MR1100 Nighthawk Located Outdoors

[scott.flora]

So in the attachment I have the house and the path from the house to the 4G tower. There is another maker for a pole about 100 ft. from the house. That has a path to the tower as well.
The problem I have is trees are blocking the path to the house. This Google Earth view has a lot of shadows which make it look like the tree span out father than they actually do. The trees between the house and the field are ours and I can clear a path through them. The two trees in the field are the problem. The path from the tower to the house goes right through the middle of tree2.
This is why I’m thinking about moving out about 100 ft. from the house to the maker called pole. This gets the path to the tower away from tree 2. There would be a clear line of sight to the tower which I can actually see 1.4 miles away.
The thing is I’ll lose a good share of the signal strength gained with over 100 ft. of cables.

Here is the (call it crazy) idea I’ve be kicking around. Run power and an Ethernet cable to the pole. Mount the yagis on the pole and put the MR1100 Nighthawk in a protected box and then put it under the roof of the near buy chicken coop. That’s’ the little white rectangle object next to the pole site. This will keep the antenna cable short and ethernet cable can run 300 ft. with no problem. The Nighthawk would need to have a means of keeping it above 32 degrees and below 95 degrees. We are in Indiana so it gets pretty cold and hot as well. My ideas so far have been use a plastic cooler just large enough. Put in a small fan and intake to ventilate in hot weather. In cold weather I thought a small pet bed warmer might do the trick.
I would really like to hear the pros and cons or whatever input you have. We have Centurylink internet and on a good day we get 2.4 Mbps. down. I was reading that the COE has no plans to expand or upgrade service in the rural areas, so we are on our own here.

[scott.flora]

Not sure the picture attachment is showing. Let me try it again.

path.jpg

[BillA]

So in the attachment I have the house and the path from the house to the 4G tower. There is another maker for a pole about 100 ft. from the house. That has a path to the tower as well.
The problem I have is trees are blocking the path to the house. This Google Earth view has a lot of shadows which make it look like the tree span out father than they actually do. The trees between the house and the field are ours and I can clear a path through them. The two trees in the field are the problem. The path from the tower to the house goes right through the middle of tree2.
This is why I’m thinking about moving out about 100 ft. from the house to the maker called pole. This gets the path to the tower away from tree 2. There would be a clear line of sight to the tower which I can actually see 1.4 miles away.
The thing is I’ll lose a good share of the signal strength gained with over 100 ft. of cables.

Here is the (call it crazy) idea I’ve be kicking around. Run power and an Ethernet cable to the pole. Mount the yagis on the pole and put the MR1100 Nighthawk in a protected box and then put it under the roof of the near buy chicken coop. That’s’ the little white rectangle object next to the pole site. This will keep the antenna cable short and ethernet cable can run 300 ft. with no problem. The Nighthawk would need to have a means of keeping it above 32 degrees and below 95 degrees. We are in Indiana so it gets pretty cold and hot as well. My ideas so far have been use a plastic cooler just large enough. Put in a small fan and intake to ventilate in hot weather. In cold weather I thought a small pet bed warmer might do the trick.
I would really like to hear the pros and cons or whatever input you have. We have Centurylink internet and on a good day we get 2.4 Mbps. down. I was reading that the COE has no plans to expand or upgrade service in the rural areas, so we are on our own here.

"Trees 1 and 2" are not so much a problem (multi-path reflection could get around them), but the large collection of trees near your house could be interfering (the thickness of their crowns could attenuate the signal). If you cleared those (or maybe just their tops) and have a tall pole for your antennas, that should do the trick. If you go the ethernet route, 300 feet is right at the edge of a reliable long run, otherwise you can use a repeater in the middle.
If you go with the remote installation, The Wireless Haven sells a nice box which according to reports, has no issues with cold or heat, so maybe look into into that. A "cooler box" probably has too much insulation which could trap both the cold and heat, and having an electric heater/cooler installed will require more power, plus brings more headaches and points of fault.

Before doing anything, run a speed test with your current setup, it may not be too bad, or you could just move. lol jk!
Just my 2cents, course you do whatever you see best fit.

