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Antenna for mast 11miles away.

Sdcampbell

Regular Member
Hi, my phone line broadband is only 1mbps so I am going to give 4g a try. The only mast I have line of sight to is 11 miles away but my phone still connects to that one as there are big hills in the way of the closer ones (3 miles and 5 miles).I have seen up to 12mbps on a speed test but very inconsistent. I have bought a tp link mr600 and I was thinking if I use a directional antenna I might get a decent speed so where is good to buy these other than ebay-amazon. I was looking at the one in the picture but wondered if there was any online shops that specialise in this sort of thing. Thanks.
Screenshot_20210212_110744_com.ebay.mobile.webp
 
I used one very similar but found it losing signal in fog, rain and snow. I instead went for a satellite dish with a 4G receiver in the LNB position and the signal hardly drops in bad weather, I am 5 miles away but with trees which now have more effect than the weather as once the leaves drop in autumn the signal improves. When spring comes I will lose some SNIR but RSRP stays much the same.

My antenna is similar if not exactly this

 
Check Mikrotik, not only do they have parabolic shaped outdoor routers, but they also sell outdoor routers you can mount on an old dish, it's got the required size/shape. Browse around.

I recommend this for long range stuff. Avoid antennas, as their long cables lead to signal loss.

 
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Check Mikrotik, not only do they have parabolic shaped outdoor routers, but they also sell outdoor routers you can mount on an old dish, it's got the required size/shape. Browse around.

I recommend this for long range stuff. Avoid antennas, as their long cables lead to signal loss.

Had a look at this and found this review which makes me wonder about my application.
Screenshot_20210212_142549_com.amazon.mShop.android.shopping.webp
 
You need to concentrate on an Antenna that covers Band 20 and not much else so it has good gain for band 20. My setup uses Band 3, I turn off Band 20 as its speed is nowhere as good as Band 3 due to bandwidth and in CA mode provides no measurable increase.

Maybe an email to Poynting, as their antenna's have a good reputation, asking for a specific band 20 direction antenna for long distance.
 
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It really would depend. All circumstances are unique.

A directional device with high gain might allow B3 to be detected, it might then connect, but then what throughput is achievable with that is anyone's guess, and whether that would be sufficient for your needs is then only something you can answer.
 
Sdcampbell - I'm currently using a 535 (no rabbit ears as more reliable without them) on smarty/three locked to band 3 connected to a mast about 24 miles away - if cellmapper is correct. Just tested at 15:05 and result was a peak of 60 odd and a result of 37Mbps down.
I suspect not much load/users. I'm blind to the local mast which is just along the road. You'll have to experiment to see what can be achieved with your choice of network.
 
Sdcampbell - I'm currently using a 535 (no rabbit ears as more reliable without them) on smarty/three locked to band 3 connected to a mast about 24 miles away - if cellmapper is correct. Just tested at 15:05 and result was a peak of 60 odd and a result of 37Mbps down.
I suspect not much load/users. I'm blind to the local mast which is just along the road. You'll have to experiment to see what can be achieved with your choice of network.
Got a few payg sims to try in it.
 
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It really would depend. All circumstances are unique.

A directional device with high gain might allow B3 to be detected, it might then connect, but then what throughput is achievable with that is anyone's guess, and whether that would be sufficient for your needs is then only something you can answer.
Maybe just aim for b20 as more likely, not aiming that high really, probably be satisfied with around 12mbps but more would be nice. Looking to see if I can find a decent 800mhz yagi.
 
You could make one using basic materials, been there as a radio amateur (not active, too much like work). If you get some success maybe invest in a "proper" durable one, it may even work better. Strange thing about LTE 4G is that aerials do not always make things better.
 
If cellmapper is correct you are roughly equidistant between two 3 masts with bands 3 and 20. I would not think there will much load on these masts.
 
If cellmapper is correct you are roughly equidistant between two 3 masts with bands 3 and 20. I would not think there will much load on these masts.
I think I will need an external antenna of some description as the house is stone and the walls are 2.5ft thick. Dont have line of sight to the 3 masts, I have a 3 sim to try here though.The tp link mr600 arrived yesterday and tried ee and o2 in it, ee was far superior inside but fluctuated a lot but saw a maximum of about 12mbps.It seems to be mainly connecting to the mast circled in the picture.As I said I don't think the one south of me exists which was more or less confirmed last night when my phone was still connecting to a mast 6 miles away over a hill when I was suposedly next to it.
Screenshot_20210214_090853.jpg
O2 was hopeless inside but I maybe try to get up on the roof and try a few today but there is snow on the roof.
 
The red mast dots on cellmapper represent low confidence locations - i.e. someone has not manually placed the site point, rather the position has been estimated based on the available cellmapper data that has been submitted. To improve the positioning, supplying more data would be valuable (if you had an android phone and we're willing to use the cellmapper app while traveling in the area.

The green dots represent the masts that someone has manually positioned. There might be some that have been positioned incorrectly but the majority are usually good.

Edit: with your building construction I would say an external antenna would be a better choice than not having one, even with potential cable losses I'd hope those losses would be less than the loss of signal through your walls. However, as ever, testing the router without an antenna would be valuable - out the window/outside on an extension - and then comparing that to inside.
 
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The Three mast near/at "C1037, Slickly, Caithness, Scotland, KW1 4YD" is coloured green which suggests it's a confirmed site. Looks close to you?
I'm on a mast just now which is 24 miles away, works fine.
Just seen the previous post from Gavin which also mentions the coloured mast sites. I had a red one on my house here for a while after some testing in the loft with routers and 'phones.
 
the house is stone and the walls are 2.5ft thick.
Same here and an external antenna is a must, mine is on a connected outbuilding to get best view to mast but also a short antenna cable to the 4G router, then a long 25M Cat6 cable to the main router centrally located in the house. The cat 6 cable has no losses, the antenna cable if it gets over 5M will lose you any gain from the antenna, mine are 2.5M.
 
The red mast dots on cellmapper represent low confidence locations - i.e. someone has not manually placed the site point, rather the position has been estimated based on the available cellmapper data that has been submitted. To improve the positioning, supplying more data would be valuable (if you had an android phone and we're willing to use the cellmapper app while traveling in the area.

The green dots represent the masts that someone has manually positioned. There might be some that have been positioned incorrectly but the majority are usually good.

Edit: with your building construction I would say an external antenna would be a better choice than not having one, even with potential cable losses I'd hope those losses would be less than the loss of signal through your walls. However, as ever, testing the router without an antenna would be valuable - out the window/outside on an extension - and then comparing that to inside.
Ye I know the red ones are auto placed, have recorded quite a bit of data around this area but doesn't seem to change.That's on mast data but cell mapper was also recording.
Screenshot_20210213-235546_Mastdata.webp
Screenshot_20210214_135509_com.android.gallery3d.webp
 
The Three mast near/at "C1037, Slickly, Caithness, Scotland, KW1 4YD" is coloured green which suggests it's a confirmed site. Looks close to you?
I'm on a mast just now which is 24 miles away, works fine.
Just seen the previous post from Gavin which also mentions the coloured mast sites. I had a red one on my house here for a while after some testing in the loft with routers and 'phones.
I have a big hill behind me which I suspect pretty much excludes any masts to the north of me.
 
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