Cellphone antenna/booster suggestion

Hi everybody

I've been searching around, without too much success, for a hiker's solution to boosting cellphone signal.

Most of the results I see are car based amplifiers/booster and antennae, but nothing decent and portable enough for a backpack.

Do you have any suggestion / further reading on the subject?

I know there are radio solutions, etc. but I would really appreciate if anybody has used something that works well with cellphones,

Thanks,

I use an external antenna on the boat and that helps me get a signal.

The best advice I've found is to get in the clear and use an earpiece, so you can hold the phone away from your body. ( addition -- this is true for grms type radios -- don't know if its true for cell phones.)

A cell phone is a radio!
All you need is a miniture external Yagi Antenna (this is a directional antenna, which could give you an additional 6-12 dB gain, this means you would have to point the antenna in the direction of the nearest cell tower) and a way of connecting the antenna using 50 ohm coxial cable to the antenna port on your cell phone. i.e A BNC or TNC phone adapter, thats of course if your cell phone manufacturer makes such a thing.

If you were to use a omnidirectional antenna you would need an external microwave amplifier (heavier solution also requiring additional battery power) to get a similar gain.

http://www.alternativewireless.com/cellu...-dual-band.html

Thank you everybody

Yes, my cellphone has an external antenna port and I can get a connection cable for it.

Re. additional battery power, I guess one of those portable power packs would do.

Did anybody had any success with one of these directional/omnidirectional antennas carried over on the backpack plus additional powerpacks/battery?

Cheers,