Antenna installation and alignment

Back to using my XPOL-0002 as of two days ago. I also sold my spare to Force_za who happens to be in my area, using the same tower. :p
 
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Share your home equipment setup

Very small discount off retail price but then again, no round trip to Samrand for buyer to collect. It was never used so brand new.
 
I found some nice YouTube videos from Wilson Electronics, an installer in the US. I really like their approach to installations and how professionally they measure signal. Granted their main business is cellular signal boosters but their approach still applies to this thread.

Some really good ground rules and excellent tips.

[video=youtube;-JxVHKVFTwg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JxVHKVFTwg&feature=youtu.be[/video]


Ladder temporary installation FTW!
 
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TP-Link TL-WR1043ND Router, DD-WRT(Build 23204 Firmware)
Huawei E392u-92 USB Modem for TM
Huawei E392u-12 USB Modem for Afrihost/MTN
LDPA11A 11dBi 800-960/1710-200 MHZ Yagi.
Linksys/Cisco SPA-2102 ATA(for Voip with Switchtel).
Very stable.
Exclusively on TM these days.
 
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Some useful installation advice that I found on the Poynting Urban site:

Installation Advice

Point the antenna in the direction of the cellular tower.

The cellular tower should be from the operator you are using ( e.g. Vodacom to Vodacom)
The cellular tower should also be 3G or 4G enabled.

It takes up to a minute for the tower and the antenna to communicate so keep the antenna in that direction for +- a minute to see if the reception improves.

If you are not sure of where the tower is, move the antenna in increments of a few degrees at a time to see where the signal improves.

If you have an option of more than one tower, select the tower with the least obstructions between you and the tower even if it is much further.

The antenna can communicate with a tower up to 35 km’s away.
It is better to communicate to a tower 35 km’s away with clear *line-of-sight than a tower that is 2 km’s away but behind a hill.
The antenna should be mounted as high as the cable allows.

The following items that obstructs your line-of-sight can influence the signal:

- Landscape (in other words a hill or mountain)
- Any metal obstacle like a corrugated iron roof, buildings with metal reinforcing etc.
- Trees (especially if it is raining and the leaves are wet)


*Line-of-sight - ‘Line-of-sight’ is an imaginary line that stretches between the antenna and the tower, with no obstacle in between.

wpccad0462_05_06.jpg


Source: http://www.poyntingurban.com/install.html
 
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Forgetting about Cell_ID??? Read old posts on this forum.
 
Please be more specific? I'm trying to build new, visible resources that are all interlinked.
 
http://www.cellmapper.net/map

Oh FFS! I wanted to type with that. What's done is done. So this is an edit

Above website is one of the more reliable, free sources of tower location. It can be useful in pointing directional antennae.
 
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Azimuth said:
Please be more specific? I'm trying to build new, visible resources that are all interlinked.
Click to expand...
Well, get some experience first and read past messages on this forum. First things, the strongest signal or the closest tower not always gives best result. Antenna can be tuned to cover different areas, tower can be congested, it can be strong interference from particular direction. So how you deal with with these issues?
Pickup strong signal. Make note of Cell_ID and tune antenna to this Cell_ID. Note that you can be forced handover to some other Cell_ID, you have to watch all the time how it is changing. Signal strenght and peak speed is not the most important, more important is stability of the connection and how it works in peak time 20-23pm.
Do the same for different Cell_ID.
 
Thanks for the tips and for posting. :)

We've had this discussion before, I think, but remember that while congestion is a real 3G issue, it isn't an issue for LTE. This observation is based on UK LTE user feedback. However your point is valid for 3G as not everyone is ready to use LTE yet.

Edit: I'm wrong with my LTE congestion statement because contention ratio applies to any wireless medium. I guess I got a bit hopeful with the UK scenario I linked above and forgot about the fundamentals. If contention goes up capacity needs to be added.
 
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GreGorGy said:
http://www.cellmapper.net/map

Oh FFS! I wanted to type with that. What's done is done. So this is an edit

Above website is one of the more reliable, free sources of tower location. It can be useful in pointing directional antennae.
Click to expand...

Thanks - doesn't seem accurate though - doesn't reflect towers in my area that I know are there. Also - doesn't mention 4G (LTE) towers.
 
Teejaybee said:
Thanks - doesn't seem accurate though - doesn't reflect towers in my area that I know are there. Also - doesn't mention 4G (LTE) towers.
Click to expand...

Ja - I also don't know who maintains / updates it but at least it is something, together with opensignalmaps
 
I've tried Opensignal maps and it seems pretty useless for SA. I went hunting for a tower in my cul de sac and there wasn't one. I kinda knew that when I set out. ;)

OpenSignal maps show no LTE information and their speed test is utter rubbish!
 
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Just to share and keep things interesting, last year I did an LTE installation in Wilgeheuwel. The owner had already taken out a Telkom Mobile contract so the cellular network was decided. In my mind this was a great pity as there was LOS to a Vodacom tower down the road, approximately 400m away. Oh well. :(

Here are the initial survey photos I took while trying to find an MTN/Telkom Mobile tower.

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In the initial survey, I could only find the tower structures in the photos above but they aren't cell towers. I've since located what I hope to be an MTN tower behind the hill in the first photo, in line with the solar geyser.

Right now the owner gets 3 bars LTE signal but not great throughput. Certainly a damn side better than 3G signal, of which there is barely 1 bar. He was using an E5331 MiFi and I upgraded him to a B593 LTE CPE.

Once I've decided on an appropriate antenna solution, I'll provide feedback with the actual installation and finally the alignment of the antennas.
 
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Invested in a Huawei B880-73 modem/router, 2X Poynting LPDA yagis, suitable mast and wall attachment bracket.

Wow, results outstanding with Telkom mobile LTE: http://speedtest.ookla.com/result/2655979521.png

Have a spare wall bracket and 4.5m mast with easy alignment available, please pm me.
 
Mind sharing your installation and how you did your alignment?
 
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