Aerial Advice

[iqbalmia]

Hi Guys,

I recently relocated to Glen Austin. According to the coverage map, I have poor coverage. I have a 2 Meg modem and currently have two omni aerials connected. They have improved signal from crap, to just slightly better than crap.

I have been contemplating putting up an aerial. Advice from friends has been that a flat panel would not make much difference. I have been considering a Yagi aerial with splitter from Poynting. I have noticed that the LTE aerials (The triangular Plastic ones) cover the same frequency.

What route would you guys recommend I take, as the costs would be quite similar?

Thanks

Iqbal

 

[ginggs]

I have been contemplating putting up an aerial. Advice from friends has been that a flat panel would not make much difference. I have been considering a Yagi aerial with splitter from Poynting. I have noticed that the LTE aerials (The triangular Plastic ones) cover the same frequency.

I found a flat panel was an improvement over the omni, but in my case I needed to avoid a busy base station that the omni was picking up and aim at a less busy base station slightly further away.

How many base stations does your modem pick up and what are the signal strengths like?

The best would be a yagi (you don't need a wideband LPDA for iBurst), and even better might be two yagis.

 

[iqbalmia]

Hi Ginggs,

Here's the thing, I'm a little clueless when it comes to this stuff. I used to connect the modem directly to a laptop, using the iBurst interface. Then I invested in a good router (Asus RT-AC66u) and plugged the iBurst into the wan port. Don't know how to test for what base stations I'm connecting to. In terms of LOS, my best bet is the Midrand Water Tower, as the only obstruction is a tree(gonna ask landlord if I can trim it a bit, otherwise really tall mast). Landlord has no problem with me putting up a mast. I know that there is a base station in Noordwyk and another at Midrand High School. Both are further and have obstructions.

I thought about the LTE ones because an iBurst employee mentioned that they were busy with a planned rollout of LTE, but that was some time ago, and I've heard nothing since.

It would be great to hook up with someone who knows this stuff, who could show me how to do it. I've tried to install JRE and run the greasmonkey script you wrote, but I guess I'm too clueless to make it work .

From what you've said, gonna get one Yagi for now (meaning when I can scrape up the cash), with a splitter. already have 2 pigtails. Will get 2nd Yagi when bank balance improves.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[ginggs]

From what you've said, gonna get one Yagi for now (meaning when I can scrape up the cash), with a splitter. already have 2 pigtails. Will get 2nd Yagi when bank balance improves.

I found those to be splitters very expensive. It might be cheaper just to get two yagis.
You may want to plug the modem straight into your PC while you do the set up so you can measure the signals, etc.

 

[iqbalmia]

Hi Ginggs,

Will have to recheck the quote, with regards to costs. if difference is minor, then Ja, 2 Yagis. Would they need to be polarised (90 degrees to each other, to prevent interference)? Need to know, so I can buy necessary adapters before I start.

 

[ginggs]

Would they need to be polarised (90 degrees to each other, to prevent interference)?

No, both need to be vertically polarized. I would mount them at least 0.5m apart (the wavelength of iBurst is about 167mm), either on one mast or on two separate masts.

 

[iqbalmia]

Thanks.

Now to find a decent mast at a decent price.
Contemplating a 6m mast...