Hello everyone.
I have just purchased a cellphone signal booster “kit” and I have a question pertaining to the “YAGI” outdoor cellphone signal antenna that was included in this kit…
How high off the ground does a “YAGI” outdoor cellphone signal antenna have to be mounted in order to receive cellphone signals?
My OP raises even more questions for clarification, etc and I am ready to answer any questions required to provide an answer to my OP.
ismene
I think you are looking for line of sight (to the other antenna). The higher you mount your antenna, the farther away the horizon will be, and it will be easier to avoid houses, trees, etc., that might block the signal.
What DPRK said. However, if you can see your cell tower from the antenna location, making the antenna higher shouldn’t give any improvement.
IIRC the tines sticking out from the backbone of your YAGI should be vertical, by the way.
Thirded I guess. Closest line of site antenna is about 15 miles from me. I mounted mine on the roof, and it came with an app to get the direction good. It helps, but is less than perfect. I did this because our landline sucked so bad that we cut that service altogether (cue Airplane quotes)
We are cell phone and sat dish for internet and TV. Works well enough that I can work from home.
DPRK, Napier, and enpia:
Thank you so much for your input. 
We live in a first floor condo (out of four floors) and, working within the association rules, I cannot mount this YAGI any more than eight feet off the ground. Without this kit, we receive two bars.
With this kit, three bars.
Here’s hoping that I can return this kit to the seller.
I estimate that the antenna would need to be around 156 feet off the ground.
The formula*:
D(miles) = (1.2)x(sqrt[H(feet])
Solved for H(feet) is:
H = (15/1.2)^2 = around 156 feet
This is just an estimate–variables like terrain, how high up in elevation you (and the other antenna) are, weather, and transmission frequency, will influence this.
*Which can be derived by applying Pythagoras’ theorem to a right triangle, with the right (90-degree) vertex at the horizon, and the other two vertices at the center of the earth, and the viewer’s eyes. (Please check my arithmetic).
That’s not really true, though, when you take into account the fact that the cell tower is the one likely to already be 150 feet tall.
Yes, that would reduce the required height (along with the elevation of the tower’s location).
I live in a little valley between two hills. Cell service has always been spotty for my neighbors and me; lots of dropped calls and No Service messages without an antenna. With the antenna I no-longer get the No Service icon and usually get two bars, occasionally three.
What really helped for me was to turn on WiFi calling on my phone. With the antenna and WiFi calling I don’t have any more problems.
I had to ditch Consumer Cellular and switch to T-Mobile get WiFi calling to work; CC swears it will do WiFi calling but I could never get it to work, trying three different phones with many calls to CC Support.
Since I’m considering buying a cell booster to permit good 4G Internet service, it would help if posters specifically ID models they’ve had good and bad experiences with.
Implicit in your calc is that the elevation of the ground is the same at both antennas. That 15 miles distance was for @enipla, not the OP. enipla lives high in the Rockies where the one thing they don’t have is level ground. His antenna might well be 3000 feet above the base station’s antenna.
Back to the OP:
Since you can’t get much height, the only thing you have going for you is moving the antenna outside the walls of your condo vs inside. And that’s not going to be worth much.
As others have said, assuming you already have wired internet (cable, FiOS, DSL, etc) at home and a WiFi equipped router, your best bet for home reception is to use the WiFi calling feature of your mobile phone. Which may or may not be possible depending on which brand of phone and carrier and service plan you have.
I have this one. Ordered through Amazon as refurbished at a very significant discount. Pretty easy to install with a neighbor to help (rather than running in and out adjusting the aim.) We actually spent more time wandering round and round the house looking for the best place to mount it than doing the actual installation. I still don’t get 4G but I also don’t get dropped calls or No Service signals, so I’m satisfied.
we Boost Home Room (472120) Cell Phone Signal Booster Kit | Up to 1,500 sq ft | All U.S. Carriers - Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint & More
I never got workable cellphone service at my house until Verizon allowed wifi calling, and now it’s great. If you can get it, your troubles would be over (at least within reach of your wifi).
Guessing here… I think wifi would suck over satellite dish because of the latency. Or am I missing something here?
And yes LSLGuy. I’m probably about 2000 feet above the tower I’m pointing at. I put it on top of the house to mostly get a clearer shot through the trees, and having an easier run for the coax for the internal booster.
Any chance the HOA rules would allow you to mount it on the roof? That would certainly help if you could.
I’m in an apartment building in Queens, NYC. One would THINK I’d have superb Verizon 4G. Nyet, komrade. One would be incorrect.
It’s always just been marginal. Drives us bonkers and makes business calls complex. I’m looking at Yagi’s now. I can drop the coax from the roof, where I can attach the antenna.
They’re less than 100.00. Although I am unnerved by the ads for the similar technology for 1,100.00 !!
$1100? I’m not that miserly, but I would be tempted to go ahead and make my own out of some metal coat hangers and tubing.
Make sure you have permission from whoever / whatever manages the building before you install something outside your apartment. Those battles can get ugly fast.
You can also consider a log periodic style antenna vice the yagi as it tends to be a bit smaller and aesthetically less…steampunk.
I thought about that statement, and, while they look a bit different, especially if you know about antennae, I’m not convinced there is a huge aesthetic difference:
https://usa-satcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DSC_25371.jpg
As for the size of the antenna, it makes sense to use a log-periodic array if you need to be able to tune into a wide range of LTE bands… do you know, or can you find out, what frequencies you are using?