Antenna installation and alignment

Azimuth said:
Basically this. The top and bottom antenna must be perfectly aligned and about 0.5m apart. Poynting told me that if they aren't spaced properly you don't get proper MIMO, or something. Given your results I'm wondering if it's a case of a textbook installation but real world, it doesn't make a huge difference?
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TLDR; My installation is okay.

G&E Project Management sent an inquiry to Poynting about proper antennae spacing for LTE installations and we received feedback today.
Have a look at this youtube clip Poynting LTE and read the first comment made by Andre Fourie, CEO of Poynting.

And I quote:
"In a very built up environment where the wave will experience many reflections good spatial de-correlation can be achieved with the antennas moderately close to each other. In a rural environment the physical spacing would have to be greater in order to achieve the same de-correlation.
Typical spacing between the antennas should be ½ wavelength and 2 wavelengths:

At 900 MHZ the wavelength is 30 cm
At 1800 MHz the wavelength is 16 cm
At 2700 MHz the wavelength is 11 cm.

A good de-correlation between antennas is required so that each antenna is able to receive a different signal at the same frequency."
 
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abandonallhope said:
Actual lightning is extremely scarce in the Cape peninsula.

Interesting thread though, kinda shows really how far behind the curve Telkom's residential last mile is as far as fixed lines go.
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Irony FTW
Having to do business with a subsidiary of Telkom to get around Telkom last mile issues....
 
charlh said:
I am posting this by request of Atimuth
For background please see this post

this is basically what the setup looks like View attachment 100103
The antenna is connected to my Huawei B683 router.

I had an idea of where the MTN towers were, and I took a ride out to what I thought would be the best site just to confirm exactly where the tower is in relation to my flat.
When I installed the antenna I took my laptop with me on the roof, so I could almost immediately see what signal strength was being received, and I could fine-tune everything before finally fastening the bolts.
The antenna came with a 7m cable, and they also sent me a 5m extension. At the moment I am using both cables.

Using the router's built in antenna I get ±-90dB. With the external antenna it jumps to ±-75dB!. My internet speed has improved drastically as seen with the speedtest results below

Without external antenna :cry:

With external antenna :D

I am sure the extension cable causes some signal loss (I only need to move the router about 1m to avoid using the extension), but at the moment my home setup requires it to be so.

Hopefully someone finds this helpful!
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Ok maybe I was expecting more faster than 4mbps ....but why all the trouble is adsl not enough
 
Azimuth said:
A small update, currently have the antenna disconnected and getting -78dBM...was getting -80dBm 2 months ago *with* an antenna.

773014332.png


No, the cell tower hasn't moved closer. :whistle:

I'm now rather keen to get the correct antenna - the XPOL-0006 - and see what results I get. Stay tuned.
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Ok now that's fudgen fast
 
Marakker said:
Typical spacing between the antennas should be ½ wavelength and 2 wavelengths:

At 900 MHZ the wavelength is 30 cm
At 1800 MHz the wavelength is 16 cm
At 2700 MHz the wavelength is 11 cm.

A good de-correlation between antennas is required so that each antenna is able to receive a different signal at the same frequency."
Click to expand...
It means that dual antenna made from two wide-band antennas is not wide-band in MIMO mode. There is no point of using expensive LDPA antennas in this configuration where YAGI should do the same job.

Reading above, A-XPOL-0002 antenna makes more sense. However I understand now why antenna do not support TM 2300MHz - good gain is not enough.
Azimuth said:
Note: the above antenna isn't actually for TDD 2300MHz yet still has good gain
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My setup

As requested a while back by Azimuth....

I have the Huawei B593-601. With the paddle antennas using Telkom Mobile:

3484273060.png


Got two bars and the downloads speed weren't stable.

Then bought the Poynting A-XPOL-0001, placed it on my roof, and viola!

3537357522.png


4 bars, very stable download speeds!

