Non Standard Antenna

K

KevinR

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Hi,

I am using Vodacom 3G/HSDPA with a Linksys WRT54G3G Router as my only broadband solution.

I have had it for about a year now and generally speaking I am pretty happy.

I do however seem to suffer from a weakish signal (I am basing this on the info that the router software is giving me, which ranges from "medium" to "good" as well as the fact that in general cell phone reception in my house is pretty aweful.).

Getting to the point....... will an after market antenna such as this one ---> http://www.poyntingdirect.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=OMNI-A0039-01 improve matters any?

There is not much info on the site so I was wondering if anybody could help.

Ta

Kevin
 
Last edited:
I have connected the Poynting LPDA antenna to my HSPDA card (option) that is stuck into my Linksys router. Without the antenna I do not have GPRS, but with the antenna I have a "good" signal. I am sometimes connected for more than 4 days non stop and normally experience speed of more than 1.5Mbps - this from a tower more than 8.8km from my house.

I can only suggest that you buy the antenna and install it so high as possible and pointing in the general direction of a HSPDA cell tower

FireTelkom
 
KevinR said:
Hi,

I am using Vodacom 3G/HSDPA with a Linksys WRT54G3G Router as my only broadband solution.

I have had it for about a year now and generally speaking I am pretty happy.

I do however seem to suffer from a weakish signal (I am basing this on the info that the router software is giving me, which ranges from "medium" to "good" as well as the fact that in general cell phone reception in my house is pretty aweful.).

Getting to the point....... will an after market antenna such as this one ---> http://www.poyntingdirect.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=OMNI-A0039-01 improve matters any?

There is not much info on the site so I was wondering if anybody could help.

Ta

Kevin
Click to expand...

Rather go for a high-gain, external antenna. Just going outdoors will give a 7 to 8 dB gain. A 7dB or 11dB antenna, on top of this, mounted outdoors will give you rock-solid performance.

Look at this: http://www.poyntingdirect.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=K-LDPA-A0021-03
 
Last edited:
Thanks V3G

I'll give that some thought.

One (silly) question though...... how do I know what data card I have?

Based on looks alone, a quick comparison on Vodacom's site leads me to believe it is either an Option Fusion or Quad Lite. How do I tell for sure?
 
Does the signal strength affect the speed and/or download/upload link quality?
 
vodacom3g said:
Rather go for a high-gain, external antenna. Just going outdoors will give a 7 to 8 dB gain. A 7dB or 11dB antenna, on top of this, mounted outdoors will give you rock-solid performance.

Look at this: http://www.poyntingdirect.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=K-LDPA-A0021-03
Click to expand...

Got the Poynting LDPA-A0021-03 antenna (it is 11dB) during the week, installed it this afternoon on the roof of my house. That part of the roof is flat and the antenna is only about 15 cm above the parapet wall.

Where previously I was lucky to get GPRS signal in my study, I now get a full 3G signal and a speed test gave a download speed of 1.2 Mbps. I use a Motorola V6 Maxx as a modem, with the cellphone adapter supplied with the Poynting antenna.

Definitely recommended, especially at only R720.
 
Last edited:
SoTrue said:
Got the Poynting LDPA-A0021-03 antenna (it is 11dB) during the week, installed it this afternoon on the roof of my house. That part of the roof is flat and the antenna is only about 15 cm above the parapet wall.

Where previously I was lucky to get GPRS signal in my study, I now get a full 3G signal and a speed test gave a download speed of 1.2 Mbps. I use a Motorola V6 Maxx as a modem, with the cellphone adapter supplied with the Poynting antenna.

Definitely recommended, especially at only R720.
Click to expand...

For sure, remember we work with RF here, so it must always be first priority to get a decent signal.

Vodacom is obviously rolling out as many towers as possible (HSDPA in the thousands already) but sometimes local conditions dictate you might not get full signal. (geography, anal neighbours, etc.)

This is where an external antenna does wonders. At the high frequencies used, just going indoors make a huge difference in signal quality.

The better the signal levels and the better the signal/noise ratio, the more complex codecs can be used and thus the higher your throughput.
 
vodacom3g said:
The better the signal levels and the better the signal/noise ratio, the more complex codecs can be used and thus the higher your throughput.
Click to expand...

V3g, just to double check, if you have a 3G only device (i.e. no HSPDA capability) then the signal is not as important as with HSDPA. I've gotten full speed 3G (384 kbits/sec) with like 2 bars of signal.
The same goes, I assume, for EDGE? Just as HSDPA is a more complex encoding scheme for 3G, so is EDGE for GPRS.

Of course, the above assumes there are no other significant sources of interference.
 
