StarLink-July, September, 2023

StarLink-The answer to remote, off-grid internet service, with great Wifi cell phone coverage with strong in and outbound call service when the Starlink is connected and cell phones on. I purchased a system for Gerle Creek. Antenna to be mounted to the front facia board on the cabin roof allowing good access to the northern hemisphere for the antenna, missing the many tree obstructions.

Starlink worked great at Gerle Creek, with antenna in front of the cabin next to our parking space old fire pit rocks. Provided good service in spite of being officially obstructed in this position. I tested my Starlink antenna attached to the front facia board on front left corner and then halfway up towards the fireplace top, but neither location worked well as compared to by the large stone in the driveway. I also tested the antenna on the back side of the cabin roof (South side) next to the Kitchin and on the Southwest side adjacent to the master bedroom using in all four cases the nice Starlink 90 degree antenna mount. None of the antenna locations attached to the cabin worked anywhere close to the position next to the rock.

I also used my 150ft antenna cord and walked the antenna across the road and placed it in Ricky Rogers parking spot near where their original shed was and again it did not work well as compared to my first spot.

So hereafter, the antenna will go next to the rock in the front driveway of the cabin.

I setup my Starlink router on the dining room table which provided first class Wifi around the inside of the cabin as well as around the cabin outside. I bought the Starlink attachment which allows one to use a separate switch or a single CAT 5/6 cable to connect either a router or a laptop directly to the network. Works very well and is recommended.  I powered the Starlink system using my off grid Solar System and my dual fuel generator, both of which work well.

 

 

 

 

GERLE CREEK SUMMER HOME TRACT CELL PHONE SIGNAL BOOSTER SYSTEM WITH SOLAR POWER-TEMPORARY-NOTES ON PREPARATION,  STUDY AND TEMPORARY INSTALLATION, CELL SIGNAL USE RESULTS AND REMOVAL-May 2020

ATT Cell Service Map 

Verizon Cell Service Map

Huge different in the Gerle Creek area between ATT and Verizon in regard to signal coverage.

June/July 2020 changed the plan and experimented with the cell signal above Lot 24. Discovered the ATT signal is alive and well above my cabin and every other location within the GCSHT as well. Based on the height of the terrain determines where you need to put your cell booster Yaggi antenna. I found a usable cell signal at 43ft above my cabin deck and experimented with higher elevations ending up at 70 to 72ft above my deck. The cell signal is primo and provides great cell phone service including text, phone calls, email and internet access. 

The cell phone booth is set up on my west deck on the round table on the southside for anyone in the tract wanting to make calls, check email etc.

 

 

 

 

Late June/Early July, 2020. The plan is to move the Yaggi Antenna back to it’s original position(October 2018) ontop of the hill where the cell signal is stronger and the actual antenna is unseen from down in the cabin tract.

The new rebuilt Solar Power Cell Phone Booster Station is going to return to roughly it’s October, 2018 position directly behind McDonals Lot , to the North along the bottom of the hillside below the water tanks behind the cabin tract.  The panel will be mounted on the pole as low as possible, aimed to the South for full Sun,  to improve the stability of the solar panel/pole considering the winds which come up at times.The Solar Station will be about 200ft to the west of the antenna but further behind the McDonald Cabin. This will lengthen the RG6 cable run slightly but the original signal location has a stronger resident  cell signal which when boosted will enhance the cell, texting and internet signal at the transmitter in the cabin tract.

 

 

 

 

 

 

November, 2019. These pictures are of the brand new solar station completely rebuilt after being trashed during red flag conditions in October 2019.  The new rebuilt solar power cell booster station  is up and running in my backyard and will be installed where the solar panel does not need to be mounted so high on the pole in June, 2020 at Gerle Creek. There is a new control box and the controller, cell phone booster are all installed and rewired. The batteries are now installed in two larger battery boxes with a simple 2 pin quick disconnect. This will be a simpler and easier installation up behind the cabins once again hooking it into the existing laid coax cable between the solar station and the Yaggi antenna on the hill and the transmitting antenna down at my cabin.

In October 2019, we had 3 days of red flag conditions which blew over the solar station, smashing the panel and the control box requiring it all to be replaced. I took it all down and brought it home to rework.

