cordless phones:
There are currently four popular north american frequency ranges for
cordless phones:
45-49 MHZ
900MHZ (not sure the band spread)
2.4GHZ (again not sure band spread)
5.8GHZ (these band spreads can be found i have no doubt by doing a google
for cordless phone frequencies)
They all have similar ranges bassed on different variables such as
manufacturer, quality of components, the area you are in weather there is
allot of other traffic on the same frequency spectrum or allot of RF
interpherence causing reduced range.
Most 900, 2.4gig and 5.8 gig phones have a range of perhaps a few blocks in
any given direction as long as there are no obstructions and the bass
transmitting section and antenna are located in a relatively obstruction
free area.
The rf power output of these units is very minimal, in the range of 10/25
milliwatts or a tenth to a 25th of a watt. You can increase your range by
installing a home made or camercially availible antenna for the bass
transmitter/receiver as long as the bass will accept a external antenna jack
somehow.
Most are built with the antenna nearly integral to the design of the phone,
but sometimes you can get bass units with an antenna that has a mini-SMA or
mini BNC type connecter on the antenna much like many wireless routers have.
A good all around stable range that you should always get is about 200 yards
out of any cordless phone you buy, if you cheap out though and go for the
cheapest thing on the shelf you are going to get terribly low efficiency and
much reduced range. Go for the mid priced phones made by panasonic, sony,
uniden and other top brands.
In cordless phones the length of the antenna has little bearing on range,
some of the 2.4 ghz and 5.8 ghz phones have no externally visible antenna on
the handset. You will see similar designs in cellular telephones and these
work just as well as the phones with the 3 inch stub on them.
The phone you may have had back in college dependant upon how long ago was a
46MHZ cordless...these offten had pretty good range especially the uniden
phones. This was because they do depend on antenna gain and the larger the
manufacturer made the antenna the better they got out...usually though the
antenna length was sacrificed for cosmedic purposes, looks in other words, a
long antenna isn't very nice to have if you arent a ham or hobbiest.
Anyway i think that might help im not sure.
73
Colin, VA6BKX
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Kenyon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 6:56 AM
Subject: Re: OT cordless phone range question
> Hi everyone, the phone I got in college that I am thinking of replacing
> had amazing range in college, and when at my grandomther's house and this
> and my location now is relatively flat. It is a 900 MHz phone, but I
> can't get the range to improve here, and I have put it in a great location
> for RF transmisions, up stairs close to a window, but in the dorm I
> couldn't put it near a window, and got great coverage on it. I know that
> C. Crane had one that there was a record of a few miles with it. I can't
> recall the brand of it now though.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, 19 Apr 2005, John Miller wrote:
>
> > I have a uniden 5.8 GHz cordless phone and I can get at least as good if
not
> > better range than any other we've had here, it won't go around my block,
but
> > my block is 6.3 miles around, but I can go anywhere in my back yard with
no
> > issues and that's pretty big and the base stand is in 1 of the worst
places
> > in my house for RF signals so I could probably move it and get a lot
better
> > even if I tried. Mine is 1 of the digital ones too, I got it on
> > www.amazon.com.
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jeff Kenyon" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 8:42 AM
> > Subject: Re: OT cordless phone range question
> >
> >
> > I'll have to think about that. What have others seen as far as range
goes
> > in a cordless phone?
> >
>
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