Most of wouldn’t think of leaving home without our cell phones hooked on our belts or tossed in a bag, and a trip on the water is no exception. How else are you going to call a friend to remind them to bring the sun block, make dinner reservations, or call the babysitter to tell her you’ll be home later than planned?Unfortunately, boaters are often in for a rude shock when they discover their palm-size cell phone reads “no signal” when out on the water. But with a cell phone signal amplification kit you can get a strong, clear signal in many circumstances.
You’ll need several products, usually sold separately, but sometimes as a package from the same manufacturer sold as a cell phone signal amplification kit. The three components are a three-watt mobile dual band signal amplifier, an antenna and an adapter that fits your cell phone.
How does it all work? An exterior antenna and the amplifier boosts signal strength to locate a signal from a cell tower, then amplifies and repeats it to your cell phone via an interior antenna aboard your boat. The size of antenna needed varies by the size of your boat.
So if you have a cell phone aboard, you don’t need a VHF radio, right? Wrong! Even with a signal amplification kit, cell phones don't have nearly the range that VHF radios do. And when you use your cell phone to call the Coast Guard they’ll have a harder time finding you because their radio-direction finding equipment won't work with cell phones. But when you call for help on VHF Channel 16, nearby boaters can hear you and respond, too.
Still, about 10 percent of all may day calls are made on a cell phone, so just to be on the safe side, the U.S. Coast Guard has a special cell phone number boaters can use to reach them directly in most coastal areas: *CG or *24.
Brandon Bissell CEO Boaters Basement http://www.boatersbasement.com
Source: www.articledashboard.com
