Vodafone HSDPA supplied antenna signal quality

[scruffy]

Does anybody have more info regarding the antenna supplied with the Option HSDPA (nozomi) card?

I can't find any docs on the CD regarding the antenna.

If I insert the card and do an AT+CSQ, it reports 12,0 at my home. As soon as I insert the antenna in it's plug, I get 7,0 - to me this signal seems lower? I then stuck the antenna to an aerosol can, vertically, and rotated it in 45 degree intervals, each time I waited a bit then did the at+csq. The level is between 7,0 - 9,0 no more but as soon as I remove the antenna, it jumps back to 12,0. This just doesn't make sense to me and with no docs, I have no Idea how it is supposed to work.

The second issue I cannot find any info or docs on, is the status LED's. The staus LED info on the forum are not for the OPTION 3G hsdpa cards and I would love to know what they mean!

Here is the info of my card as reported by the ATI command in minicom.
Manufacturer: Option N.V.
Model: GlobeTrotter 3G+
Revision: 3.15.0Hd (Date: Feb 06 2006, Time: 12:53:15)

 

[vodacom3g]

Does anybody have more info regarding the antenna supplied with the Option HSDPA (nozomi) card?

I can't find any docs on the CD regarding the antenna.

If I insert the card and do an AT+CSQ, it reports 12,0 at my home. As soon as I insert the antenna in it's plug, I get 7,0 - to me this signal seems lower? I then stuck the antenna to an aerosol can, vertically, and rotated it in 45 degree intervals, each time I waited a bit then did the at+csq. The level is between 7,0 - 9,0 no more but as soon as I remove the antenna, it jumps back to 12,0. This just doesn't make sense to me and with no docs, I have no Idea how it is supposed to work.

The second issue I cannot find any info or docs on, is the status LED's. The staus LED info on the forum are not for the OPTION 3G hsdpa cards and I would love to know what they mean!

Here is the info of my card as reported by the ATI command in minicom.
Manufacturer: Option N.V.
Model: GlobeTrotter 3G+
Revision: 3.15.0Hd (Date: Feb 06 2006, Time: 12:53:15)

Both the at+csq and the led's have been discussed on the forum, I still need to add it to the FAQ.

 

[Big Kriss]

Scruffy,same experience with the antennae here..
Packed it away...

 

[Harley79]

from what other people have said on the forum, the antenna either helps, or worsens, and there appears to be a mixed response. Personally, I never use the antenna with exception when I am in Villiersdorp as Vodacom signal sucks on the entire estate there and is about the one and only place, for me anyway, where the antenna seems to actually help. If the antenna is not helping in your situation, simple, dont use it.

 

[Big Kriss]

Harley,Thats a bit simplistic,dont you think??
An antenna should provide equal or better signal gain at minimum...Unless of course its mismatvhed,badly made,badly designed,incorrectly directed in the case of a directional element,etc...

In my case it it detracts from the signal strength once fitted...
Imo there could be a faulty or bad batch..could be...so we all pack them away and forget about it...
Mmmm...

We now have 2 cases of the latter...I sit in the same position as I did with 3g,and where I am,signal strength is at a premeium..My 3g card reacted to the antenna hanging limp off the dge of the table or propped up on the lampshade..
Hsdpa loses signal,no matter where i put it..

Ive actually undertaken building my own high gain directional antenna...

 

[ettubrute]

Re the directional antenna: how do you decide where to point it to? Nearest tower? Or tower that seems to have the best signal?

 

[diabolus]

Well didnt' go theough the FAQs yet, but based on speedtests, very fast blue flashes [3 flashes] indicate HSDPA and 2 slower blue flashes seems to be 3G . I have a Globetrotter Option card.

As for antenna, didnt bother, i got 800+ kbps speeds with 2 bars reception on the dash, so i decided i'm not going to bother with it.

My antenna also isn't exactly what i would call 'mobile-carry-it-with-you-and-easily-use-it' type. It doesnt even have a stand and you have to stick it to something . It was clearly designed to be stationary and located in a single place ? No idea what the logic was, i mean you are going to move aroun with your card, so obviously an antenna should be designed with that in mind..if i sit at the airport what am i gonna do..hold it up in one hand?

 

[grubsner]

I connected the Terminal program to COM10, on my Notebook, called the diagnostic port in the hardware manager without the Dashboard running (OPTION HSDPA 3G+ card). I get at+csq = 18,0 without the antenna and at+csq 25,0 with the antenna. I found these results repeatable.