[scott.flora]

"Trees 1 and 2" are not so much a problem (multi-path reflection could get around them), but the large collection of trees near your house could be interfering (the thickness of their crowns could attenuate the signal). If you cleared those (or maybe just their top) and have a tall pole for your antennas, that should do the trick. If you go the ethernet route, 300 feet is right at the edge of a reliable long run, otherwise you can use a repeater in the middle.
If you go with the remote installation, The Wireless Haven sells a nice box which according to reports, has no issues with cold or heat, so maybe look into into that. A "cooler box" probably has too much insulation which could trap both the cold and heat, and having an electric heater/cooler installed just requires more power, plus brings more headaches and points of fault.

Before doing anything, run a speed test with your current setup, it may not be too bad, or your could just move. lol jk!
Just my 2cents, course you do whatever you see best fit.

I certainly can try clearing some trees Bill. I have tested with a cell phone in the field beyond my trees and the signal is stronger if tree 1 and 2 are not blocking the path. I tested both ways. Keep in mind that there are no leaves on the trees this time of year. It would be the trunks and branches interfering with the signal.
I have done the speed test and it fluctuates a lot (-94 to -97 signal). Between 2.5 and 60 download. This why I don't want to trust it as is. Thanks.

[BillA]

I certainly can try clearing some trees Bill. I have tested with a cell phone in the field beyond my trees and the signal is stronger if tree 1 and 2 are not blocking the path. I tested both ways. Keep in mind that there are no leaves on the trees this time of year. It would be the trunks and branches interfering with the signal.
I have done the speed test and it fluctuates a lot (-94 to -97 signal). Between 2.5 and 60 download. This why I don't want to trust it as is. Thanks.

Speed fluctuations can occur when a phone's or router's modem changes bands (to a narrower bandwidth or no CA), so it's kind of a hit and miss, so clearing trees may or may not improve it by much. The mere fact that you can get up to 60Mbps down is a really good sign.

[scott.flora]

Another thought with the remote option. The Nighthawk routers operating temp. range is 32 -95 degrees. Would it hold up if there is no temperature control added to the enclosure such as a heating device and cooling fan? The ethernet run would be 150 ft. at the most so that part should be okay.

[scott.flora]

Speed fluctuations can occur when a phone's or router's modem changes bands (to a narrower bandwidth or no CA), so it's kind of a hit and miss, so clearing trees may or may not improve it by much. The mere fact that you can get up to 60Mbps down is a really good sign.

I ran my phone in teat mode and there is only one band (2) at this AT&T tower. Cell mapper says there is a band 12 also, but I think it's used by another carrier like TMobile. The AT&T Nighthawk I have doesn't have band 12. Yes 60Mbps is pretty surprising. Going the remote option and clearing some trees would give me a clear line of site all the way to the tower. That seems like it should be a sure thing. It's also a lot more work.

[scott.flora]

That was test mode not teat mode.

[BillA]

I ran my phone in teat mode and there is only one band (2) at this AT&T tower. Cell mapper says there is a band 12 also, but I think it's used by another carrier like TMobile. The AT&T Nighthawk I have doesn't have band 12. Yes 60Mbps is pretty surprising. Going the remote option and clearing some trees would give me a clear line of site all the way to the tower. That seems like it should be a sure thing. It's also a lot more work.

If you have a Samsung phone, you can try entering *#2263# for band selection mode, first clear all bands then one by one try these ATT bands: 2, 4, 5, 12, 14, 17, 29, 30, 46, 66 Make sure to clear all bands in between changes. If you find a couple of good working bands, clear then select that list. If you get a "RAT Error", insert a non-ATT sim (like an inactive Tmobile sim), make the changes then reinsert the ATT sim.
As far as external enclosure, Jim can give you more info about that. I have once brought up the issue of heat, and was told it's fine even in the heat of Texas, so there's that.
FYI. You can edit your own messages to make corrections, instead of posting multiple messages (a "pen" icon next to your profile);)

[scott.flora]

My Iphone doesn't have such a feature. The NIghthawk router has been modded to select other bands. I could try selecting each of those and see what happens. I haven't done that because cellmapper only shows band 2&12 and the Nighthawk and Iphone automatically selected band 2, so I assumed that there were no others. It is worth exploring though. I did take the Nighthawk into the field beyond my trees and checked the signal without an external antenna. The signal dropped 6 points if the large tree was not between me and the tower. When the leaves come on this Spring I would guess the difference will increase. I plan to do some testing (hopefully this week) at the 100 foot from the house spot with the yagis and the trees cleared. This will make it a open line to the tower.

