4G Repeater Tuned to Verizon Band 13

A project log for Cell Phone 4G LTE Repeater / Booster / Femtocell

An outside pole mounted aerial picks up 4G signals which are then filtered, amplified and re-transmitted through a second inside aerial.

Capt. Flatus O'Flaherty ☠ • 09/13/2017 at 09:05•1 Comment

In an attempt to win one of the top 5 Hackaday prizes I've managed to tune a repeater to the Verizon network on band 13 which should, hopefully, work in the USA. I did test the device using the LimeSDR as a signal generator to check that the band filters etc were working properly and ...... all seemed fine.

On this version, there is an AD8218 RSSI chip on the base station Rx pathway which picks up Tx from the mobile phone. Holding my IPhone 7 about 400 mm away from the plate antenna and uploading video to YouTube, I'm getting about -5 dBm max RSSI and holding the phone right next to the antenna gives +10 dBm which is as expected, so it obviously works!

Two more band 13 prototypes need to be built up and all three sent to the USA for appraisal. Better start warming up that soldering iron!