MOFI4500 Yagi antenna signal help

[LakeTown87]

I have a MOFI4500 with paddle antennas. When I hook up my external Yagi antennas and dial in to the surrounding towers, I can’t seem to get better signal. I’m -109dbm with the paddles and -121 with the yagis. I don’t have line of sight and am surrounded by 90ft pine trees. 2, 5, and 8 miles from the three AT&T towers around me one mile from Verizon (I’m with AT&T but Verizon speeds are slower) I had a booster hooked up but it actually cut my speeds in half. Best I can tell it has to do with signal quality, best I get is -10 on the MOFI. I am frustrated and need help getting better signal and speeds. Running at 10-30 Mbps down now on a good day. Just a few hundred feet up the road I can get 45-60 down and one mile closer 100down on bands 2 and 5. There has to be a way to increase my speeds. Any help is appreciated!

[Didneywhorl]

Welcome


A few things....

Can you tell us the exact signal information your getting by the signal data output name. Ie: RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, CSQ, etc? I'm guessing by signal quality, you mean RSRQ and Signal strength you mean RSRP, but Its better to be sure.

How long are your cables? Are you using a chain of cables and adapters? Any adapters? What yagis, specifically, are you using? What exact cables are you using?

Which Mofi? Im guessing SIM4.

Generally, as I'm sure your already doing, all you can do is adjust the antenna in measured increments both horizontally and vertically, and record the changes, then choose the best position. There's no real magic to that part.

I've gathered, over time, that most people seem to have much better luck, when forced to aim through trees (ie, no LOS), that quality flat panel directional antennas seem to gather the signal better than yagis and similar antennas.

Last one is a gripe about the LTE/antenna equipment industry. I wish like HELL the antenna companies would stop labeling "Boosters" as doing ANYTHING helpful for LTE data. They are SO expensive and SO useless for helping with data signals. They seem to be great for cellular phone calls, but nothing but harmful for data transmissions. The marketing on these things breaks through to people as a panacea and drains wallets. Many people will drop $300 or more on some of these booster but will scoff at spending more than $100 on an antenna. Its pure marketing. All you need is a good antenna pair (or quad if your modem has the ports) .... for data. Side note: Dont split or combine antennas to/from one cable. Bad.
To be fair, a booster likely CAN help data where it is made for a very narrow fequency range and your antenna is also tuned so and your modem is band locked to that frequency. Not many people know or do this, nor do I find any real evidence that this setup exists in the wild very much.... Sorry, not directed at you.
/rantOff

[LakeTown87]

First off, thank you so much for the reply. I had typed all of my information out in the first version of my post in painful detail it cleared and asked for a login so here is what I have and I fully acknowledge what is not to like about it lol.
MOFI is a SIM4
X2 Wilson 10.5 gain Yagi 75ohm
30ft of 75ohm 6rgb6 coax
F to SMA adapters
(Was duped on a booster and wish I had 50ohm yagis with LMR400 cables)

Here is info with paddle antennas currently

Firmware: ATT
Model: MC7455
APN: broadband
Registered on Network: Yes
Operational Mode: LTE
Band: B2 LTE bw: 20 MHz (1900 Mhz)
Carrier Aggregation: NOT ASSIGNED
Signal Strength: -109 (dBm) (Poor)
Signal Quality: -16.0
Diversity Signal Strength: -109 (dBm)
Cell Status
LTE Information - INtra Frequency

Global Cell Id : 3d64409
Serving Cell Id : 43 (67)
TAC : 6011
EARFCN : 2bc
No. of sets of following info : 3
Cell Number 1 Information
Physical Cell Id (PCI): 43 (67)
RSRQ : -158
RSRP : -1094
RSSI : -729
SRX-lev : 0


5.41 down
5.38 up
55ms latency
220 Ms jitter
(Ran at 20 down late last night)
Network under heavy load because of thousands of people who came to our little lake take for the holiday weekend - my unfortunate reality.

