I've setup outside antennas for such situations. I can usually
install a suitable antenna in a tree or on the roof. I do better with
the 800MHz antennas than with the 1900MHz variety. Biquad seems to
work well. Yagi's are a pain in the posterior, but they can be bought
commerically. Put something on the roof, run LMR-400 coax to an N
connector. From there, a pigtail adapter to the cell phone or docking
station. For a really cool installation, some docking stations have
an RJ-11 phone jack, where an ordinary POTS phone can be used. Plug
in a cordless phone, and he'll have "cellular" service around the
house. The newer adapters use BlueGoof to simulate a headset, so
there's no need for a custom cable.
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http://www.phonelabs.com/prd05.asp>
The catch is that many of todays cell phones do not have an external
antenna jack. For those, I've done tolerably well with a loop pickup,
or a nearby patch antenna. It has to be close and in the near field
or it becomes a "passive repeater" with the accompanying loss issues.
I've also played with ceramic patch antennas, which are much smaller,
with fair results.
The best such antenna coupler I've built was a resonant cavity with a
loop pickup inside. Almost all of the RF from the xmitter went to the
coax connector (as measured by my spectrum analyzer). However, the
customer wanted to see the display on the phone, which was difficult
to do. Tuning stability was also an issue as the cavity required
retuning for each style of phone. Great idea technically, but
useless.
There are also in building repeaters:
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http://www.wilsonelectronics.com////Products.php?Type=B>
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http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/ListProducts.php?Type=7>
If all else fails, have him install a flagpole or tower. Attach a
long cord to the phone for power and headset audio. Place inside a
plastic Tupperware tub, and hoist it to the top of the tower. Instant
extended range. It's much easier to run DC and audio than RF. If he
needs to go anywhere, just lower the package to ground level. If
environmental issues are a problem, just make sure he has a good
warranty on the phone. (Note: the average lifetime of a cell phone is
about 18 months). Hmmm.... I should patent this idea.