How to identify VC base stations?

R

roskib

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Hi all,

I have several line of sight VC base stations in my area.

MDMA shows that I'm connected to Vodacom-SA Cell ID 20908 - how can I identify which station that is so I can point my antenna at the right one?

Any help appreciated.

Thx :rolleyes:
 
roskib said:
MDMA shows that I'm connected to Vodacom-SA Cell ID 20908 - how can I identify which station that is so I can point my antenna at the right one?
Click to expand...
Which modem do you have? Try putting it into 'GPRS/EDGE Only' mode and watch for cell broadcasts.
If your modem doesn't support cell broadcasts, try putting the SIM into a mobile phone, put it into GSM mode and enable cell broadcast reception for topic/channel 60.
 
Currently an Option Globetrotter 3G+ PCM card in the Linksys WRT54G3G router

Also have a Huawei E630 but only getting SMA external aerial adapter cable tomorrow.

Signal strength with Option card & external aerial (on 7m cable) is -73dBm
 
I guess what I'm hoping for is to find a VC techie who can give me a map of the local area base stations with the identifier numbers on. Google earth placemarks would be even better...
 
Weird. Haven't been to the equator in years :o

Stats off MDMA: MCC=655, LAC=84, Cell ID=20908. Suburb is Somerset West, Western Cape.

Update 15/5: think I've identified the base station I've been looking for (Steynsrust Rd, Heldervue). Signal now at -63dBm!

Now getting 2.7>3.1Mbs down and ave 355 kbps up.

As I understand the PCM CIA data card technology I don't think I can get any faster with the Linksys WRT54G3G router (i.e. than the HSDPA limits of 3.6 down and 384 up)?

Only concern now is dropouts in the connection. Thinking of changing external aerial from directional high gain (-11dB) to omni-directional med gain (-5dB) to keep me as a preferred connection during base station breathing/load shedding?

My quest for speed & bandwidth in the hope of unbroken Skype conversations continues.......

Comments appreciated as always.
 
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Oh - I might also have swapped the two numbers... but it was something like 0 deg and 30 deg... Long/Lat. My LAC is 112 though. It's an estimate of where you are though, so might not help much.

Will check tonight.
 
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Data from Google wasn't useful :(

Lat: -26.15
Long: 28.033
accuracy: 140000m
and then another number which I haven't figure out yet :/ - 80

A normal result would be something like:
-26.123212, 27.874217, 1695m, 30
This is for MCC:655, MNC:1, LAC:112, CID:14061.
 
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