Force5 Signal Booster Install

Recently, one of our partners was able to do a SureCall Force5 signal booster install in Las Vegas. I asked them if they happened to have any photos of the project that they installed. I was in luck! Not only did they have a ton of great photos, but they also took the time to document a few speed tests of their AT&T LTE service both before and after the installation. The results were pretty telling!

Vegas, Baby!

From what I understand, Vegas can be quite the experience! I never drink, so my experience with Vegas is basically a “wow look at the pretty lights” kind of deal. But having grown up only 2 hours north of Sin City, I’m pretty familiar with how things work there. What happens in Vegas is supposed to STAY in Vegas. But most people visiting Vegas end up texting, tweeting and facebooking everything they do to people that are OUT of Vegas. It’s pretty frustrating not having good enough cell coverage to share the evidence of your Vegas shenanigans with those back home.

That was the EXACT situation that the good folks at JW Marriott, Rampart Casino were facing. They had this beautiful, amazing location but they had TERRIBLE cell phone coverage inside the building. So they called one of our partners to install a cell phone signal booster.

Our partner decided this location was a prime candidate for a Force5 signal booster install. Why a Force5 signal booster? Why not a different, cheaper one? In this situation, with the building size and the number of connected users, a Force5 signal booster install made more sense. It’s the better choice because it can handle a much higher call capacity and it can cover a lot more square footage with its increased gain and output power.

Before the Install

When the installers arrived on site, they asked a few casino workers to run some speed tests from their mobile phones. This photo is an actual screenshot of one of those speed tests before the installation had started. The speed test result in this photo was pretty on-par with speed tests from other carriers as well. Some of the employees had Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. and the results of their speed tests were very similar.

The Install

With flat roofs, like this one, it can be particularly difficult to find a spot to mount the outside “donor” antenna. In this situation, our partner chose a non-penetrating roof mount for mounting the outside antenna. A non-penetrating roof mount (pictured above) is a rectangular bracket with an attached pole. Cinder blocks placed in the rectangular base of the mount keep the pole steady. Then the outside donor antenna mounts to the pole with the included mounting hardware.

Another extremely difficult part of a flat-roof installation is finding a way to get the cable to the outside antenna. In this situation, our partner chose to “blaze his own path” to the roof. They cut a hole, ran a conduit through it and installed a flashing to make it all waterproof. Then they installed a conduit service entrance cap at the top of the conduit to keep rainfall out.

Our partner securely mounted the underside of the conduit to a wall using unistrut and some conduit clamps. This supports the conduit from below and prevents it from falling into the building or moving around. When conduits move around, they tend to allow leaks to happen. And leaking roofs are bad for business!

If It’s Worth Doing…

I remember when I was in 10th grade. My dad was an ironworker. Steel structural. I spent all summer working for him. My job consisted of 10 hours a day in the hot southern Utah desert sun- puddle welding steel decking to joists in my welding hood and long sleeve shirt. It was HOT! So, after a few hours of this repetitive welding, my dad came to “inspect” my work. He claims it was an inspection, but I think he was just trying to teach me this life long lesson.

He told me that my welds looked like garbage, (he didn’t really use the word garbage though) and that I’d have to break all my welds out and start over.

I said, “Who cares? There is roofing going on over all this decking anyway. No one will ever see these welds!”

He said, “I care! I’ll drive past this place every day and know that those $#@%-ty welds are in there. If the job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right! These welds look like a metal bird took a $#@% on them.”

I learned a lesson that day.

Taking Pride in Your Work

Our partner did a great job of making this Force5 signal booster install look as amazing as the interior of that casino. They mounted the SureCall Force5 signal booster to the wall with the power adapter neatly mounted next to it. Then they mounted the Sentry remote monitoring system neatly below the amplifier. The splitter was neatly mounted to the wall with the cables cleanly running along the wall. It all looks great!

They installed four antennas, evenly distributed throughout the interior of the casino. The antennas in the interior of the casino were virtually invisible.

Results

At this point, you might be wondering: Did the install improve the signal inside the casino? The answer is yes, yes it did. If you recall, before the install the speed test app that they used to measure the upload and download speed of AT&T’s LTE service rated the service with a big, fat “F” for failure. After the installation, they were able to pull down the following speed test results from the same phone at the same location.

So, with those tangible results, I think it’s safe to say that this SureCall Force5 signal booster install was a complete success. So, If you have any questions about this install or about anything else related to cell phone signal boosters, I’m always happy to help. Just send me an email to: [email protected] and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Also, if you have any installation tips, tricks or suggestions, I’d love to hear about those as well.