In the Dash, with Terminal closed, I get 3 bars without and 4 bars with the ext antenna. This is on GPRS.

I'll test the 3G signal performance tonight.

Well in my case it does look like the antenna does make a difference in signal strength.

One has to remember that the ext antenna should give you a gain of x dB but the co-axial cable also has a attentuation effect on the signal, but the overall gain should be better, theoretically, with the antenna versus the internal antenna.
I could be wrong but to me the OPTION card's internal antenna performs better then the Novatel U630 3G card's internal antenna.

A poor soldering connection on the actual connector or antenna could be the cause of a more attentuated signal resulting in poor performance when used.

Also keep in mind that higher frequencies get attenuated more in the co-axial cable meaning the ext antenna effect on perceived signal strength on 3G will be less dramatic than on GPRS running at about 2.5 times the frequency.

http://www.qsl.net/w2va/coax.htm

The above URL is a attentuation table for various co-axial cables used in the RF industry. GPRS signal attenuation at 50 mm length (the ext antenna cable length) for RG174 is 0.04 dB plus the connector's losses.

At 3G freqeuncies the line loss is 0.08 dB (estimated) plus the connector losses, thus double the attentuation.

This might be the reason that the 3G signal difference with the ext antenna is not so significant.

scruffy: a reduction in signal strength with the antenna might point towards a connection problem somewhere on the co-axial. I would suggest not using the antenna due to possible high SWR that could damage the card's transmitter. As per the design of these modern GSM / UMTS transmitters it senses high SWR that will reduce transmitted power, but rather not take chances.

Anyway this is my 4 cent's worth.

 

[Mams]

I dont know how to do AT+CSQ etc but heres my 2c:

Krugersdorp:
When antenna not plugged in: 3 Bars
With Antenna plugged in: 4 Bars

AT HOME:
Without antenna: No 3g
With Antenna ( hooked onto my window burglar bar ): 3g with signal of zero to one and speeds of 500kbps

so for me it works...
I kept the lip of the old 3g card antenna so i can hook it up on the laptop or in my case, on the burglar bar

How do i do a real test to see the Option cards signal strength (AT+CSQ thingy )?

 

[grubsner]

mams,

if you are using the new HSDPA Option card and WIN XP: Shutdown the dash, the lights on the card will still flash.
Open: Settings, COntrol panel, System, hardware, device manager: Look under COM and LPT and find the Option card com port that says Aplication interface port. Lets say it's COM10.

Open Hyperterminal and give the session a name, anything will do, and select COM10 from the Connect using dropdown list. Click OK on the next window.

Click on File. Properties, Settings in the Hyperterminal window and ASCII setup button. Select "Echo characters locally" and OK OK.

Now type at+csq in the hyperterminal window and wait for the response.

 

[Big Kriss]

G,I followed your excellent tutorial(took me an hour to find the hyperterminal thingy...)and did your test..
Results were wthout ant. on hsdpa=0.4/0.5
With ant.=0.8
I got 2 bars on dash.

comments??

 

[Mams]

how do i get hyperterminal? it is not under communications and neither under add windows components

 

[rabbiddog]

I get at+csq = 14,0 without the antenna and at+csq 12,0 with the antenna.

Mine is also better without the antenna

 

[Hoodwink]

I got a "Yagi" from Dartcom. Installed it outside my window and attached to my card. 3G is now rocking!!!!!

http://www.dartcom.co.za/content.html

 

[rehd]

how do i get hyperterminal? it is not under communications and neither under add windows components

It shud have been loaded by default if you using XP Pro...?

 

[Mams]

It shud have been loaded by default if you using XP Pro...?

using XP pro with service pack 2 ( standard on my flybook ) and i cant find it.what to do?

 

[Tallies]

Try <Start><All Programs><Accessories><Communications>Hyperterminal.

Why there, ask the mighty MS!

 

[internaut]

I got some dodgy response with my antenna attached as well. I've quickly packed it away as well. The connector seems to be a macgiver job if you look closer.

 

[Big Kriss]

Thank goodness,I thought I was the only idjut looking for hyperterminal...Mams,your a trojan..

 

[Mams]

Try <Start><All Programs><Accessories><Communications>Hyperterminal.

Why there, ask the mighty MS!

its not there!