Discussions

Has anyone had any luck creating DIY cell boosters. I see a few videos on Youtube where they create one from 20AWG copper wire and a few electronic components.  
 
I would like to get my hands on a guide to building boosters: if anyone has any links, I would gladly invite them.  
 
I find it hard to find components. On Amazon, I see radio building kits, but don't see anything with advanced components for say repeaters or boosters.  
 
I guess the key thing everyone is pushing is to buy premade. I protest! Let's do it the hard way and learn something...

cell booster tech is pretty involved as a starting point for diy electronics... kind of like learning to drive by climbing into a loaded house-mover.  
 
The passive booster(wire, coil) methods will be extremely limited but may provide some measure of usefulness satisfaction, possibly.  
 
Active boosters are SUPER-complex and finnicky, and also carry the risk of causing destructive interference to all cellular users in a potentially large area, and are therefore fairly regulated as far as commercially available models go. Cheap imported models aren't generally able to be certified for use or sale due to their lack of interference protection features. I've tried some, they weren't pretty on-the-air.  
 
Have a read on "link-budgeting" for RF communications, it will reveal which signal parameters are at-play, and how distance, antenna gain/loss, and cable loss all work together to define a radio link, and your "booster"'s place in that equasion.  
There's lots of online calculators what will allow you to plug in values for transmitters, receivers and calculate expected signal strengths. going from WiFi equipment specs and inputting their numbers is a fun rabbit-hole to explore.  
 
I really miss the old "Radio Shack", Now I have to buy all my electronic bits online or in Winnipeg, which is super inconvenient. Even our local TV repair shops flatly refuse to help me obtain parts through their own supply-chain when offered generous markup/fee for doing so.