[scott.flora]

I wonder if anyone has used the MR1100 Nighthawk outdoors. I don't think the heat would be a problem because it will be in shade. The cold however cold get as low as 10-15 below zero. It's only rated to 32 degrees.

[BillA]

I wonder if anyone has used the MR1100 Nighthawk outdoors. I don't think the heat would be a problem because it will be in shade. The cold however cold get as low as 10-15 below zero. It's only rated to 32 degrees.

Probably not a good choice for outdoors due to having a battery pack, which will likely not survive the extreme high and low temperatures.

[scott.flora]

The battery is remove per Netgear's recommendation when it's being used full time.

[BillA]

The battery is remove per Netgear's recommendation when it's being used full time.

If it works without a battery then it should be fine, though I've read somewhere that the router doesn't work without the battery installed (may be erroneous info but you can try).

[scott.flora]

To follow up on this project I now have the Nighthawk and antennas relocated. I ran 100 ft. of direct burial network cable and light duty (#16) direct burial power cable to power the unit. I Have the nighthawk enclosed in a Coleman six pack cooler. The cooler has to vent holes with filter screens that can be plugged in cold weather and open in hot. I put a 12 volt fan on one vent to move air. It may not need it. I also have a night light in the cooler that makes just a small amount of heat. I have the nightlight on a plug that is thermostatically controlled to come on at 38 degrees. I used an old heat tape for the thermostat. The nighthawk has an inboard thermometer that I can monitor remotely. The signal strength went from good to excellent. The signal quality is -8 to -10 RSRQ. It doesn't get much better than that. In nine days we'll tell centurylink good bye and use OTR mobile as our ISP.

[terryjett]

I Have the nighthawk enclosed in a Coleman six pack cooler.

Don't know you but can tell we would get a long fine

Love it when people get creative and a plan comes together. You should post some pic later and show the world your setup.

[scott.flora]

Well it ain't pretty, but I could do that. It's set up in my wife's duck pen. The path to the tower was the best in that spot and the ducks don't mind either.

[Dr-BroadBand]

For an iPhone call number *3001#12345#*
This will display the phones test mode.
There is a lot of data that can help you

[websiteperson]

Are you still using this setup?

I'm looking at doing a similar setup, but with PoE. I just ordered a PoE splitter, but it looks like I need a PoE injector as well?

[gscheb]

Are you still using this setup?

I'm looking at doing a similar setup, but with PoE. I just ordered a PoE splitter, but it looks like I need a PoE injector as well?

Yes
Here Is a link
to forum with diagram explaining it.
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1208#p7869

[mtl26637]

Are you still using this setup?

I'm looking at doing a similar setup, but with PoE. I just ordered a PoE splitter, but it looks like I need a PoE injector as well?

Honestly, I think would be much better off grabbing a setup off of the website here rather than modifying the MR1100. Been there, done that, even disassembled and drilled holes and bought connectors for the 2 internal antenna ports but in the end that ourdoor enclosure has since been removed and replaced with other equipment. At first I just couldn't swallow the fact I was going to just forget about the nice expensive compact MR1100 setup and go with something different, but by the time you remove the battery for 'heat' reasons and stuff the TS-9 adapters in there along with the super glued other 2 worthless internal antenna adapters and a buck converter to down convert the POE power back to USB voltage and etc etc., it just not that great in the end. Big waste of time in the end for me anyway. Its not like I half assed it either, I put some time and effort into it and look back now and think why didn't I just go with something that was designed to do this instead.

MR1100 is great for traveling and such though, nice little piece of equipment, just not great to stuff into an outdoor box.