Problems with signal

[farberm]

I am not getting any increase in signal strength with my new antenna system compared to stock paddle antennas for my MOFI 4500.

I am using three 700-2700 Directional Antennas positioned as The Wireless Haven suggests. They are connected to the MOFI with LMR400 cables (18 feet). I am using N-type pigtail to SMA connectors.

I used dielectric grease on the connections.

When I test the antennas out I do not get any increase in signal strength compared to the small original paddle antennas? (Strength -113 t0 -115). I use the small paddle antennas inside and the new setup outside.

I would have expected a significant increase?
Any suggestions?

[swwifty]

you're using 3 antennas? What modem are you using with your Mofi 4500? I assume the MC7455? That only supports 2 antennas.

Can you provide some screenshots of signal stats?

I suspect you need to aim your antennas in a different direction. Omni-directional antennas have the benefit of not needing to be aimed, while directional antennas can be highly sensitive to that, if they are not aimed at the tower exactly correctly.

[farberm]

Sorry for not ncluding all the details.

I have two mofi 4500 for dual wan redundance. The center antenna is split to go to each mofi. I use a splitter from prefix.

I pointed the antennas in the direction of the tower. It is 4.5 miles away.

The Omni antennas are located snide the house and shielded by the house except for the south side where they face. I turned the antennas to the south/southeast which so where the tower is located. I live at the top of a hill.

There is a short bit of trees 40-50 feet and the clear site to the tower.

The image below s from the Oman’s attached. I get CA most of the time with B12. The only thing that changed was strength went to -112 or -113 instead of -113 to -115. Not much of a change.

[JimHelms]

You reference an image that shows the antenna stats?

Can you edit your post to include the image of the stats. Otherwise, troubleshooting becomes an exercise of endless speculation.

We need to take a look at all stats, both RxD and RxM.

[farberm]

Jim: Do you know how to do that on a MOFI 4500. I emailed support but do not have a response yet?
This is all I can get so far.

[JimHelms]

Jim: Do you know how to do that on a MOFI 4500. I emailed support but do not have a response yet?
This is all I can get so far.

No, unfortunately, I am not familiar with their firmware or its capabilities.

Running GoldenOrb is pretty straight forward by using the AT Command terminal with:

Code: Select all

AT!GSTATUS?

[farberm]

Ok Figured out how to get the modem info:

Readings with paddle Omni antennas (Blade Antenna with system) indoors behind a window

0:[AT!GSTATUS?]
1:[!GSTATUS:]
2:[Current Time: 98 Temperature: 26]
3:[Reset Counter: 1 Mode: ONLINE]
4:[System mode: LTE PS state: Attached]
5:[LTE band: B2 LTE bw: 20 MHz]
6:[LTE Rx chan: 950 LTE Tx chan: 18950]
7:[LTE CA state: INACTIVE LTE Scell band:B12]
8:[LTE Scell bw:10 MHz LTE Scell chan:5110]
9:[EMM state: Registered Normal Service]
10:[RRC state: RRC Connected]
11:[IMS reg state: No Srv]
12:[PCC RxM RSSI: -78 RSRP (dBm): -115]
13:[PCC RxD RSSI: -79 RSRP (dBm): -112]
14:[SCC RxM RSSI: -78 RSRP (dBm): -103]
15:[SCC RxD RSSI: -78 RSRP (dBm): -109]
16:[Tx Power: 10 TAC: 2704 (9988)]
17:[RSRQ (dB): -12.3 Cell ID: 0BAAA00A (195731466)]
18:[SINR (dB): 1.4]
19:[OK]


Reading with Directional Antennas: (outdoors similar height as indoor)

0:[AT!GSTATUS?]
1:[!GSTATUS:]
2:[Current Time: 395 Temperature: 35]
3:[Reset Counter: 1 Mode: ONLINE]
4:[System mode: LTE PS state: Attached]
5:[LTE band: B2 LTE bw: 20 MHz]
6:[LTE Rx chan: 950 LTE Tx chan: 18950]
7:[LTE CA state: INACTIVE LTE Scell band:B12]
8:[LTE Scell bw:10 MHz LTE Scell chan:5110]
9:[EMM state: Registered Normal Service]
10:[RRC state: RRC Connected]
11:[IMS reg state: No Srv]
12:[PCC RxM RSSI: -78 RSRP (dBm): -111]
13:[PCC RxD RSSI: -79 RSRP (dBm): -108]
14:[SCC RxM RSSI: -78 RSRP (dBm): -100]
15:[SCC RxD RSSI: -78 RSRP (dBm): -96]
16:[Tx Power: 18 TAC: 2704 (9988)]
17:[RSRQ (dB): -12.7 Cell ID: 0B9A600A (194666506)]
18:[SINR (dB): 4.8]
19:[OK]

I checked in 180 degree of the cell tower location. The only thing that I saw change was the RSQR (Range -11.9 to -15.3 ) and SINR (Range -1.8 to +4.8), just a few points on the RSSI and RSPR - nothing drastic lowest I got the is above (-76 and -96.)

Any ideas?

[swwifty]

It looks like you might be connecting to two different cells here. The cell ID is different.

Also, even though your RSRP values aren't much better, remember that dBM scale is logarithmic, so 3db difference is 2x the signal, 6dbm is 4x stronger, and 10dbm is 10x stronger!

Can you run the command at!lteinfo for both the omnis and the directional antennas and share that here?

I can't recall if you said, did you have the external antennas outside?

Also, I've sometimes seen that signal stats won't look much better comparing between two antennas, but if you run a speed test, one setup is significantly faster than the other.

[bjames]

Sorry for not ncluding all the details.

I pointed the antennas in the direction of the tower. It is 4.5 miles away.