You can get your hands on the SureCall Force5 Signal Booster that was used in this installation right here in my online shop.

If you have any questions about how cell phone signal boosters work , or how to choose the best cell phone signal booster for your application, there’s a lot of really great information here in my blog.

As always, Thanks for stopping by!

-Rob

Cellular Signal Booster Installation

Properly installing a cellular signal booster can make or break the system’s functionality. So, a properly installed cell phone booster can give you amazing results. And a poorly installed cellular booster can have some negative effects.  With this in mind, let’s outline a few of the most important points that will lead you to positive results.

Outside Signal Level

The available signal at the outside antenna limits a cell phone signal booster’s ability. It’s important to remember, the cellular signal booster can only amplify an existing signal, it cannot create signal from nothing.

Therefore, you must place the outside antenna where it will provide the best signal from the cell phone tower. Also, keep in mind that you can have “too good” of a signal. For example, using a directional antenna too close to the cell tower could cause the booster to become “overloaded”. This “overloaded” state will keep the signal booster from performing. Because finding the right outside coverage is so crucial, there are a few tricks you can use to ensure a good outside signal.

• Use a signal meter.

SureCall makes an amazing signal meter that works really great to help you locate the best outside signal. Just plug the outside antenna into the meter, and then aim the antenna to find the best signal level.

• Use your cellphone.

If you are using a non-directional antenna, you can sometimes use your cell phone to locate the best coverage. Note that it sometimes take a while for the display to update on your phone. You’ll notice that you will need to allow several seconds before the phone will update.

• Use online tools.

There are several websites that can help you to figure out where the nearest cell tower is. CellReception.com is one of my favorites. You just enter your city and state and a google map will quickly show you where the nearest towers are.

Antenna Separation

One of the biggest challenges for engineers developing cellular signal boosters is the issue of feedback. This feedback, also called oscillation, can create serious issues. Luckily, a few years ago, a brilliant engineering team patented the “oscillation detection algorithm” to help out. By the way, I used to work on that brilliant engineering team.

While we will save for another post the in-depth discussion of oscillation, the “Reader’s Digest” version is as follows. Oscillation is when an amplifier (or cellular signal booster) amplifies a signal, receives the amplified signal, then amplifies it again.

In the past, undetected oscillations could shut down a cell phone provider’s tower. Now, all new cellular signal boosters provide oscillation detection due to FCC and cellular carrier requirements. So, the booster will shut itself down if it oscillates, but if it is shut-down, it can’t amplify anything, right?

• Keep the inside and outside antennas away from each other.

The inside and outside antennas need plenty of physical separation. Separate the antennas both vertically and horizontally. In fact, the more separation that you can get between them, the better off you are going to be. So, try to get the outside antenna as high up as possible, and the inside antenna as low as possible. Also, you could place the outside antenna on one end of the house and the inside antenna at the other, pointing away from each other.

• Point them the opposite direction.

If you are using directional antennas, make sure that the antennas are aiming away from each other. Notice the “Sample Cell Phone Signal Booster Installation Diagram” above. It show a very ideal installation scenario. Install your antennas in a similar manner, with them pointing away from each other and as much separation as possible.

The Right Antenna

Cellular signal boosters have many different antenna options. I will quickly highlight the simple differences.

Outdoor Directional

Directional antennas are great for locations where you need a little more help reaching out to the cell tower. They have higher gain than non-directional antennas, but only have the higher gain in the direction they are aimed.

Outdoor Non-directional

Omnidirectional (or non-directional) antennas are great for when you are close to a cell tower, but may have poor coverage indoors.

Indoor Non-directional

Non-directional indoor antennas are usually attached directly to the cellular signal booster and radiate an even signal away from the antenna. They have lower gain than directional antennas, but they evenly dispense signal. They are usually placed in the the middle of the area where the users will be located.

Indoor Directional

Directional indoor antennas are usually attached to a cable that runs from the cellular signal booster. They are either placed on a wall or attached to the ceiling to radiate signal toward the area where users will be located.

Need Help?

If you need help figuring out what might be best for your exact situation, we are more than happy to help! Since we understand that not everyone can be an electronics engineer (like me), email us at: [email protected] describe your situation, and we would LOVE to help you design your cellular signal booster system!

When you’re ready to buy your cellular signal booster, we would LOVE to sell you what you need! Buy a cellular signal booster here in my shop.