Pallet wood phone cradle

For many years we have not been able to receive a mobile phone signal in the cottage, or workshop, due to the property being surrounded by steep hills, which are planted with Larch and Oak woodland.

In the last year the forestry company, who manage the Larch woodland, discovered Larch Die Back Disease in many of the trees and as this is a notifiable disease, agreed with the owner of the woodland to clear fell the whole plantation.

In the 32 years that we have lived here, these magnificent 60 foot trees have been our friends and we felt very sad when the harvesters and chain saw gangs descended on the forest and began felling in earnest.

Now several months later all the trees are gone and only stumps and brash remain. With the canopy gone, we are seeing self seeded Oaks, Birch and Cherry coming into leaf. The management company tell us that Coronavirus depending, they are going to plant additional Cherry and Oak trees, so in 10 years or so, the hill should once more have a canopy, but this time with broad leaves. Although not in my lifetime, these new trees, will one day provide timber for wood workers and furniture makers.

There is now a mobile signal at the top of the kitchen door!

The cutting of the trees has brought an unexpected benefit in that there is now a weak signal on the mobile inside the cottage. There is now one bar on the mobile, in the corner of the kitchen by the washing machine and the front door.

I discovered this quite by chance and in order to lock onto this one bar and keep it stable, it is necessary to hold the phone close to the door and not move too much, which is a bit trying when wanting to make or receive a call, 

To address this problem, I have made a simple holder out of pallet wood, which I cut to size on the bandsaw and screwed in place on the door.

The holder made from pallet wood screwed in place on the kitchen door

I waxed the uprights of the holder with candle wax and the phone slides easily between the uprights and is held snug by the cross piece at the bottom.

The Nokia easily slides into place between the uprights and is held securely by the bottom piece

For sending a text the phone can be raised to use the keyboard and for receiving a text or a call with the phone in the lower position the control are easy to operate. 

At last a simple solution for using the mobile inside the cottage!

Once a call is connected, the loudspeaker button is pressed and then one can walk around the kitchen or sit down and the two way conversation can be clearly heard with out the need to shout.

The door is a stable door and the phone holder is screwed to the top section. I have tried opening and shutting the door and even slamming the door, to simulate it being caught by the wind, but the phone did not budge at all, which is good to know, in case we forget that it is there!

This simple holder made with three pieces of pallet wood, screwed and glued together and screwed in place now means at last our mobile is connected and those annoying codes that banks and Internet sites require these days to authenticate who is who, can now be done so with ease.