Next-G Phones in Aircraft
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Next-G Phones in Aircraft
I am being forced, against my will, to swap my CDMA phone (which works perfectly in my aircraft) for a Telstra Next-G by 28 January when CDMA shuts down.
I know it's early days yet, but does anyone know which particular Next-G handset has the best range out of an aircraft?
I use my CDMA to call up the AWIS, fuel agent, ground transport, etc on descent, amongst other things.
I know it's early days yet, but does anyone know which particular Next-G handset has the best range out of an aircraft?
I use my CDMA to call up the AWIS, fuel agent, ground transport, etc on descent, amongst other things.
Did you do a search on NextG? Try some of these threads
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=nextG
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=nextG
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=nextG
There's more......
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=nextG
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=nextG
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=nextG
There's more......
Telstra has a special 3G "Bush Phone" with greater range than other 3G phones, thats just been released which has a small extendable aerial. A mate was given one last week after he complained of no mobile coverage in the center of Port Phillip. This thing was allegedly tested at Mt. Hotham and demonstrated a 200 km range.
It's larger and less flashy than some phones, but it sounds like what you might want.
It's larger and less flashy than some phones, but it sounds like what you might want.
I don't want to be the best pilot in the world - Just the oldest
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I might have just been given a bad one in the bunch but from experience, try and avoid the Telstra badged ZTE phone. Mine is a piece of sh1t
Damn thing keeps locking up.
Damn thing keeps locking up.
I have a L* TU550. Seems ok and still worked 80nm west of Quilpie at 6500', and also about 50nm out of Boulia at 4500'.
Beach King has a Nokia(don't know what model) and his seems ok at this stage.
185.
Beach King has a Nokia(don't know what model) and his seems ok at this stage.
185.
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Mine is a Nokia N-95-2. I bought it because
1.
It has an inbuilt GPS with A-GPS that gives a very quick time to get the satellites locked on by using the Mobile phone towers to give an approximate position. As a backup Nav device in an emergency it can give you Lat and Long and a track to a point that you specify. Pretty agricultural compared to Aviation GPS, but a good second backup to my handheld. You can use it as a voice guided Sat Nav in your car.
2. Hit one button and the BOM radar (the site here) comes up in 3 seconds flat. Again, its not a Storm Scope or Radar but can be useful info if you have inadvertantly gotten yourself in the sh#t. It has a pretty big screen (for a mobile) of just under 3 inches and resolution and readability is superb
3. Signal is pretty good compared to other next G phones (it has Telstra's "blue tick" like the extendable antenna phone) but is not as good as the CDMA phone (Kyocera KX5) that I had, but is way better than the Imate Jasjam (which is a bucket of pus). Has all the Next G features like Email,Internet and mobile TV (foxsports, v8 supercar etc)
4. It has a 3.5mm audio jack, which will plug straight into my DC x11 headsets or FlightCell and sound clarity is fantastic on a phone call. Very helpful for calling up AWIS and ATIS and the tower/ATC if you have comm failure
.... and ringing up your destination to ask someone who you trust, what the weather is like (the greatest contribution of mobile phones to aviation). Also listen to MP3 if you like do that sort of thing
5. It has a 5 megapixal camera and Handy cam quality video recorder that can record up to 60 minutes minutes of video (if you get a 4gb card)
It is a bit chunky, but not that much larger than a regular mobile.
But be very careful!!!
Only the N-95-2 works on Telstras next G (WCDMA850) which will give you the best coverage in Aus. The others including the N-95 8gb only work on WCDMA 2100 which is 3G that the other service providers use. Will probably work fine in metro areas, but not out here in the bush.
I am pretty sure that you can only get the N-95-2 model from Telstra.
Overall, a pretty good thing. If you have waited till the bitter end to change from CDMA to NextG, you have done the right thing.
1.
It has an inbuilt GPS with A-GPS that gives a very quick time to get the satellites locked on by using the Mobile phone towers to give an approximate position. As a backup Nav device in an emergency it can give you Lat and Long and a track to a point that you specify. Pretty agricultural compared to Aviation GPS, but a good second backup to my handheld. You can use it as a voice guided Sat Nav in your car.
