Chapter 6

Boosters: how they work and the environment for which they are designed
Boosters are designed to work in environments where the signal is poor, constantly changing and where attenuation (separation) of internal and external antenna signals is difficult or impossible. Boosters work the same way as repeaters, however, the amount of times the signal is amplified by the booster is lower than it is with a repeater because the phone is directly attached to the booster and as such, the cell phone will deliver a much stronger signal to the booster without degradation (free air loss) and the signal sent from the booster to the phone will be sent directly to the cell phone without degradation (free air loss) hence, the booster amplification need not be as great as repeater amplification to achieve substantial output power to the external antenna and input power to the cell phone. The signal degradation occurs due to "free air loss" when using a repeater because of the distance that the signal must travel through the air from the cell phone antenna to the repeater's internal antenna and back is not a variable when using a booster.

The amount of power transmitted by a booster is also not limited by separation of the input (internal) and output (external) sides of the device because the booster configuration is a closed loop system and no matter how much power is generated and transmitted by the external antenna the booster cannot oscillate (feedback). It is not susceptible to this effect and as such it cannot burn itself out nor cause RF noise originating from oscillation.

A booster is not effected by distance of the cell phone antenna to the repeater antenna and gain and output power are always stable. Boosters do not require site tuning or signal balancing, they do not require an RF site survey to determine RF levels and gain levels as is the case with any competent repeater installation and they can be used in constantly changing RF environments without risk of oscillation and damage to the device. Simply put, a booster will work if there is any signal to amplify and cease to work when there is no signal to amplify. It is a reliable device that does not require guesswork and it is the most efficient and reliable amplification device for a changing RF signal environment. A booster can be used in a low signal environment with an omni-directional antenna and deliver increased receive and transmit signal successfully in any environment where there is even minimal signal available to amplify and it will deliver constant and reliable performance and improvement in range without the variable of "free air loss". Boosters are easy to use, they are simply "plug and go" devices. This are the reasons boosters exist and all RF amplifiers are not repeaters.