Racal Antenna 1661 - 000 870-960/1710-1800Mhz

[SIIVION]

Good day to all.
Complete newbie here, couple of questions...

I have a Racal 1661 - 000 870-960/1710-1800Mhz Dual band dual polarised Antenna

What second-hand use does it have?
What do I connect to it to test if it works please?

Tried a standard googling but I could not fathom a thing.

[m0lsx]

What you have is a dual band UHF antenna, designed for the 870-960Mhz & the 1710-1880Mhz bands.

Details can be found at..

http://www.pacificwave-wireless.com/pw_product/product_for_outdoor_rf_cellular/Outdoor%20Antenna/dualband_and_triband/900+1800mhz/1661-0000.pdf

It looks like you need two connectors described as 7/16 DIN & as the antenna looks to have Female, so you will need Male. And they look to be very similar to a N Type connector., but more expensive.
The antenna should work as a receive antenna off band, but it's efficiency will be lower that on band.
One use, might be to pair this up with an old 934 mhz CB. But of course we cannot legally use 934 mhz, so that would be RX only

[SIIVION]

Thank you very much for your reply.

I had previously found the link but thanks anyway.

There are a few of the connectors on Ebay at just £5. If there is no legal use for this Antenna I will probably dismantle it for my own interest, I will leave it a while in case somebody else comes up with something.

I had thought to try and boost my mobile phone signal as I am rural and cannot get 3G. There are plenty of boosters with antennas available.
Is there any advantage of me using this very large 1661 antenna?

[m0lsx]

I had thought to try and boost my mobile phone signal as I am rural and cannot get 3G. There are plenty of boosters with antennas available.
Is there any advantage of me using this very large 1661 antenna?

I would take a look at the Ofcom site, before you try to boost your mobile phone signal.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/coverage/mobile-repeaters

The unlicensed use of mobile repeaters could result in a fine of up to £5,000 and up to a year in prison.

Unfortunately, a number of websites still try to pass these devices off as a legitimate solution to signal problems.

Some even claim these devices - which are also described as mobile phone signal boosters or enhancers- are exempt from Ofcom's regulations. Don't be fooled. They are not.

It's for this reason that you won't find these particular devices for sale in the High Street or through your mobile phone company.

You may also like to read the thread on this site from 2014, when someone was raided for using a phone signal booster.
http://ukradioscanning.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1928

[SIIVION]

Thank you.
It is an impractical idea anyway. Also I have just researched the potential RF radiation and exclusion zones so will definitely not be using it.
Looks like a dismantling is called for.

[G4RMT]

Not so certain - If I had a spare phone that I didn't mind butchering - you might be able to graft the phone to the aerial with a very short length of cable from the internal antenna, and bodge up a connection to the base station aerial. You'd end up with a hotspot, or bluetooth connection into that phone that you could access from somewhere more pleasant? They have nearly a 90 degree horizontal beam width so pointing it at your local tower might get you access, without being in the illegal repeater 'box'. There's probably a rule on erp from a phone, but couldn't find it?

The Samsung s4 mini had an external antenna option didn't it? That would work with this aerial, but the losses in anything other than cheap cable would probably be more than the gain from the aerial you have.

[SIIVION]

Thank you.

I have decided not to use it, sounds a bit Dom Jollyesk with his enormous 'HELLO' phone

If you know anybody that could use any parts from this antenna they can have it for free, just pay postage.