2. Hit one button and the BOM radar (the site here) comes up in 3 seconds flat. Again, its not a Storm Scope or Radar but can be useful info if you have inadvertantly gotten yourself in the sh#t. It has a pretty big screen (for a mobile) of just under 3 inches and resolution and readability is superb
3. Signal is pretty good compared to other next G phones (it has Telstra's "blue tick" like the extendable antenna phone) but is not as good as the CDMA phone (Kyocera KX5) that I had, but is way better than the Imate Jasjam (which is a bucket of pus). Has all the Next G features like Email,Internet and mobile TV (foxsports, v8 supercar etc)
4. It has a 3.5mm audio jack, which will plug straight into my DC x11 headsets or FlightCell and sound clarity is fantastic on a phone call. Very helpful for calling up AWIS and ATIS and the tower/ATC if you have comm failure
.... and ringing up your destination to ask someone who you trust, what the weather is like (the greatest contribution of mobile phones to aviation). Also listen to MP3 if you like do that sort of thing
5. It has a 5 megapixal camera and Handy cam quality video recorder that can record up to 60 minutes minutes of video (if you get a 4gb card)
It is a bit chunky, but not that much larger than a regular mobile.
But be very careful!!!
Only the N-95-2 works on Telstras next G (WCDMA850) which will give you the best coverage in Aus. The others including the N-95 8gb only work on WCDMA 2100 which is 3G that the other service providers use. Will probably work fine in metro areas, but not out here in the bush.
I am pretty sure that you can only get the N-95-2 model from Telstra.
Overall, a pretty good thing. If you have waited till the bitter end to change from CDMA to NextG, you have done the right thing.
Last edited by BEACH KING; 16th Jan 2008 at 01:53.
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I have a L* Tu500. Whilst I don't use it at high level levels the wx radar from the BOM site has proven to be useful times and is quite readable. The web navigator can be used to get forecasts, but it is painful.
It does have a strange 4pin 2.5mm connector for the phone interfaces - and as yet I don't have an interface cable to connect it to my headset.
W
It does have a strange 4pin 2.5mm connector for the phone interfaces - and as yet I don't have an interface cable to connect it to my headset.
W
werbil.
The 4 barrel plug with the LG's are a bit harder to interface with everything. Range avionics in YTWB did our initial ones without too much hassle. Running into a flightcell pro. We do our own ones now we have seen what is required.
185.
185.
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i got 1 bar of reception the other day bout 90nm north of gove at 1500' with a palm treo 750.
and have noticed when i get a msg or call it doesnt interfere with the ICS like the 3G network. not sure if its the phone or next-g..
and have noticed when i get a msg or call it doesnt interfere with the ICS like the 3G network. not sure if its the phone or next-g..
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185skywagon,
Thanks for the tip. I'm about to order the parts to make an interface cable for the TU500 to some Stratus D50's. It's taken quite a bit of digging to find the jack to fit the phone. Having put a multimter over the phone handsfree kit it looks like it should be very straightforward, and I'll throw a "connect / hold / disconnect" botton onto the cable so I don't need to grab the phone at the same time.
Regards
w
Thanks for the tip. I'm about to order the parts to make an interface cable for the TU500 to some Stratus D50's. It's taken quite a bit of digging to find the jack to fit the phone. Having put a multimter over the phone handsfree kit it looks like it should be very straightforward, and I'll throw a "connect / hold / disconnect" botton onto the cable so I don't need to grab the phone at the same time.
Regards
w
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The Kondinin Group, a leading Australian agricultural information provider tested a fair selection of the Next G contenders and rated the little LG TU550 as about the best for range.
They're free with a plan, and do all the modern tricks mobiles do these days.
M
They're free with a plan, and do all the modern tricks mobiles do these days.
M
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not the lg
my old girl sells the things and theyve had nothing but trouble with the LG. so far the zte country phone is the best around dubbo/narromine and west of here at ground level anyway.
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I bounced my LG off a float into the sea at Whitehaven about 5 months ago when it was switched on. Dived in to recover it, took the battery out, soaked it in fresh water, dried it out for a couple of days and have been using it ever since. It turns itself off every now and again, and I had to buy a new battery last week but otherwise it still works great. I haven't heard of any other phone surviving that treatment.
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Govt Decision Imminent on whether Telstra allowed to close the CDMA Network
I've just seen a press release from the new Minister (Conroy).
He has now received the report commissioned by the previous Govt on whether NextG coverage is equal to or better than CDMA.
He will advise Telstra by Monday 21/1 as to whether or not they can shut down CDMA, and will advise the public shortly thereafter.
I personally hear lots of stories about NextG not working in the bush where CDMA did - hardly any the other way round.
I think Telstra talks only of population coverage - not geographical coverage.
They want to shut down CDMA on Monday 28/1.
He has now received the report commissioned by the previous Govt on whether NextG coverage is equal to or better than CDMA.
He will advise Telstra by Monday 21/1 as to whether or not they can shut down CDMA, and will advise the public shortly thereafter.
I personally hear lots of stories about NextG not working in the bush where CDMA did - hardly any the other way round.
I think Telstra talks only of population coverage - not geographical coverage.
They want to shut down CDMA on Monday 28/1.
