Know about cell phone towers?

[chrismlay]

I have no idea how realistic this sounds because I do not have a clue about the cell phone tower technology yet, but I had this idea, I do computer tech services locally in my area some times on the side of my regular (crappy) job, and sometimes I go to areas where I get shit signals on my cell phone, so what I am wanting to do is create a cell phone tower that I could mount on my vehicle, obviously no where near the size of a regular cell phone tower, but something that will increase my signal on my phone if I am near it.

What I am looking for as a point in the right direction in learning how to make one, if it is realistically possible.
Thanks

[tokenuser]

You might want to look at the latest inDigital podcast (http://revision3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9055).

They did a review of exactly what you are looking for - except for home use. Unfortunately, because of the way cellphones do work, trying to build a local repeater for your car is going to be a problem.

My solution (I have a similar problem) was to place the phone in a part of the car where you get a better reception (remember that a car is basically a huge - poorly designed - faraday cage, and is fighting AGAINST you to get a signal through), and use a bluetooth headset.

For auto use, there are external antennaes that you can install that effectively "breach" the steel shell of the car, and give your radio signal on the cellphone a path out (via a better aerial).