4G/LTE Antenna mounting

[m_c]

I've just bought an outdoor antenna for my 4G router, but it'll be getting mounted in the loft, to replace the two basic magnetic antennas (which are currently just dangling from exposed slate nails..)

Is there any reason why it's can't be mounted upside down?
Upside down means I can just screw it to a rafter, whereas if it has to be the correct way up, I'll have to be a bit more creative, so it's not buried in insulation.

It's one of these cheap ones -

 

[500e]

Normally vertical
No details?? With it

 

[fizzy]

Water ingress if mounted outside and upside down could be a problem.

 

[MattF]

Normally vertical
No details?? With it

Water ingress if mounted outside and upside down could be a problem.

Bugger me. Did you two read his post? He'd be mounting it upside down, (vertically), internally.

 

[fizzy]

Bugger me. Did you two read his post? He'd be mounting it upside down, (vertically), internally.

Its 2am

 

[500e]

That's why I Aked if any paperwork, need to check polarisation, that orientation vertical would be normal, made no mention of in or out doors as he said in roof.
Read the post

 

[outofthefire]

ooh I didn't know we could say bugger How much better is the router than you're phone I've just started looking at 4g routers for my motorhome?

 

[ajlelectronics]

Is there any reason why it's can't be mounted upside down?

Polar diagram is the only one I can think of. If they don't show you what it is, then get creative with mounting it the right way up. Ideally get it outside, it will make it far more reliable. Otherwise, suck it and see.

 

[MattF]

made no mention of in or out doors as he said in roof.

He did.

 

[daedalusminos]

I don't think there's much creativity required to mount it high up in the rafters vertically and the correct way up (piece of wood across the apex?). Best way to verify performance is to try it and see, the router should report signal strength.

 

[mike os]

How do you orient these things? Ie to achieve maximum signal, of I'd it omnidirectional?

 

[reb78]

How do you orient these things? Ie to achieve maximum signal, of I'd it omnidirectional?

Pretty sure that one is omnidirectional. The flat ones need pointing towards the mast for the best signal IME.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Pretty sure that one is omnidirectional. The flat ones need pointing towards the mast for the best signal IME.

The flat ones are point to point links.

A directional 4G aerial is not generally a good idea as I found out to my cost. I have a high gain Yagi pointed at my local cell. What I didn't know is that in congested periods, the network dumps connections from time to time and hands them over to an adjacent cell. That means that I get a big drop in performance because the other cell is off the side of the beam. An Omni is the best choice therefore.

 

[m_c]

Some searching has located some polarisation diagrams for an identical looking model.





So going by those, it'll be getting screwed to the rafters upside down.

It should be an improvement over the existing antennas, which are having to be returned with the faulty 4G router.
I was hoping I could get away with just returning the stubby antennas that came with the lower spec router I swapped in it's place, but the supplier sent the list of everything they want returned, and it lists external antenna.

Fibre is finally getting installed in the area, so the 4G will hopefully be reduced to being a backup within the next month or so anyway.

 

[reb78]

The flat ones are point to point links.

A directional 4G aerial is not generally a good idea as I found out to my cost. I have a high gain Yagi pointed at my local cell. What I didn't know is that in congested periods, the network dumps connections from time to time and hands them over to an adjacent cell. That means that I get a big drop in performance because the other cell is off the side of the beam. An Omni is the best choice therefore.

Interesting. We have a flat aerial for the 4g router. So should we ditch that for an omnidirectional one?

 

[My Old Landy]

Interesting. We have a flat aerial for the 4g router. So should we ditch that for an omnidirectional one?

Just my observation as a newly qualified radio amateur Yagi type are directional and have more gain so better signal when in the correct direction. Omnidirectional get better reception when the signal can come from multiple sources. What is best for you in your circumstances only experimentation would say. As AJ points out, he loses signal when they swap transmitter.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Interesting. We have a flat aerial for the 4g router. So should we ditch that for an omnidirectional one?

Not unless you are having strange performance drops. The beamwidth of a microstrip array is far wider than a gurt Yagi and likely to give adequate performance.

 

[indy4x]

Just my observation as a newly qualified radio amateur

congratulations

 

[outofthefire]

Just my observation as a newly qualified radio amateur Yagi type are directional and have more gain so better signal when in the correct direction. Omnidirectional get better reception when the signal can come from multiple sources. What is best for you in your circumstances only experimentation would say. As AJ points out, he loses signal when they swap transmitter.

Can you use both types of aerial?

 

[My Old Landy]

Can you use both types of aerial?

You can if you use a suitable rf switch between or if the receiver has a two channel input.