The Antenna Waiting Area

T

TadMadLad

Active Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2004
Messages
87
Reaction score
0
Location
.
Welcome welcome, antenna people.

I am waiting for the antenna from fastcomm, or rather them to call me.

Can i just have a show of hands who is also waiting for that call from the antenna people (aka fastcomm) ...

This thread is basically in aid of sharing info as soon as its becomes known. I dont want to phone them every day if they said it is only getting released on the 18th (which is 3 days from now), so if anyone knows about delays, processes, waiting lists, pre orders, websites, stuff that the people like me who have had the modem shortly after the launch , but have had no reception till now and patiently awaiting an antenna that could fry small passing by animals.

btw, no offense to the powerband people here, I did phone powerband before.
 
My hand is up. Wannna, wanna, wanna antenna. Tought I was doing fine with 3 or 4 lights lit up until I tried ProAsm's goodie and saw I was geting 13% signal strength.

This would clearly explain the dodgy nature of time sensitive small packet application, like, erm, well, like voice.

I really hope an overpriced tea-tray will give me better squignal!

BTW, is there a way to subscribe to this forum for e-mail notification?
 
Hey Beerygaz, put my own grid antenna up today thanks to Dimitrios from Powerband (Managed to get me one of those hard to get pigtails) Anyway, as I understand it, the patch antenna's from Fastcomm are more for mobile users (they're not going to work as well as putting up a proper grid antenna).
It cost a lot more than the fastcomm one, as it's a 18dBi antenna, plus I needed 15m of LMR195 cable with connectors to get the anntena rigged up facing Mintek. It's definatley worth it, as my signal strength went from (2-13) up to a steady 37 without even lining it up properly.
Had a long chat with the guys from Powerband. If anyone is interested, I could supply and install antenna's like I've just done at my office, but be prepared to pay about 2.5K I'll also post some images tommorrow on our website plus the URL in this topic. (Like I said, if anyone's interested)

PS, Beerygaz, you will remember me as the DDS presales guy who worked with you on a MAME (Arcade) joystick
 
*Inkblot twiddles his thumbs and stifles a yawn*

Okay... so I got bored and left the waiting room to do some snooping on the Net to see what alternative vendors I could find for these antennas. Not sure if I found the right stuff... need more info on the type of connector that'll fit on the MyWireless USB modem... also not sure if a 2.4Ghz antenna will work (ProASM?)... anyway... here some interesting reading material to help pass the time for those of you also stuck in this waiting room:

http://www.wifi-plus.com/pages/3/index.htm
http://www.wifi-plus.shoppingcartsplus.com/catalog/item/509770/174421.htm

Not sure if it'll work, if they'll ship here and what the cost will
be. Come to think of it... I'm not sure about many things... like why I'm posting at 02:25 in the morning...

*Inkblot promptly falls asleep on a couch... snoring loudly*[^]
 
*A bleary-eyed Inkblot stares at Cloud for a full minute before he rolls over and mutters "Good. Wake me up as soon as the antennas arrive." [;)]
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">also not sure if a 2.4Ghz antenna will work (ProASM?)<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">That will work fine - is what I'm using [;)]


<hr noshade size="1"><center><font color="blue">MyWireless Stuff</font id="blue"></center>
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by aftermath</i>
<br />PS, Beerygaz, you will remember me as the DDS presales guy who worked with you on a MAME (Arcade) joystick

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Find me on IM G. will be good to catch up.
 
Have a look at www.miro.co.za. Lots of diferrent antennas and WiFi goodies.
 
Why are you specifically waiting for the fastcomm antenna? Because they will have stock of the correct pigtail?

I want to understand why everyone is waiting for fastcomm, when 2.4-2.5 GHz antennas are available from other sources (Poynting looks like a good option to me). A small 8dBi patch is R176.00 and a 12dBi yagi is R360 (both excluding VAT). Will the Fastcomm antennas be higher gain?

