Glad For the Antenna -- and Signal Amp

Parked at the Bonita Campground at the entrance to Sunset Crater and my cell phone (the Palm Pre) gets no signal. It had a roaming signal yesterday when I set up Wandrin Wagon for a couple of days stay.

With no signal for the Palm Pre, I was sure I was going to have to head closer to Flagstaff to satiate my internet addiction. That would be my first real test for the iPad (updating my blog and saving some internet pages for later reading). The desktop iMac is not portable. I could take the iPad down the road closer to Flagstaff where I could get a signal for the Palm Pre. Then I could use it as the Wi-Fi hot spot to use the iPad to access the internet.

That was the thought as I decided to set up the iMac and the USB760 air card. The air card is always connected to a Wilson truckers antenna that it inside the Wandrin Wagon. Hooked everything up and I was getting a signal -- the flag said there was a signal. Took the truckers antenna outside and put it on a mast to get the antenna about six feet over the top of Wandrin Wagon. Back in and there was a single bar for signal strength. The antenna was then plugged into the antenna signal amplifier. That resulted in two bars.

That was great. No need to go searching for a Verizon signal closer to town.

This experience with low signal strength corroborates that decision to purchase the external antenna capable USB760. That purchase was instead of the Mi-Fi unit which I really wanted. However it had no capability for an external antenna.