ARC Wireless and National Cellular to Introduce a PDA Antenna

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/Jan/1106066.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/Jan/1106066.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"ARC Wireless Solutions, Inc. and privately-held National Cellular will jointly introduce the first RF Coupler / Antenna solution for wireless PDAs and wireless PC cards. The target markets for this new product include users of products such as the RIM BlackBerry, Danger SideKick and Hiptop, HP iPAQ as well as Nokia, Samsung, LG and other web-enabled smart-phones or cell-phones, particularly those that do not have external antenna ports. The product also supports Cellular and Wi-Fi(R) wireless PC Cards. The product, called the Freedom AntennaPlus(TM), will be launched at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show, which begins January 6, 2005. Using the RF Coupler, the antenna can be used with any wireless device or PC Card to provide improved wireless performance in both fixed wireless (home, office, hotel) as well as mobile wireless (vehicular) applications."</i><br /><br />The Freedom AntennaPlus is a collaborative product based on ARC Wireless' Freedom Antenna and NCI's RF Coupler. It works by coupling with the integrated wireless antenna of your PDA to enhance the wireless performance. Having a frequency range of 800MHz to 3GHz, the Freedom AntennaPlus is compatible with analog, 2G, 3G cellular protocols and Bluetooth, 802.11b, 802.11g wireless protocols. I'm not quite sure how this connects yet but I like the idea anyway. Your thoughts?

[ctmagnus]

You mean I ate all those Pringles for nothing?

[Darius Wey]

You mean I ate all those Pringles for nothing?

No, you get the ultimate satisfaction of eating junk food for technological purposes. Besides, I'm sure the latter is cheaper. ;)

[MikeUnwired]

Having poor signal strength with all the mobile carriers across the board at my house, an antenna that would make it possible to use my mobiles without calls dropping would be worth quite a bit to me. While I could down a can of Pringles to get my WiFi or Bluetooth focused, I haven't seen a way of retrofitting junk food containers to boost an incoming signal yet.

[MobileAGBell]

Having poor signal strength with all the mobile carriers across the board at my house, an antenna that would make it possible to use my mobiles without calls dropping would be worth quite a bit to me. While I could down a can of Pringles to get my WiFi or Bluetooth focused, I haven't seen a way of retrofitting junk food containers to boost an incoming signal yet.

Not sure if you're aware of a company called Antenna Specialists but here is a link to one of their product sites http://www.antennaspecialists.com/cellular_cat/cellpg32.html

I have used their mobile cellular antennas with excellent results but have no experience with the base unit.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I'm not quite sure how this connects yet but I like the idea anyway. Your thoughts?

Bingo. I'm reasonably satisfied with the reception my X50, but would be interested in how this worked out. If it significantly improved range and sensitivity for little hassle and cost then it may be worth it.

[Menneisyys]

Is it some kind of (active) repeater (just like the wireless repeaters available), not just a passive antenna? I don't think a passive antenna could be fastened to/used with a PDA without an external aerial socket on the PDA itself. Shame on PDA / CF / SD Wi-Fi card manufacturers for not providing us an external antena socket! They would be extremely useful.