No phone in the boonies... what to do? (Fairbanks, Central: home, subdivision)

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Originally Posted by starlite9

You can also run the Satellite system off a solar panel system and battery backup for power. Although the system normally runs off of 110 VAC, they can be modified to run off 12 Volt or you can put an inverter that takes 12 Volt to 110 VAC.

We'll be off-grid, so once hubby gets our power system up we'll definitely look into 12v DC sat equipment, or at least modify it if we decide not to run the inverter for 110 AC. He's an electrical engineer, so I'm leaving the solar panels, wind turbines, etc up to him... but we gotta build the house first LOL!

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

If we had oodles of money, we'd just get a sat phone. But the object is not really to have phone service, per se, but to have a cheap phone number for people to leave voice mail messages. I'm not real big on the phone myself.

GrammasCabin, I'm not sure if there is a local station in our area with decent reception. We lost almost all the stations once we got outside Fairbanks, so we just turned the radio off (along with our phones). I'll check it out though, would work good for emergencies.

KTownFan - if your friend is stationed at the main military bases, there will be land lines and cell phone reception because they're near the main cities and highways.

There are two Radio Stations that are run by Churches. One is out of North Pole and the other out of Nenana. Both are fairly high power and will reach out some hundred miles or so, give or take. But they run radio messages out to the Bush.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Thanks Starlite, I'll check them out... although, to be honest, if it's a preaching station rather than a music station, I might not be listening so that kind of defeats the purpose of using it for emergencies. Nothing against preaching, I just loathe talk radio.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

Thanks Starlite, I'll check them out... although, to be honest, if it's a preaching station rather than a music station, I might not be listening so that kind of defeats the purpose of using it for emergencies. Nothing against preaching, I just loathe talk radio.

NO, I don't listen to them except for the local basket ball games, the messages come on at 10 AM, 2 PM and 6 PM... you can tune in at the Nenana Station and if someone wants to send a message to you, they can either call, fax, drop off or email messages to be read out over the air.

Where do you think you will be at when you get settled in? I can tell you what you can expect when you get there.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

We're about half-way between Manley and Minto.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

We're about half-way between Manley and Minto.

Well there is a cell phone tower on Murphy Dome, so you should be able to get cell coverage there, you just need to see whom has the tower. With a booster on your phone or a repeater, you should have good coverage. You may need to use a directional ant. at worst... But if you have a view of Murphy Dome with no hills in the way, you are home free...

This is the ACS site, but there is one for AT&T as are others.

http://www.acsalaska.com/assets/cove...tewide-map.pdf

The area out into the Minto flats areas are in site of the towers.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

We couldn't get roaming service (Cingular) from that tower when we were there, but locals say you can stand on the ridge above the landfill and get one bar. We might be able to jigger a directional and booster and get a signal though... it's hard to tell whether we can see Murphy Dome from our property because it's all trees at the moment

[starlite9]

This is the place that I got my repeater for the cabin. They are great because almost any phone will work on them and you don't have to hook a wire to your phone to get it to work. Make sure you get the duel band system.

You can get one that runs off 12v or 110 VAC

They put out three watts on transmit and same with receiving and then transmit it inside the house.

CAE50* Building Repeater Packages Dual Band System

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Good to know Starlite - I'll add this link to our list of needed supplies. Looks like I'll get a Go Phone or TracFone in the beginning for a number and VM, then worry about getting a signal to it once we get the power up and running.

Thanks for the tips guys, you're awesome.

[megensmom]

Hey Missing we just bought some land off the Elliott from the state. Next year when we start building and your heading to town you guys will have to drop by and say HI.