Thanks to ProAsm, we can all make connectors for our own pigtails. [:)]
 
From the Operator.ini file in the mywireless software installation.
Code: 
;
; The [Frequency] section contains information relating to the operating 
; frequency of the air interface.
;
; The FreqList is the list of Node B frequencies (separated by commas) in 
; units of KHz.  The frequencies contained in the file would be based upon 
; the deployment of the Node B frequencies.
;
;   FreqList=n    where n is the list of Node B freqs.  e.g FreqList= 2564000
;
[Frequency]
FreqList="2506000,2518000,2530000"

This suggests that a 2.4-2.5ghz antenna isn't exactly ideal? I'm not to clued up on antennae workings, but it seems to me that the poyinting 2.5-2.7Ghz antennae would be more applicable.


<center><h5><font color="red">Oo. MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info.oO </font id="red"></h5></center>
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">This suggests that a 2.4-2.5ghz antenna isn't exactly ideal? I'm not to clued up on antennae workings, but it seems to me that the poyinting 2.5-2.7Ghz antennae would be more applicable<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Not necessarily, when the antenna is called a "2.4 - 2.5 GHz" antenna they probably mean the general frequency band, so it will probably work at higher than 2.5 GHz. ProAsm says he had a "2.4 GHz grid antenna" and actually tested it for 2.5 GHz. It worked just fine.

If you are technically interested why, ask the manufacturer for a graph of the antenna's return loss. If it is lower than -10 dB (i.e. -15dB or -20dB) at 2.53 GHz, the antenna should work 100%.

Ajax
 
The Poynting antenna is pretty good between 2.4 and 2.5 gig.
If you look at a typical horn spec you will see at 2.53 which is the highest frequency we use it is only 1 dB down which is pretty good, after 2.55 gig it rolls off quickly.
http://www.poynting.co.za/antennas/ism_lanpoyntfeeddetail.shtml

If however you have a look at the frequency rolloff chart for a 2.5 to 2.7 gig antenna you'll find the maximum gain sits at around 2.65 gig and the 2.53 as we need, is also 1 dB down on that, so at the end of the day, its 6 of one and half a dozen of the other [:)]


<hr noshade size="1"><center><font color="blue">MyWireless Stuff</font id="blue"></center>
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by TheRoDent</i>
<br />This suggests that a 2.4-2.5ghz antenna isn't exactly ideal? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I amplified my signal 10 dB with a small DSTV Dish (13 GHz).


<hr noshade size="1"><center>N<s>oo</s>ne needs to reply to everything</center>
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nroets</i>
I amplified my signal 10 dB with a small DSTV Dish (13 GHz).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hehe, so, is your modem strapped S&M style into the middle of the dish? Or have you managed to concoct a connector?


<center><h5><font color="red">Oo. MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info.oO </font id="red"></h5></center>
 
Unless you actually used the DSTV LNB, the 13GHz means nothing.
The dish is a parabolic shape to focus radiowaves at the focal point (which is where the LNB sits)

If you use the DSTV LNB, then you'll get no signal at all

--
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by TheRoDent</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nroets</i>
I amplified my signal 10 dB with a small DSTV Dish (13 GHz).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hehe, so, is your modem strapped S&M style into the middle of the dish? Or have you managed to concoct a connector?


<center><h5><font color="red">Oo. MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info.oO </font id="red"></h5></center>
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I think you should elaborate on "S&M style" - a) for the uneducated masses and b) cause this is way too funny [;)]
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by flashvc</i>
<br />Unless you actually used the DSTV LNB, the 13GHz means nothing.
The dish is a parabolic shape to focus radiowaves at the focal point (which is where the LNB sits)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I obviously did not use the LNB.

The paths to the focal point has different lengths causing phase changes (and potentially destructive interference) as well as shadow images, all of which was optimized for the application of the dish (13 GHz). Yet everything worked fine for UMTS.

The paints and metals were also chosen for 13GHz amplification, yet work fine at 2.5GHz.

So 802.11 equipment will work even better.

To clarify the roomers: Master-Slave protocol may have been used.


<hr noshade size="1"><center>N<s>oo</s>ne needs to reply to everything</center>
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nroets</i>
To clarify the roomers: Master-Slave protocol may have been used.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Rofl, good one [:D]

<center><h5><font color="red">Oo. MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info.oO </font id="red"></h5></center>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X