 

 

July, 2019 Reinstalled the Yaggi antenna on the temporary pole up and directly above Lot 32 on the overlooking rocks and installed the cell booster and solar power system for the booster on the pole with the solar panel  behind Rogers cabin. The system now is using a 100 watt solar panel versus the original 30 watt panel and works very well.

 

 

 

The booster antenna is sitting on the picnic table on the west side deck of my cabin, Lot 24. Please feel free to use it anytime. Just lay your phone directly on the flat booster antenna and call or text away as long as you are a ATT or ATT backbone cell phone customer. Verizon service does not work since there is no Verizon service up on our hillside. We will not be back up till Spetember 25th. I will pull it down on October 13th for the winter,

 

 

October, 2018-It is possible to make and receive telephone calls, text messages and email in GCSHT by using a properly located cell signal booster antenna and cell booster system, as long as your phone will get a cell signal at the water tanks, such as ATT, Sprint and other carriers which make use of the ATT Signal. As tested since Verizon Cell phones do not work up at the tanks, Verizon phones would not be able to call out in the tract except by using another cell phone hot spot signal such as an ATT or Sprint Phone. Bill Holmes made use of his Verizon cell phone by using my ATT cell phone hot spot.

The cell phone booster system is now installed October 2, 2018 temporarily as planned. The antenna is shown on the map to the left and is about 200 feet above the McFarland/McDonald Cabin Lot 27, with the solar system installed directly behind Lot 27. There is 200 ft of cable between the Yaggi antenna and the solar panel and another 450ft of cable from the solar panel/booster down to lot 24 via cable laid on the ground behind Lot 27, Lot 28 Rogers and then inbetween Rogers cabin and Taylor’s cabin Lot 29 down to the road, across the road running through a steel pipe and to Lot 24 Cabin where it can be used on the deck or in the cabin.

Due to the 600 plus ft of RG6 cable, the antenna signal degrades such that your phone needs to be laid against the antenna and used. If you use a blue tooth earpiece than this works wonderfully as one can still walk around up to 30 ft around your phone to talk or you just sit with your phone on the antenna and talk, text or email. Signal Strength is a full 5 bars with your phone against this antenna. If you are using your laptop, than using your phone as a internet hotspot allows you to again be up to 30 ft away from your phone and antenna because of the Blue Tooth features. I had no issues using email, text or cell phone. I even tested Netflix and was able to watch a program using this signal booster system.

As a further test, I moved the antenna wire RG6 cable and rerouted it behind Taylor’s Cabin #29 along the border with the Messenger cabin #30 crossing the road and putting the antenna next to the large rock (“Rock” Location) where you turn to go to the GCSHT Pump house and the rear access for the Holmes Lot #33, Coulson Lot #34 and Trulin Lot #35 cabins. This would make an easy location if the tract was looking for an cell phone calling spot for all the tract to use while being at a minimum distance from the hilltop antenna location where the existing cell signal is 2 bars. For this position, it took only 400ft of antenna RG6 cable with 200 ft from the top of the hill Yaggi antenna down to the Solar Panel and another 200 ft down to the antenna receive location. It also would be possible to use the original antenna location followed by 400 ft of cable run down to the “Rock” location with the Solar Panel pole being installed there where access for service is easiest. Preferred. No climbing the mountain to check the solar operation and battery strength.

To make this a finished cell booth, a decent picnic table to resituate the cell signal retransmitting antenna with an umbrella shade would help those who needed to make a call or to use a laptop or text since this position is sunny.

I removed the system on Thursday October 11, 2018. On top of the hill where the Yaggi antenna was I did leave the metal Christmas Tree style stand with rocks piled on it in it’s signal receiving spot if you look hard. This stand is temporary and can be removed at anytime.

With good sun in the early part of the year this 30 watt solar panel setup would probably be sufficient to power this Weboost cell signal booster 24 hours a day but with cloud cover during the test period in October 2018, it strained the existing battery system to provide the required 12VDC power while recharging the solar 12VDC batteries and keeping the system powered up. We would probably go for a larger solar panel-60 watt and  additional battery backup which supports operations with the solar panel has no sun. This is easily done by swapping the panel and making a mount for the solar pole to hold an additional larger battery and connecting it to the solar controller.