I know this antenna is only medium gain and not directional, but the improvement is amazing! Also, according to the box 2300 MHz is also not supported. I live about 800m from the tower, but down in a valley. I suspect having the antenna at a higher elevation makes all the difference.

I use the Apple Airport Extreme for WiFi in the house, as the B593 is useless with that. Hard drive also connected for Time Machine backups... :D

I still need to test my MTN sim with this setup. Got pretty good speeds with the paddles before.

Very keen to one day get Poynting's LPDA-0092's and see what happens! But the costs are just a bit too much, and uncapped LTE must become affordable before I start wasting data like that!

Off Topic:

Why can't I post pictures from my computer?:confused:
 
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That's some success story. It's confusing to so many that they follow our recipes and are left wanting.

How are you trying to post pics? I'll try help but I mostly use my phone or tablet via TapaTalk.
 
Azimuth said:
How are you trying to post pics? I'll try help but I mostly use my phone or tablet via TapaTalk.
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When trying to post a photo on my phone using Tapatalk is says its not allowed. On my PC is just posts the path of the picture on my hard drive.

I suspect the pictures must be online somewhere - Speedtest.net links to pictures work fine. A bit new to this posting business!
 
Share your home equipment setup

Just switch the attachment type to Tapatalk. Sometimes the forum tries forcing use of forum attachments.
 
Did you have the LPDA antennas custom made? If not, I suspect you are using an adapter cable. The B593 uses standard SMA.
 
Azimuth said:
Area: Helderkruin
Mobile broadband of choice: Telkom Mobile
Distance from tower: ~1.36m (updated 15/12/2013)
Cell ID: 174
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Hi Azimuth

Out of interest : what tool(s) or method did you use to identify the specific cell (or tower) to which you are connected (Cell ID: 174) ?

I haven't looked exhaustively, but on a quick inspection I don't see anything on the Huawei B593s-601 user interface that tells me this. Best I can do is under System / Diagnosis / Wireless Status Check, which tells me the PLMN is 65502 (not news lol).
 
You are correct, I noticed at some point that the B593 doesn't show this. Perhaps my old (original) B593 had an interface for this but it's gone now.

In my case, I have clear line of sight and have driven to the tower, as per the photos. I don't believe the base station signage ties up to anything I can see on the B593 interface.
 
Azimuth said:
Definitely changed...
Click to expand...

Thanks, that confirms it. Was kindofa useful feature, would've been even better if we could tie it up to something on the tower or cell network.
I take much the same approach as you, I think : try and spot nearby towers from the roof with binoculars and then take a drive there to confirm. Frustrating how cagey the wireless operators are with their tower locations and data.

I notice that most of the sites around my area are shared between at least 2, sometimes all 4 of the cell operators; which wasn't often the case in the past.

On that same point, I also see that some sites and/or masts appear to have been sold (starting in 2010) to the SA arm of the "American Tower Company" - ATC South Africa. Looks like ATC SA run the sites and/or towers on behalf of clients like MTN, Vodacom etc - some kind of outsourcing agreement.
See here for company details.

Fortunately, ATC SA is a little more forthcoming with their clients' tower data :D You can locate a high-site or download a full Excel list of the ATCSA sites on the "Site Locator" tab on that page. Won't help you if your nearest site is not an ATCSA one, but it's sometimes a good start.
 
Share your home equipment setup

Interesting, not seen or heard of ATC until now. Also I don't often notice shared towers.
 
Azimuth said:
Interesting, not seen or heard of ATC until now. Also I don't often notice shared towers.
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(warning ... going slightly OT ;) )

Here's an example - ATC SA site 350530 has all of The Big Three (and presumably, also Telkom Mobile) sharing one mast.

DSC01291_Medium_.JPG

DSC01292_Large_.JPG

DSC01290_Medium_.JPG

DSC01294_Large_.JPG

Back in 2009 it was just MTN and Cell C sharing one mast and ATC wasn't in the picture.
 
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