OK, looks like ham radio is not a good solution. At least it would provide some food in emergency (ha ha).

I started looking into two possibilities:

1. Cell signal booster. This works better for car travel, since it requires antenna installation, etc. However, lacking electronics knowledge, I am unable to translate manufacturer specs into something I understand. The gain is measured in decibels. Is a gain of 40 db enough to cover me on most road travel? Does anyone know this?

2. Tracfone (Blast's recommendation) seems cheaper than other prepaid phones. If you buy 400 minutes for $100, you don't need to pay any more fees to keep the phone active for a year. Tracfone uses CDMA and GSM, but you don't get to choose. Your location determines the variety. Their GSM carrier seems to be AT&T, the the CDMA carrier Verizon. So current AT&T customers might not see much of an improvement. Tracfone phones are not terribly fancy, so they might not be able to pull in weak signal.


Da Bing