There is a short bit of trees 40-50 feet and the clear site to the tower.

Do you know exactly where your tower is located? Directional antennas need to aimed directly at the tower to get the best possible signals. You may need a more accurate method to align them to the tower. I noticed you said something about turning your antennas 180 degrees which only mildly changed the signals. If you are receiving the same tower (which I noticed in a later post the two Cell ID's are different), then your signals are being scattered and reflected completely around the antenna. Can you show us a picture of your antenna installation.

[farberm]

Swwiffy: I need to figure out how to run AT commands on the MOFI. WhenI do then I can get you the LTEinfo you request. What should it look like? It may ne in another location for the MOFI4500?

Yes the the Directional antennas were outside and the OMNIs were inside. That alone would help the signal some. I would have expected a much larger gain in signal. The small omni are only 4db gain where the direction are 15db.

I did not do a speed test, but will try that maybe next weekend.

[farberm]

blames: Yes I know where the tower is located. I turned the direction about every 15 degrees in a 180 degree (90 degrees each way from what I think is ideal) turn just to make sure that things were not way off. The main location I had them pointed should have been within 15 degrees of ideal. The antennas are not mounted yet. Maybe when I get them up higher they would not be susceptible to scatter. I was just trying to test before I spend a bit of money on getting them mounted thru the roof. I was also trying to see if maybe I need an omni antenna instead of the directional since I have a few trees to get thru? Current download speed inside with omnis is 20-30, upload 2-6. Any suggestions are welcomed....

[bjames]

The antennas are not mounted yet. Maybe when I get them up higher they would not be susceptible to scatter.

I would think it would be hard to test them at ground level and get any sort of accurate readings. Even signal reflections off the ground can have an adverse effect on the signals and polarity. Are you able to temporary mount them at the location where the final installation will rest?

[swwifty]

blames: Yes I know where the tower is located. I turned the direction about every 15 degrees in a 180 degree (90 degrees each way from what I think is ideal) turn just to make sure that things were not way off. The main location I had them pointed should have been within 15 degrees of ideal. The antennas are not mounted yet. Maybe when I get them up higher they would not be susceptible to scatter. I was just trying to test before I spend a bit of money on getting them mounted thru the roof. I was also trying to see if maybe I need an omni antenna instead of the directional since I have a few trees to get thru? Current download speed inside with omnis is 20-30, upload 2-6. Any suggestions are welcomed....

From my experience (and its not always the case obviously) but the external antennas you should be able to get 2x the download speed as omnis (assuming no congestion)

[swwifty]

Swwiffy: I need to figure out how to run AT commands on the MOFI. WhenI do then I can get you the LTEinfo you request. What should it look like? It may ne in another location for the MOFI4500?

Yes the the Directional antennas were outside and the OMNIs were inside. That alone would help the signal some. I would have expected a much larger gain in signal. The small omni are only 4db gain where the direction are 15db.

I did not do a speed test, but will try that maybe next weekend.

Yeah, I guess thats whats odd, cause normally just moving your antennas outside one can pickup 10dbm (or 10x stronger signal).

I would try a speed test comparison. That's the real test.

[farberm]

I had the outside antennas up about 20 feet off the ground. (I used a balcony and the mounting pole that I have to place them just outside the window and within one foot of the height, where the inside omni antennas are located. Now remember the LMR400 cable was 18 feet in length so that would subtract some of the signal gain, but minimal from the calculations I did prior.

[JimHelms]

I had the outside antennas up about 20 feet off the ground. (I used a balcony and the mounting pole that I have to place them just outside the window and within one foot of the height, where the inside omni antennas are located. Now remember the LMR400 cable was 18 feet in length so that would subtract some of the signal gain, but minimal from the calculations I did prior.

I would think 20 feet off the ground would be sufficient.

Are the antennas facing the tower without the signals having to cross the roof to reach the antennas. If not, the reflection issue mentioned above may be part of the issue. Signals may also reverse their polarity when reflecting off a surface.

[farberm]

The antennas are facing the tower. The house is three stories tall and behind the antennas. So the antennas are between the house and the tower. See diagram. Not to scale by the way.

[Frankhah]

do you have a tree-free and building-free signal path from any potential mounting location towards any of your desired cities?

[swwifty]

Swwiffy: I need to figure out how to run AT commands on the MOFI. WhenI do then I can get you the LTEinfo you request. What should it look like? It may ne in another location for the MOFI4500?

Yes the the Directional antennas were outside and the OMNIs were inside. That alone would help the signal some. I would have expected a much larger gain in signal. The small omni are only 4db gain where the direction are 15db.

I did not do a speed test, but will try that maybe next weekend.

sorry I didn't respond sooner. did you get this figured out?

[AshleyAppleton]

How did you get the modem info off your mofi 4500.

[BillA]

Swwiffy: I need to figure out how to run AT commands on the MOFI. WhenI do then I can get you the LTEinfo you request. What should it look like? It may ne in another location for the MOFI4500?

Yes the the Directional antennas were outside and the OMNIs were inside. That alone would help the signal some. I would have expected a much larger gain in signal. The small omni are only 4db gain where the direction are 15db.

I did not do a speed test, but will try that maybe next weekend.

While a late reply, maybe it could help others.

To send AT commands easily to your MoFi, simply flash it with the latest WiFix firmware from:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... bD7Y2WNETn

I'm thinking that perhaps a fairly long RF cable could introduce enough signal attenuation (drop), that it would negate any gains achieved by the outdoor directional antennas. For testing purposes I would recommend trying to following:

1. Connect the outdoor antennas via a much shorter cable (say 6 feet) and see if you get a significant signal improvement.
2. Use a cellphone with the router's sim inside, and check the download speeds compared to the router's.