From my tests so far I agree Sunfish. The Telstra is actually Next G – quite different to the 3G offered by Optus. Next G is on the old analogue frequency band I understand (about 900 MHz).
After a number of complaints to Telstra, the powers that be have loaned me so many phones to test I’ve almost lost count. My wife has the LG TU550, which I like because it has a hard wired antenna, but after thorough checking in all types of vehicles and at the very bottom of a valley in Ku-ring-gai Chase, I believe the ZTE Telstra 165 “country phone” with the small extendable aerial is superior. It has a very good hands free kit which includes a direct plug-in external antenna.
Note that Nokia at the present time only has an antenna for Next G which is inductively/capacitive coupled, and this means about a 3 dB loss in signal. It also means that in an aircraft there will be a lot of RF floating around inside the cockpit.
My testing including having three phones at one time in the same location, turning one on at a time and checking the actual signal strength. I believe most of the phones have the same chip set inside but the small extension aerial of the Telstra 165 is the main reason it is superior.
My training is actually in RF communication and I have always found that a decent antenna is the secret to range.
Telstra has a very good page on their website under products and services, under the heading “Maximise your coverage” which mentions the importance of having a directly connected antenna. They correctly say, “By simply getting an antenna outside of a car you may gain an increase of around 10 times in signal strength.” Of course the same applies to an aircraft.
For all the fancy gizmos, the Nokia N-95-2 is better, however the Telstra 165 I have allows you to stand on a point on the south western end of Kangaroo Island and watch the Foxtel news plus documentaries. The Telstra 165 hands free kit allows a very simple audio connection to an aircraft panel, which is far better than Bluetooth, as once again there is no RF floating around the cabin.
By the way, you can get the Bureau of Meteorology radar display on the Telstra 165 but it does require quite a few button pushes. Maybe someone with better “phone skills” can get it with one push.
The Next G network is pretty well unique to Australia, but all of these phones appear to have another 4 bands. When I use the phone overseas it quickly grabbed the normal GSM network and worked perfectly – even though the overseas roaming charges on these phones are ridiculous. Recently in Moscow I was being charged $13 per minute using the Telstra phone. I understand all are about as expensive. Fortunately there I simply use my Iridium phone which we used to think was exorbitant at $1.50 per minute. You can go on the Telstra website and look up the roaming charges, so at least you can be forewarned!
After a number of complaints to Telstra, the powers that be have loaned me so many phones to test I’ve almost lost count. My wife has the LG TU550, which I like because it has a hard wired antenna, but after thorough checking in all types of vehicles and at the very bottom of a valley in Ku-ring-gai Chase, I believe the ZTE Telstra 165 “country phone” with the small extendable aerial is superior. It has a very good hands free kit which includes a direct plug-in external antenna.
Note that Nokia at the present time only has an antenna for Next G which is inductively/capacitive coupled, and this means about a 3 dB loss in signal. It also means that in an aircraft there will be a lot of RF floating around inside the cockpit.
My testing including having three phones at one time in the same location, turning one on at a time and checking the actual signal strength. I believe most of the phones have the same chip set inside but the small extension aerial of the Telstra 165 is the main reason it is superior.
My training is actually in RF communication and I have always found that a decent antenna is the secret to range.
Telstra has a very good page on their website under products and services, under the heading “Maximise your coverage” which mentions the importance of having a directly connected antenna. They correctly say, “By simply getting an antenna outside of a car you may gain an increase of around 10 times in signal strength.” Of course the same applies to an aircraft.
For all the fancy gizmos, the Nokia N-95-2 is better, however the Telstra 165 I have allows you to stand on a point on the south western end of Kangaroo Island and watch the Foxtel news plus documentaries. The Telstra 165 hands free kit allows a very simple audio connection to an aircraft panel, which is far better than Bluetooth, as once again there is no RF floating around the cabin.
By the way, you can get the Bureau of Meteorology radar display on the Telstra 165 but it does require quite a few button pushes. Maybe someone with better “phone skills” can get it with one push.
The Next G network is pretty well unique to Australia, but all of these phones appear to have another 4 bands. When I use the phone overseas it quickly grabbed the normal GSM network and worked perfectly – even though the overseas roaming charges on these phones are ridiculous. Recently in Moscow I was being charged $13 per minute using the Telstra phone. I understand all are about as expensive. Fortunately there I simply use my Iridium phone which we used to think was exorbitant at $1.50 per minute. You can go on the Telstra website and look up the roaming charges, so at least you can be forewarned!
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Shut-down of CDMA Delayed
The Government has just directed Telstra to postpone the shut-down of CDMA until at least April as they are selling NextG handsets which are not up to scratch.
