A few of the local neighborhood geeks have been comparing 5G speeds experienced on AT&T and Verizon. Apparently our local area AT&T 5G is low-band and data speeds are not much different than LTE. This got me thinking, no doubt the ham radio guys would know all about how to sniff out available radio frequencies and likely have built their own analyzers. Would be interesting to drive around the area and scope out the frequency bands and signal strength of what is being transmitted by AT&T, Verizon, and others if this is even doable and/or legal?
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This might be fun https://thinkrf.com/products/real-time-spectrum-analyzers/r5750-real-time-spectrum-analyzers/ It seems turnkey, but I bet you need to be wealthy.
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I wonder if there’s any kind of market for that data? Wireless companies have always been cagey about actual coverage maps. I’d love to give my retired father a little side project, have him roam around the area with a frequency analyzer if the data could somehow pay for the equipment.
Maybe there’s a grant foundation for just such research You would have to make things happen quickly if you got sponsored. I would imagine the cell carrier lobbyists might want to shut down any indisputable data shining light on their “cagey” coverage maps.
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