During the coming Winter I plan to upgrade the solar panel and make a mount for a larger battery to continue to test this system. Cost for this system is under $1500. Questions, email me at Mike Brattland mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com Lot #24 GCSHT

 

 

 

The Yaggi antenna is mounted on a ten foot pole but the antenna is about waist high.  The solar panel and box with the cell booster and batteries is directly behind Lot 27.If you can make and receive phone calls up at the water tanks, than this system will allow you to make and receive phone calls at the retransmit antenna at Lot 24. I will be removing this system and cable on Thursday October 11, 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July, 2018-Cathy and I will be back up at the cabin for the first 2 weeks of October. During July, I did a tramp over the back hillside behind the generator building/well pump flat area and discovered several locations (have GPS Coordinates for them) on the side of that hillside which my cell phone worked chest high. No high antenna required. Since these locations are a lot easier to access height wise than walking all the way to the tanks (much closer to the flat area surrounding the generator and pumps) , I am going to do a trial test of the cell phone booster I bought along with the antennas etc. in this area. I will also have a solar panel, controller, battery etc to complete this test.
I have made up two temporary poles with flat steel plates which can be easily located in the right place and with the available rocks to pile on the plates, easy to establish but not permanently to really test this setup. The pole with the Yaggi antenna, the directional antenna will be placed in a location on the hillside where there is a cell signal to receive and then boost. The other antenna pole with the flat ivory color antenna is the antenna which retransmits the boosted cell signal after going through the Wilson Cell booster and it will be placed down the hillside from the Yaggi antenna towards or very near the generator shack. I bought an extra 200ft of RG-6 cable plus about nearly 75 to 100 ft of cable which came with the kit which will be used to connect to the retransmitting antenna down below. Again this antenna can be placed wherever and using available rocks to hold it in place. Most likely I will install the weathertight box which will have the battery, solar panel controller, an inverter which will power the cell phone booster. A solar panel of 30 watts will be attached to the pole to keep battery charged. This booster setup uses 8 watts of continuous 110volts to power itself so I will need a 30 watt solar panel to keep the battery charged while it runs the booster. I am shopping for the solar stuff right now but will have it before coming up. I plan to assemble it all here and test it before un-assembling it for the trip to the cabin.
This is the plan. I am thinking this antenna which re-transmits will cover about a 1500 to 2500 sq ft area depending on how strong the cell signal is at the Yaggi antenna up the hill. It will mean anyone with a cell phone can receive the cell signal themselves around this antenna and make calls or use a laptop etc.. If their phone works off the signal at Big Hill than it will work off my boosted and retransmitted signal in the track. This signal booster boosts all cell signals off Bill Hill, not just one company over another company. No restrictions. Anyone will be able to use it. With the solar setup, and correctly installed, this would provide us a forever cell signal in the tract quite possibly. We will see how the test will go.
The temporary nature of my poles and mounts will let me adjust or move them to get it right. When I finish, I can remove it as well……This is the plan. The ideal situation would be to determine at what elevation in the well pump/generator house area the cell signal is and then build a high enough antenna to put the Yaggi antenna in the cell signal area and retransmit it, or do the same thing on Lot 24 for my own use.
I needed a simple antenna of the right height to place the Yaggi antenna where the cell signal was, boosting it and retransmitting the signal via a lower antenna on the tower or sufficiently far away so it does not conflict the signals.

September, 2018-I have finally received the solar power equipment including panel and solar panel and finished putting it together and setting it up this afternoon at home to run for a while. This setup has a single 30 watt solar panel, four 12 volt batteries, a controller which hooks to the solar panel and batteries and then provides a feed to the actual cell booster which is mounted inside the panel. the Weboost cell booster required 5VDC power so a 12vdc to 5VDC Converter completed this installation. Right now a few things are not mounted but will be by the time I get up there. It is nice that everything fits in this weathertight panel. I have added one larger pole for the panel and depending on where the antenna goes up on the back hill side the solar power will probably be down near the antenna which will re-transmit the cell sign al in boosted fashion. I will disassemble it all for the trip to the cabin on September 29th, but installing it will be much like an erector set once the pole with the Yaggi Antenna on it is set where I can find the cell signal. The poles with flat steel plates even on the big pole holding the solar panel and box work well and up there in the dirt and rocks once you have a flat spot plenty of rocks stacked on the plate will hold each pole in place where ever they end up…..ready for the test.

 

I am using a Weboost Part Number: 470103R-RB
WeBoost Connect 4G Wireless Cellphone Signal Booster Kit (Certified Refurbished)