Hello, so, guyz, i was wondering looking @ the threads flying re. external antennas, i got my hands on a yagi 11db, it is currently mounted in the roof, pointing reasonably in the vacinity of a vodacom tower, bout 50 meters away, and so now, since using it i have been connecting at 3g+ mostly, i gues that would hsdpa, the best i got from the 3g router and card was 3g, although something has me stumped, i have been going onto gprs a lot since installing the antenna, the signal seems more "jumpy" if you will, before it was wierd for me to go onto grps, mostly only due to extreme weather conditions in pta. Any ideas, i believe that the antenna must ensure a much more stable/contineous connection throughout the day, maybe even a more solid connection during bad weather, is this due to the fact that i have the thing mounted in the roof instead of outside on the roof???
 
Last edited:
Jurie said:
Hello, so, guyz, i was wondering looking @ the threads flying re. external antennas, i got my hands on a yagi 11db, it is currently mounted in the roof, pointing reasonably in the vacinity of a vodacom tower, bout 50 meters away, and so now, since using it i have been connecting at 3g+ mostly, i gues that would hsdpa, the best i got from the 3g router and card was 3g, although something has me stumped, i have been going onto gprs a lot since installing the antenna, the signal seems more "jumpy" if you will, before it was wierd for me to go onto grps, mostly only due to extreme weather conditions in pta. Any ideas, i believe that the antenna must ensure a much more stable/contineous connection throughout the day, maybe even a more solid connection during bad weather, is this due to the fact that i have the thing mounted in the roof instead of outside on the roof???
Click to expand...

If you pointed the antenna away from the best tower, you'll aggravate the situation. Maybe move the antenna a few degrees at a time and watch your signal level. Run the Vodacom speed test to check throughput.

Outside always MUCH better than inside.
 
ajax said:
V3g, just to double check, if you have a 3G only device (i.e. no HSPDA capability) then the signal is not as important as with HSDPA. I've gotten full speed 3G (384 kbits/sec) with like 2 bars of signal.
The same goes, I assume, for EDGE? Just as HSDPA is a more complex encoding scheme for 3G, so is EDGE for GPRS.

Of course, the above assumes there are no other significant sources of interference.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right. It's about signal/noise ratio, not just signal level. I've seen 1.5Mb/s with NO bars!

But the higher the signal level, the better the S/N should be. That's why you use an antenna and not an amp.
 
Check antenna frequency bands!

I refer to a previous thread http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?p=1060658#post1060658 when discussing antenna frequency bands. A yagi antenna typically can only cover 1 of the 3 cellphone bands (900MHz/1800MHz or 3G, 1950-2170MHz). GPRS is transmitted on 900/1800 bands, 3G/HSDPA on the UMTS 2000MHz band. Very likely that yagi is not made for the 3G band in which case it may actually REDUCE the signal at 3G and enhance GPRS. Best to use a broadband antenna such as an LPDA (log-periodic dipole array). These antennas do all the bands and may solve the problem.

Jurie said:
Hello, so, guyz, i was wondering looking @ the threads flying re. external antennas, i got my hands on a yagi 11db, it is currently mounted in the roof, pointing reasonably in the vacinity of a vodacom tower, bout 50 meters away, and so now, since using it i have been connecting at 3g+ mostly, i gues that would hsdpa, the best i got from the 3g router and card was 3g, although something has me stumped, i have been going onto gprs a lot since installing the antenna, the signal seems more "jumpy" if you will, before it was wierd for me to go onto grps, mostly only due to extreme weather conditions in pta. Any ideas, i believe that the antenna must ensure a much more stable/contineous connection throughout the day, maybe even a more solid connection during bad weather, is this due to the fact that i have the thing mounted in the roof instead of outside on the roof???
Click to expand...
 
vodacom3g said:
And there I was thinking LPDA stands for Louis at Poynting Doing Another salesjob!
Click to expand...

I think you are being unkind to Louie - he does a much better salesjob than I can ever hope doing. I hope you are not confusing us - I am supposed to provide the technical details, because when you start talking to Louie you will end up buying something - I am trying to make sure it is something you can use.

Regards
Andre
 
Poynting1 said:
I think you are being unkind to Louie - he does a much better salesjob than I can ever hope doing. I hope you are not confusing us - I am supposed to provide the technical details, because when you start talking to Louie you will end up buying something - I am trying to make sure it is something you can use.

Regards
Andre
Click to expand...

Oh, you mean it's actually: Louie at Poynting Doing Andre's job!

No, did not confuse you with Louie! Although I know he does lurk here sometimes....;)
 
LOL @ V3g - good one!

Credit must be given to Poynting tho as I recently purchased the LDPA-A0021-03 and Louie was on hand to assist with troubleshooting.

I now have a consistent 3G signal thanks to them!

Shot guys!
 
Mr M said:
LOL @ V3g - good one!

Credit must be given to Poynting tho as I recently purchased the LDPA-A0021-03 and Louie was on hand to assist with troubleshooting.

I now have a consistent 3G signal thanks to them!

Shot guys!
Click to expand...

They're great guys with great products. I know they're even trying to build an antenna for the E220.
 
Hmmm you must joking !
I wonder how they're going to do that cos I enquired at the local Vodashop if it was possible to connect an external antenna to the E220 (poor signal in my area) and the response was a resounding "NO". But then again I wouldnt be surprised if Poynting found a way!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X