The Antenna Waiting Area

naw dude, havent tried commenting them out because I don't use the mywireless dialer

the modem works like a cellphone, it connects to the "nearest" tower it can find

in my room alone I can pick up signals from northcliffe, flora cliffe, constantia kloof, weltevreden park with me cellphone, and i can't choose which tower

but with a directional antenna I can [:p]
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by noone</i>
<br />naw dude, havent tried commenting them out because I don't use the mywireless dialer
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
You're using the IP Wireless drivers, even if you use rasdial or whatever. That software has some frequency settings, and I hope it uses them.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by noone</i>
<br />the modem works like a cellphone, it connects to the "nearest" tower it can find
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
We call it "Cell" phone because each tower creates a "cell" and sticks to its own frequency, otherwise they clash. They are arrange in a pattern like this :
[:)]__[:p]
__[:(!]__[:(]
[:)]__[:p]

i.e. no two adjacent towers talk on the same freq. You may well be able to choose your tower by disabling freqs.

And about your Pringles antenna : Can you isolate other factors e.g. by doing the same experiment outside away from computer monitors ?

<hr noshade size="1"><center>[:X][:0][:I][8)][:)][8D][:D][:(!][V][}:)][|)][?][^][:p] and the original :-)</center>
 
Commenting out the frequencies wont make any differences, they will just get put back again.
How the system works.
There are 3 different frequencies.
All Towers uses these 3 frequencies depending on how many sectors a Tower has - 1, 2 or 3
All Towers antenna always point in the same direction.
0 degrees - 120 degrees and 240 degrees.
So all the Towers country wide the 0 degree antennas are all the same frequency.
The same goes for the 120 and 240 degree antennas.


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<font size="1"><font color="black">The opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer</font id="size1"></font id="black"></center>
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Anyway, WITH the antenna thingy I made out of pringles (yummy) I get -77dbm and my modem does not need to stand on the window thingy (you know the place, i'm too tired to think) and stands next to my puter, where, without the antenna thingy, I only get 8%-15% signal
With 28%
Without 15%
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Noone, I'm inclined to agree with Nroets, the pringles can on its own can not give you more than about 4 dB increase in signal. But this is if you do the tests in ideal testing conditions, i.e. in a special antenna chamber. What I'm wondering is if perhaps you pick up different towers with and without the can. Apparantly there are more than 1 tower with the same number. Can you test/confirm this?

Otherwise, it is possible that your modem was picking up reflections of the same signal causing the overall signal to be very low.
I would be interested to see if you can repeat this test and get the same results in a different location, maybe on the opposite side of your building or at a friend's place.

About the funnel again, when making horn antennas, the funnel is essential for extra gain. Have you tried it?

Ajax
 
The percentage signal is misleading. I don't think it actually relates to DB at all.

According to 3gpp, SIR - Signal to Interference ratio is the RSCP divided by the ISCP. I think the modem percentage "signal" reported is the SIR.

RSCP is the signal strength, and ISCP is the interference. Thus, it is quite possible that noone increased his SIR, using the can, possibly reducing some of the noise, and hence the increase in "Signal"

But the increase may not at all have been the in the <b>actual</b> signal strength, rather a decrease in the noise.

<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">Thus, it is quite possible that noone increased his SIR, using the can, possibly reducing some of the noise, and hence the increase in "Signal"
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I agree. I've found my satellite radio (operating at 1.45 GHz) does not receive ANY signal if the patch antenna is placed within 2m of my pc (1.8 GHz CPU).
So then, if you use the can on MyWireless, it receives mainly signals coming in straight at it, effectively blocking off noise from other directions.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">But the increase may not at all have been the in the actual signal strength, rather a decrease in the noise.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Its probably both, a decrease in received noise, and an increase in signal strength.

Ajax
 
was tested next to my monitor, and on the window

the rscp changed from -91 (or -93) to -77dbi (or whatever it reports)

The percentage shown on the software shows a gain of between 11-13%

If I hold the can directly above the modem's own antenna (which I push through into the can) I get 0% signal, 3 bars (about 15%) when no can is attached, and attaching the can, I immediatly get all 4 bars going at around 28% signal

Dude, seriously, if you dont believe me, be my guest and test it yourself

i'm done argueing, I know it works, just thought I'd share it with the rest of you
 
Noone, I'm not saying your observations about the signal with and without the can are wrong, Rodent and I are merely speculating as to HOW this is possible. If we can find out how and why perhaps then we can use this info to get even better signals!
We are nowhere near ideal testing conditions so anything is possible.

Have you tried a funnel on your can? Any improvement in signal?

