Antenna installation and alignment

[TheVeteran]

It depends a bit on what kind of reception you can get, what ping you have now, what sort of ping you need/want, and what network you plan to use. Being that close to a base station - assuming it's the "right" one - you may not even need to bother with an external antenna to get good reception.

The lowest ping time I've ever seen in my own experience - regardless of whether it's obtained with a built-in antenna, indoor externals or outdoor externals - is about 20ms. See here for an example of an improvement from 30 to 20ms using external antennas, and here for a best-case "close to station" result using just internal patch antennas.

Thanks for the info jcheek. From the general info that I've been through, it won't really be much of an improvement as my ping is between 19-30ms to local servers most of the time. Occasionally it goes up to 200-300ms. Signal bar on my B315s router is 4 out of 5 bars on Telkom Mobile when the router is placed correctly.

 

[mrcode47]

Hi Guys

Where can i get software to test signal strength on the LTE - Telkom (Huawei B315 modem)?

 

[Borrels]

Hi Guys

Where can i get software to test signal strength on the LTE - Telkom (Huawei B315 modem)?

Wifi Analyzer app

 

[mrcode47]

Wifi Analyzer app

Wifi Analyzer is a good Wifi app - agreed, is there a app for the LTE data signal test & align.
I want to check the signal gain / data transfer speed increase during Yagi antenna installs onsite?

I know iBurst got and app (EyeBurst - java script) which can show the dbi signal strength and gains.

Any for the LTE router via LAN check / testing?

 

[Muttley]

Wifi Analyzer is a good Wifi app - agreed, is there a app for the LTE data signal test & align.
I want to check the signal gain / data transfer speed increase during Yagi antenna installs onsite?

I know iBurst got and app (EyeBurst - java script) which can show the dbi signal strength and gains.

Any for the LTE router via LAN check / testing?

Search for LTEWatch on mybb - I'm sure someone posted a link for download:

This link may be correct: http://www.lte-anbieter.info/ltewatch/index-en.php

 

[hercovandyk]

Edit: Posted my own thread.

Hi everyone!

We have a LTA router and 2 x A-LPDA-0092 antennas.

When we first installed them (late 2015), we had 70mb/s down and 15mb/s up for awhile. We did not bother with any orientation other than setting the antennas at 90 degrees to each other.

Currently we are getting around 10mb/s down and 3mb/s up.

Will it help to increase to spacing between the antennas and try pointing it in different directions? We have 3/5 bars signal strength on the router, where we used to have 4/5.

We are not in normal telkom LTE coverage, we are just out of cover. This is a picture of the LTE coverage in our area, our house is in the red circle.

Will it help to point the antenna in any specific direction?

tia!

 

[Muttley]

Hi,

I think your device is connecting the the 1800 MHz band, not the 2300 MHz band which was previously giving you the great performance.

You didn't mention which LTE router you're using but if you have the Huawei B315, you need to download the toolbox from here

and then see post #29 here to fix the problem which will force the router to only see the 2300MHz band.

 

[hercovandyk]

Thanks a lot! Will have a look at those links.

I think we have a Huawei B593s-22 router. Atleast ours look exactly like it.

 

[Muttley]

Thanks a lot! Will have a look at those links.

I think we have a Huawei B593s-22 router. Atleast ours look exactly like it.

Try the toolbox, I'm sure it'll work

 

[hercovandyk]

Thanks Marlin!

Just to clarify, I force it to use 2300MHz as mentioned in that post using the toolbox?

 

[Muttley]

Thanks Marlin!

Just to clarify, I force it to use 2300MHz as mentioned in that post using the toolbox?

Exactly- follow the instructions from post #29 by Digitalp

I've done this twice with success on B315's. Just make sure to connect to the router using an ethernet cable just in case.

If you want, you can contact sajunky here as he may be able to confirm if the toolbox will work with your router- just don't want you to brick it.

 

[jcheek]

Thanks a lot! Will have a look at those links.
I think we have a Huawei B593s-22 router. Atleast ours look exactly like it.

Oops! Unless something's changed, I don't think the B593 series supports the toolbox .... ?
The -s22 variant only does 1800MHz & 2100MHz FDD in this country anyway, AFAIK - see the version summary in this post.
Maybe ask around here ?

 

[hercovandyk]

Hmmm, this is not going to be as simple resolution as I had hoped! Thanks jcheek.

 

[hercovandyk]

I will be able to confirm the exact model tonight. If it helps, it can connect to any SA network. (Have used with MTN and Telkom)

 

[jcheek]

I will be able to confirm the exact model tonight. If it helps, it can connect to any SA network. (Have used with MTN and Telkom)

MTN & Vodacom - 1800MHz FDD
Telkom - Originally 2300MHz TDD and later added 1800MHz FDD
Cell C - 2100MHz FDD and also 1800MHz FDD (in some places)

 

[hercovandyk]

MTN & Vodacom - 1800MHz FDD
Telkom - Originally 2300MHz TDD and later added 1800MHz FDD
Cell C - 2100MHz FDD and also 1800MHz FDD (in some places)

Should I then be fine with 1800 or 2300 ? So no changes necessary? Im resetting all my settings when I get home, wil also lower security to test.

I feel a little overwhelmed with all the possible causes/solutions.

 

[jcheek]

Should I then be fine with 1800 or 2300 ? So no changes necessary?

It's more a case of what South African 3G & LTE networks you can access with the hardware that you have.
With the B593 series modem/routers, this is determined by the router's radio hardware, not by things you can configure in software.
If you do indeed have the B593-s22 - which was less common than the -s601 variant - then you will only be able to access Telkom's LTE network on the 1800MHz FDD band, not the 2300MHz TDD band. By contrast, the B593-s601 supports operation in either of those bands, but not the 2100MHz band (which the -s22 does).


To address your original question:

We are not in normal telkom LTE coverage, we are just out of cover. This is a picture of the LTE coverage in our area, our house is in the red circle.
Will it help to point the antenna in any specific direction?

Judging from the coverage map, you're down in a slight dip between the TM LTE stations to the north-west and south-east of you ? The stations themselves will be at the centres of those 3 lobes you see on each of the two blue coverage areas, probably on a mast. If your LPDA-0092 antenna array is pointed at one of those stations now, you may get different/better results by pointing your array at the other one, ie getting LTE service from the other station.

 

[hercovandyk]

Thanks for your help jcheek!

So it makes a difference in which direction the antenna is pointed?

 

[hercovandyk]

So I adjusted the antenna around and the spacing is now 0.4m. Not much difference at all.

I have the Huwai B593s-601. Can I use toolbox with this? The application keeps crashing on my win 10.

 

[jcheek]

So it makes a difference in which direction the antenna is pointed?

Absolutely. The LPDA-0092 is highly directional - it is intended to be aimed fairly exactly at the station of interest and will do a good job of "locking on" to that station, be it a good or bad one.