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Emergency Phone Range Extender

Use balloon to extend phone antennae
 
(+2, -2)
  [vote for,
against]

Idea: A small plastic package about the size of a first-aid kit that can be carried in a backpack or in a pocket into mountainous areas or areas at the periphery of normal cellular coverage. Inside is a medium-size mylar balloon with an attached lightweight cellular antenna, an exceptionally fine, light electrical wire of as much length as can be lifted by the balloon, and a small container of helium...as much as would be needed to fill the balloon (special adapter fill mechanism to insure easy balloon fill-up if needed), and a small device that sits near the phone (which is comprised of a little bit of circuitry/battery needed to receive and transmit cellphone signals a few feet).

The idea is that any time you want to extend your cellphone range when traveling in remote areas or outside of normal cellphone coverage, but where coverage may exist just over the horizon or just outside the limits of the mountainous terrain you are currently in, you simply attach the helium injector to the balloon and fill it then release. As the balloon rose, unspooling the VERY light wire would begin to unspool. The wire would already be attached to the antenna on the balloon and to the small electronic relay device. One would simply need to insure that the relay device did not float away by securing it. Then one would make calls as normal and signals would be relayed to a position some distance above you. If the wire were especially light and sturdy and you could haul a mile of it or more up with the balloon, you could easily extend your distance to the horizon by a hundred miles or more.

Thoughts?

Caine, Jul 12 2008

Loft the whole phone Emergency_20Phone_20Range_20Extender_202
[CaptainCrunch, Jul 12 2008]

(?) Phone Lies http://blogcritics....06/08/24/221016.php
This link goes to mis-information and lies. [Caine, Jul 14 2008]

Think big https://www.helikites.com/communications
[a1, Aug 13 2023]

A1, this was something else I'd considered https://a.co/d/7xotNjg
[21 Quest, Aug 13 2023]

But it probably won’t help https://www.theverg...-hacks-raising-arms
Arm’s length, 20 feet, or as high as you can throw it … you won’t get better reception unless you’re clearing a nearby significant obstacle [a1, Aug 13 2023]

[link]






       This won't work as described. Thew wire would itself act as an antenna and since cell phones are very high frequency, it would act as a very badly matched antenna. Wht you need is to replace the wire with coax and then it might work. Or dump the wire bit and use string attached to a balloon with a relay and two antennas, one pointed down the string to you and a second omnidirectional antenna. You may not even need any booster, but obviously it would work better with a battery and a booster.
MisterQED, Jul 12 2008
  

       How about just having the balloon carry aloft a repeater with a long string attached so you could reel it back in when you were done?
Caine, Jul 12 2008
  

       Two words: Power poles.
Spacecoyote, Jul 12 2008
  

       But, [Spacecoyote], won't power poles be few and far between in the kind of place where this device would be needed?
pertinax, Jul 12 2008
  

       Two strings held apart by seperators with the antenna being held horizontally between them...
Voice, Jul 12 2008
  

       A better way to avoid the cable problem is to loft the whole phone. See link.
CaptainCrunch, Jul 12 2008
  

       [CaptainCrunch]'s idea, an acknowledged derivative of this, offers a significant improvement, but this one gets a bun for originating the idea. [+]
8th of 7, Jul 12 2008
  

       I like the whole phone idea, but was thinking that this might be more useful if it could extend the transmitter as much as a half-mile or more up in the air.
Caine, Jul 12 2008
  

       Number 1 is Europe only, and only works when you're near a tower. Number 2 is a lie. Number 3 is a lie. Number 4 only works on Nokia phones. Please to be removing your link.
Voice, Jul 13 2008
  

       Not sure who put that link on there, but I removed it.
Caine, Jul 13 2008
  

       Well wasn't that nice of you.   

       : /   

       I'll make sure to contribute more to your ideas in the future.   

       Perhaps I had a hankering to know that; Number 1 is Europe only, and only works when you're near a tower. Number 2 is a lie. Number 3 is a lie. Number 4 only works on Nokia phones.   

       Perhaps I was under the mistaken assumption that these emergency features would actually save my ass if it was in a bind.   

       Perhaps others also lacked, and therefore would have appreciated the linked dis-information as well, rather than decipher a swiss-cheesed idea.   

       .   

       perhaps   

       Well, there you go...I put it back. :D
Caine, Jul 14 2008
  

       I live way out in the sticks and there's still power poles everywhere. Besides, one idiot and you've got a lawsuit on your hands.
Spacecoyote, Jul 14 2008
  

       A1, what comprises a "significant obstacle" might surprise you. It could be a field of corn that you're driving past, or a raised embankment to the side of the road... some dense shrubbery, or even your own vehicle can make the difference between a single bar of service and none at all. I spent 6 years working in customer service, sales, and tech support for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint and I got these calls all the time.
21 Quest, Aug 13 2023
  

       How do you get calls from customers who have no service???
pocmloc, Aug 13 2023
  

       An unfortunate victim of physics, I'm afraid.
21 Quest, Aug 13 2023
  

       // I spent 6 years working in customer service, sales, and tech support for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint and I got these calls all the time //   

       Ever tell anyone to hold their phone up, throw it in the air, or to go fly a kite?
a1, Aug 14 2023
  

       I did suggest standing on the roof of one's vehicle once. My supervisor happened to be listening in and I SWEAR I heard a muffled scream coming vaguely from the direction of his office shortly before he called me in for a pretty impressive ass chewing.
21 Quest, Aug 14 2023
  

       From your telling I guess the supv didn’t like your advice. But did it resolve the customer’s issue?   

       “If it’s stupid but it works - it’s not stupid.”
a1, Aug 14 2023
  

       It actually did! He wasn't concerned with it being stupid though, he was concerned about it being dangerous, and our company getting sued if the customer fell off lol
21 Quest, Aug 14 2023
  

       I guess I have the same question [pocmloc] brought up earlier - how did you get a support call from someone who had no service?
a1, Aug 14 2023
  
      
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