coax connector of the outside antenna. Put and alligator clip on the other end. Roll out the hardware cloth and just lay it in the dirt under the antenna, and connect the alligator clip to it. That will give you a ground plane, you don't need to attach anything to the trailer, but you need an antenna ground system. And the pancake pan, didn't do anything because it had no ground. The main unit (radio), isn't mounted to anything, so it's not grounded either. The most simple and cheap solution is what I just described. And it solves the problem of the trailer being fiberglass. No matter which booster you use, having a ground plane for the antenna is going to improve performance.