Ajax
 
I tested mine outside and the results are the same as indoors. Outdoors I just get a better signal to start with. I can only get my reception from one tower 110 - Helderkruin. I live in Krugersdorp about 5 Km from the tower all other towers are too far away for me to get a signal from them.
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by vangend</i>
<br />all other towers are too far away for me to get a signal from them.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Up until this morning, I though the same (living near Faerie Glen Hospital). Then Menlo park tower (3km) went silent.

And the modem picked up Sunnyside (a least 8 km) at 18% (Menlo=31%). Doing the math it's approximately right: 10log_10(3^2km / 8^2km)=
-8.5dB, minus a few dB for the extra hills that's in the way.


<hr noshade size="1"><center>[:X][:0][:I][8)][:)][8D][:D][:(!][V][}:)][|)][?][^][:p] and the original :-)</center>
 
Hi guys
I have a particular problem that I would like to have some help on. I live in the socalled "Cradle of Humankind" site halfway between Randburg and the Hartebeespoort Dam. My house is on a hill and I have a clear line of sight to Northcliff corner, I can see most of Randburg (on a clear day), I can see both the Brixton and Hillbrow towers. I can also see some buildings of Midrand but most of then is just over the horizon. I did some antenna tests some years from my place to the water tower on Northcliff corner and as far as I can remember we estimated the distance to be about 28km. I also did some radar tests some time later from Midrand to my house and the distance in that case was 33Km. The only internet access I have now is a rather pathetic Telkom dialup with noisy wires that only gives me 28kbs on a good day. So I was thinking - If I would subscribe to MyWireless and put up one of FasstComs/NoWire patch antennas (I estimate their gain to be about 9dBi) and point it to Randburg, how close would I be to having a usable system. If that doesn't work and I would to take a 1 to 2M 2.4GHz dish, slap the patch antenna in the focal point (a quick and dirty solution), how much would that buy me. If that doesn't work and I buy a 2.4 GHz antenna that can do about 24dBi, would that then solve my problem. I have read somewhere that under ideal solutions (whatever that may mean) MyWireless will reach 20 Km. Any suggestions or solutions would be highly appreciated.

BTW I looked on the WWW at IPWireless sites and I found the follwing:

"The networking equipment is housed at existing cell sites and has a maximum range of 29 kilometers"

"one of the carriers that has been trialing the IPWireless technology with real users has noted reach of almost 30 kilometers"

"The big difference is the range. The range of 'free-air' of 802.11 is typically 1,000 feet. We have a maximum range in free-air of 30 kilometers,"

Cheers clive
 
That depends on the base-station kit. AFAIK Sentech only purchased the 4-5 km range base station kit, not the 30km kit. Still, some people have reported getting signal at over 18km.

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Hi Guys
Just got my FastCom patch antenna today - but no luck. I get a 24% signal from station 22 in Pretoria. I can ping www.sentech with anything from 75-100ms with almost no packet loss, but as soon as I download some data, the connection dies, or rather, it goes to a limbo state. Pings just timeout and I get no more data. AFter a couple of minutes, the connection is closed. My RSCP is -83dBm, ISCP -93dBm and BER is 5. Any ideas?

Groenie
 
They could be working on the tower. Your battery could be flat for some reason.
 
groenie, what is the frequency, in that way I can tell which node it is.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
That depends on the base-station kit. AFAIK Sentech only purchased the 4-5 km range base station kit, not the 30km kit. Still, some people have reported getting signal at over 18km.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">There are not 2 kits.
The 5.7 km and 29 km range "kits" are in all Towers and is merely a software switch to which is required. When certain Towers are within the grid (max 12km apart) the 5.7 is selected, whereas when a Tower is on an outskirt, the node facing away from the grid is sometimes set on the 29 km.
The 29 km however has some restrictions on quality and is normally only used in rural area's when buildings (like farms etc) are far apart.


<hr noshade size="1"><center><font color="blue">MyWireless Stuff</font id="blue">
<font size="1"><font color="black">The opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer</font id="size1"></font id="black"></center>
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by groenie</i>
<br />Hi Guys
Just got my FastCom patch antenna today - but no luck. I get a 24% signal from station 22 in Pretoria. I can ping www.sentech with anything from 75-100ms with almost no packet loss, but as soon as I download some data, the connection dies, or rather, it goes to a limbo state. Pings just timeout and I get no more data. AFter a couple of minutes, the connection is closed. My RSCP is -83dBm, ISCP -93dBm and BER is 5. Any ideas?

Groenie
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I had the same problem a few days ago. Sentech said that they had no problems. Now this might not make sense, I pluged my modem into a computer with Win XP and it worked, win2k did the same as your problem. I just left it in the other pc. I tried it now again and it works on both.
 
Hi,

Guys the Antenna kits being sold by Fastcomm will work in some aream however where you cannot get signal you will have to use a custom made antenna, we will be putting all the products on our web site and guid4es on what do do and all teh conversion rates etc http://www.ods.co.za

Cheers
Dean
 
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