I was a mobile network engineer for Optus in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. We used passive repeaters a number of times across Melbourne in buildings where improved coverage was required. For some applications however a only a powered repeater would do the job.
As a cellular tech in the 90s when we had to take a site down for commissioning we would screw a mobile antenna onto one of the main tower antennas at the bulkhead to give us coverage inside the site. It worked great.
In the early 1960's, the passive repeaters were usec to fill in TV coverage in the valley bottoms south of New York's Adirondack Mountains. The one that I was first told about was used for high VHF TV channel's from 80 - 100 miles away. These were discontinued when cable TV came in some 20 years later. It would be interesting to set up one on the 1700' hills south of Buffalo and passively link to Canada across Lake Erie! Worth thinking about... de WB2VUO here near Buffalo, NY
Good one peter .. yes these do work ive used this principal for a few mobile phone users with poor coverage this has worked very well . On the bottom end i normally use a vertical or dipole type antenna so the signal is not focused in one direction But gives some prospect for use on our bands .. would be intresting to test with some marginal repeaters
I think I've seen what looked like a passive uhf/vhf repeater at the side of an open-pit mine in Lapland/Sweden back in the late 90s. Basically just two log-periodic antennas connected back to back. One pointing down the pit, the other towards the processing plant. Had only seconds to look at it while passing on a bus, so I might be mistaken.
A very practical application would be to feed your base 2m antenna into a mobile antenna in your house. It may be slightly better than just a HT but very simple to setup.
I've seen that type used to the to redirect a microwave beam from high on a tower to a ground station underneath at the tower base to do mysterious broadcast industry things. (actually very boring and not so mysterious) This is nice though because it means you don't have to remove the duck and connect to a feeder at home.
The start of the video was all black Peter. Thats an awesome idea, very clever! I dont know if the wife would approve of a yagi pointing at the bed though. 😄👍
I've wondered about this to get better 4G inside my home, specifically for the router with 4G backup (no external antenna... without modifying it). I might have to give it a go!
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It does work, but you have to do it right. In my case, I build a passive repeater for 900 MHz (B8/GSM), just two antennas connected and using a microwave, it seems to have improved the signal on GSM/LTE by about 10dBm and for some reason the WiFi signal by 20dBm. In the basement, it gave a more stable signal (permanent 4G instead of 2G/4G.
similar to this but in a negative sense, small metal objects or even drinks placed near a wifi router can change the radiation pattern and cause signal dropout in places. Also wet clothing near a router can do this too.
Interesting probly t wei same beams could increase gain also. What you too think of glass mount 2m 70 cm antennas and the general RF transference thur the glass ? Is there loss ? Years ago as madol glass mount ant had on first c as r but did not have good swr or recieve well.
I was a mobile network engineer for Optus in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. We used passive repeaters a number of times across Melbourne in buildings where improved coverage was required. For some applications however a only a powered repeater would do the job.
As a cellular tech in the 90s when we had to take a site down for commissioning we would screw a mobile antenna onto one of the main tower antennas at the bulkhead to give us coverage inside the site. It worked great.
Yes sniffing a signal.
In the early 1960's, the passive repeaters were usec to fill in TV coverage in the valley bottoms south of New York's Adirondack Mountains. The one that I was first told about was used for high VHF TV channel's from 80 - 100 miles away. These were discontinued when cable TV came in some 20 years later. It would be interesting to set up one on the 1700' hills south of Buffalo and passively link to Canada across Lake Erie!
Worth thinking about... de WB2VUO here near Buffalo, NY
Good one peter .. yes these do work ive used this principal for a few mobile phone users with poor coverage this has worked very well . On the bottom end i normally use a vertical or dipole type antenna so the signal is not focused in one direction
But gives some prospect for use on our bands .. would be intresting to test with some marginal repeaters
I think I've seen what looked like a passive uhf/vhf repeater at the side of an open-pit mine in Lapland/Sweden back in the late 90s. Basically just two log-periodic antennas connected back to back. One pointing down the pit, the other towards the processing plant. Had only seconds to look at it while passing on a bus, so I might be mistaken.
That's another good one for the knowledge banks. Thanks again Peter, very insightful.
A very practical application would be to feed your base 2m antenna into a mobile antenna in your house. It may be slightly better than just a HT but very simple to setup.
Good experiment Peter, thanks for sharing 👍.
Glad you covered this topic.
Super interesting I wish I could experiment with it
I've seen that type used to the to redirect a microwave beam from high on a tower to a ground station underneath at the tower base to do mysterious broadcast industry things. (actually very boring and not so mysterious) This is nice though because it means you don't have to remove the duck and connect to a feeder at home.
The start of the video was all black Peter. Thats an awesome idea, very clever! I dont know if the wife would approve of a yagi pointing at the bed though. 😄👍
The black start was intended as I was in bed at night.
it works even better for cellular frequencies bc the yagi antenna is smaller and have more elements
I've wondered about this to get better 4G inside my home, specifically for the router with 4G backup (no external antenna... without modifying it). I might have to give it a go!
It does work, but you have to do it right. In my case, I build a passive repeater for 900 MHz (B8/GSM), just two antennas connected and using a microwave, it seems to have improved the signal on GSM/LTE by about 10dBm and for some reason the WiFi signal by 20dBm. In the basement, it gave a more stable signal (permanent 4G instead of 2G/4G.
similar to this but in a negative sense, small metal objects or even drinks placed near a wifi router can change the radiation pattern and cause signal dropout in places. Also wet clothing near a router can do this too.
I know for sure about reflective type passive repeater at the mountain top to provide TV reception in the valley.
Does that count?
That's another form of it, yes.
Interesting probly t wei same beams could increase gain also.
What you too think of glass mount 2m 70 cm antennas and the general RF transference thur the glass ?
Is there loss ?
Years ago as madol glass mount ant had on first c as r but did not have good swr or recieve well.
I've never tried it so can't comment. Maybe others have and can?
Interesting!!
Wait...your house is built at a 45° angle..?
There was a whole thing the yanks wanted to do which is cover LEO with halfwave reflectors for 10GHz
Someone's just come back from the Barber!
Less rfi with ya light off,even though ya just done audio😋
Great video. I’ve been licensed since 1986 and I didn’t know about this. Art. K2ADC
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