I assume that most GSM antennas are patch type and removing is not possible. If you dont subscribe to a phone service you won't be tracked. It would be easier to root the phone and use some type of USB adapter. Most smartphones have some type of OTG (host/device) connector these days.

Cell phones work on lower power because there is a cell tower within a few miles and because it's antenna is several hundred feet in the air. Its power output is also thousands of watts. Any non licensed device you can buy that is affordable will only be capable of a short distance and need a battery backpack to power the device. You would also need the base antenna to be elevated just like a cell tower.

Its just not practical.

How about cutting the wires from the RF amplifier to the antenna if the latter is a patch? Also there was the Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos 5-10 years ago that had an internal antenna that was a removable part I think.

How far away from your home are you expecting to use your "phone" Again it is just not practical and you can not just "plug" your phone into a handheld radio and expect it to just work. A tablet or laptop is a better choice.

I don't know of a good battery operated version but you really need a data MODEM like the following.
https://data-linc.com/product/srm6230/

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3 miles. Line of sight available most of the time. That data modem is attractive, where does it say what power requirements it has so a reasonable 12 V battery can be matched and see how much the combo weighs?

A tablet or laptop with GPS is a better choice for many reasons, especially given a heavy modem+battery combo which appears to be inevitable. But hasn't anyone invented portable hardware yet, that you stick to the USB port of a smartphone or tablet and get 3 miles of range at a decent data rate that is good enough for watching videos on a remote desktop display, so your GPS location remains secret and so does sensor data? This is what is in the title, not necessarily walkie-talkies.

More and more people are becoming aware of privacy violations facilitated by hardware. So the market for what is being seeked here is growing, as is the market for ARM-based, IME-free hardware where a remote desktop could run.

You can turn off GPS and use air mode but I'm not sure that sensor data is all that important. If you connect to a wifi spot your still somewhat trackable as to position but using a tunnel will hide were you are going.

I found some long range options...
https://www.radiolabs.com/wireless/w...-wifi-antenna/

You also need a high gain access point on your house.

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Yup, all cellphones or GSM devices can be triangulated.

Any device that emits can be triangulated, including walkie-talkies. It takes some preparation, but it's not difficult to do. With mobile phones it's just a matter of using multiple towers. If you make an emergency call and don't know where you are, you can be found quickly using triangulation. It's not precise down to the nearest foot, but close enough. The problem with long-distance devices is that it requires much higher transmitter power, thus it's easier to intercept. Any device that can reliably carry video for miles can be detected and triangulated from many miles further. If access to satellite data is available, it becomes much easier.

That is all true but if your phone is in airplane mode your not connected to a tower and the OP doesn't necessarily want to use a mobile LTE device. Triangulation based on just the RF signal is not difficult but needs special equipment and where they have to be physically looking for for you versus the mobile carrier, ISP etc just collecting data.

Using high power wifi on the order of 3 miles will probably interfere with neighboring signals and will attract the people that do have the equipment. There are many factors that are going to make this project difficult and costly even if there was a suitable battery solution that IMHO just not doable or realistic. However, it is a good thought experiment.

As long as the phone has a battery installed, it can be tracked if TPTB want to track it. If you're paranoid, you need a phone with a removable battery, which you insert only when you want to make a call. The location when the call was made can be traced, though. This is very useful in some situation, such as when you need to make an emergency call. If you call 911 (or whatever the emergency number is for your country) and cannot give your location, it can be triangulated well enough to find you. I've flown EMS flights and found patients based on this information. It works the same even if you have no emergency and don't want to be tracked - as soon as the battery goes in, the phone tries to talk to a tower. If you are worried about being tracked and snooped upon, read Snowden's book. Even if you're not worried, read the book anyway. It's worth the time and money.

Are you sure that is true? I would not bet the farm on that. I would not trust a cell phone to not transmit unless I took the sim and battery out of it. They catch criminals that way. Maybe they are too dumb to turn their phone off. I think that a cell phone can be pinged even after shutdown, unless there is no power source in it. I head a policeman say that.

That is why on those crime TV shows, the criminals take the sim out of their phone and throw it out of the window, so they can't find you.

You can buy one of those pay as you go phones, and they won't know who you are. I guess.

Around here the police fly small planes around in circles overhead, with stingray type devices, that simulate a cell tower. If you look up at them with binoculars you can see an antenna on the plane. Don't know what all they can collect from you.

Should be illegal with no warrant, but they are doing whatever they want.

I think so.

All airplanes have antennas, many of them. There is one for the transponder, one for the GPS, one for each nav and comm radio, and often more. Airplanes with larger antennas are usually flying pipeline patrol, and the sensors identify leaks. You might be surprised at how many pipelines run underground, and where they are located. And what exactly is a "stingray type device"?

I was irritated that I had to give up my StarTac. Not much larger than a pager, but gave me the capability to make/receive phone calls in two different regions (which was an issue at the time...not so much anymore).

Now using an iPhone. Can check email on several accounts, use maps to figure out where I am/how to get where I want to go...and can even make phone calls(!). Costs a bit more than the accounts I was using on the StarTac, tho. (sigh)

Well, as a requirement by the FAA cellular telephony must be disabled. wifi and bluetooth as of a few years ago is legal during flight and airplane mode may not turn them off automatically anymore.
In that case it is possible to be tracked regardless if you are actually connected to an AP I believe...

A sting ray device is basically a portable cell tower or wifi access point that a phone/mobile device will automatically connect and where law enforcement can use to spy on suspects.

Simulates a cell tower, your phone will connect to it like a cell tower. They use them to collect "meta data". No one knows exactly how much data that is. FBI and Police have used them for years for "law enforcement". Part of the "war on terror". They have been sued over it, the FBI says "none of your business".

The antennas I referred to were the data collection antenna's that they hang on the bottom of the little plane which collect signals for the stingray. We know that is what they are, had documentaries on TV about it. The courts have said that it is reasonable for the Police to do it.

That wasn't a tin foil hat comment. That is factual. What we don't know is exactly what they can get, how long they keep it, what they do with the info etc.

We know that they sweep up data from non involved parties even when they get a search warrant. And they keep it.