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Question

Cell phone signal booster

Sep 18, 2018 5:59PM PDT

Can I use any roof mount antenna to connect to a cell phone signal booster. I have a large antenna already mounted on my roof but I didn’t know if there was something specific in the antenna just to pick up cell phone signal

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Maybe something from Wilson?
Sep 18, 2018 6:04PM PDT
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Weboost
Sep 18, 2018 6:11PM PDT

I bought a weboost booster today. I would like to know if the antenna that is already mounted on the building with coax already attached would work instead of putting the antenna that came with the weboost on the roof. I am not sure what this original antenna was even for but it is multidirectional.

I didn’t know if there was something specific in the antenna for cell phone signals.

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Time to ask them.
Sep 18, 2018 7:15PM PDT

But I've only dealt with Wilson and Motorola gear. Time to ask the weboost support? Isn't such in the manuals?

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Answer
No, you can’t use the existing antenna
Sep 19, 2018 10:12AM PDT

You almost certainly cannot use the existing “large” antenna. Antennas must be resonant at their designed frequency, otherwise, they’re just a conductor and will not radiate. Resonant length is based upon the frequency. Lower frequencies require longer lengths to be resonant and higher frequencies are shorter lengths. A large antenna on your roof is probably an old TV antenna and resonant at lower UHF and VHF frequencies. This isn’t a good match at cellular frequencies. You can mount a specific antenna designed for your carrier’s bands on the same pole that the larger is on.
At cellular frequencies, the signal is line of site, meaning it will not travel over the horizon and will not usually refract off the atmosphere. Your donor antenna ( the outside one) needs to be as high as is practical/ possible to accommodate the line of site characteristic. I would recommend a directional antenna called a “yagi”. It should be mounted with as clear as possible path towards the nearest cell tower. The nearest tower that your carrier is on.