What can I do to help my signal through the trees? There is actually a hill between me and the nearest and best tower as well. I have the belief that that tower actually shoots the signal to a repeater tower on another larger hill on the other side of the lake and sends it back my direction but am unsure of this but believe so because I can point my yagis at the nearest tower then about 100 degrees to the south directly toward another tower and the tower ID stays the same. When I move within line of sight of the closest tower, it reads the cell ID as 67 without the (43) next to it. Still trying to gather information on exactly how they have my area setup. Learned of the tech that services the towers but haven’t made contact with him yet. My speeds were stuck between 10&18 with a normal load on the towers until I figured out I could aggregate bands 2&5 and it kicked me to active LTE Band 2 AG. Speeds can reach 30-50 down when it’s working right. Band 5 seems to just stop broadcasting when their is a heavy load. (Wish I knew why)
Could you also explain the signal acronyms to me?

P.s. - I started this venture to be able to teach online from home but am now consumed by figuring this out - high school science teacher by trade. I have loads of other questions. I would like to be able to verify the cell ID and it’s exact location but can’t seem to get the required info via MOFI or iPhone to look it up online. Need help with that also. Under a load I’m kicked to another tower id with cell 9b 155 which is unusable basically. Want to avoid that.

[gscheb]

MOFI is a SIM4
X2 Wilson 10.5 gain Yagi 75ohm
30ft of 75ohm 6rgb6 coax
F to SMA adapters

This 75 ohm is more than likely the issue. Need 50 ohm antenna and cables.

[LakeTown87]

I am hesitant to jump out and spend another couple hundred on two new Yagis and LMR400 cables with adapters and lightning protection given I don’t and can’t get line of sight to the tower living in all these trees. Also, if a directional is fine, would a parabolic antenna or two work even better? Or should I be looking the Omni directional path? What is going to be the best overall bang for my buck? I hate to spend the $$ and A wish I would have spent a little more and got a better setup, say an all in one MIMO or a parabolic grid, or B buy the Wilson antennas and cable to learn that X brand antennas and cables are much better. Could you or anyone help me with how I should spend my $$? At the moment I’m on about a $300 budget unfortunately. Could wait a couple months and spend $1,000 if necessary. I also only need about two 30ft strands of LMR400 because I can only get about 20-25ft in the air. I could mount a max of 50ft of old CB Tower, but again, I’m not sure it would help as I’m in the trees and it actually looks like I’d be shooting through more foliage than at 25ft. I’d really like some more guidance on what to buy. I’m not going to get mad if I try it and it doesn’t work like magic. I realize much of this can be trail and error.

[gscheb]

Well really believe the 75ohm is the issue here. Sure others will agree with that.
That is why your signal is worse. Miss matching equipment. Know because I have done it myself.
Is there a chance you can return these 75 ohm cables and antennas?
For fun you could try just one Wilson to the main and paddle on diversity. Don't know why but at times this helped when mine was mismatched. But might been a fluke.
My antenna story=
I have T-mobile service in rural area with trees and such just under 5 miles away. Started off with mimo proxicast antenna wasn't bad really. https://www.amazon.com/Proxicast-Cross- ... B01NBSLNJ6 Then got the log periodic antennas and that was an improvement. (These are the ones that look like your Wilson antennas but 50 ohm ones)Then third antennas was the panel type and they where definite improvement again.

By the way started with booster too!
Still use it though just for cell phones.

From my experience and reading on here those panel antennas seem to do best. Uncle of mine has one in his attic pointed at a tower.
It "might be I say might" be possible to point one inside the house. Specially is there is a window towards the tower and if it is a two story home.
Even if just for temporary fix if concerned with $.
I have 3 of those proxicast antennas and would sell one half price plus shipping. But to be honest "believe" you would be better off with the panel type.
One note though about the panel type antennas it is way heavier. So if it is currently mounted on something not very strong and stable could be an issue.

[gscheb]

Here are some resources.

Look at cable loss calculator here:
https://www.timesmicrowave.com/Calculator

Here is some things to look at far as signal quality.

Screenshot_20200423-013113.png

[LakeTown87]

Thanks for all the info! Would love to hear from anyone else as well. Any idea why band 5 keeps dropping off the face of the earth from time to time? Any experience with this issue?

[BillA]

Thanks for all the info! Would love to hear from anyone else as well. Any idea why band 5 keeps dropping off the face of the earth from time to time? Any experience with this issue?

Towers are being managed dynamically by carriers throughout the day, so it's possible that they turn off one band and activate another for a period of time in order to manage congestion/traffic. Another possibility is, a particular band has a weak signal and bounces off various objects, therefore its propagation changes throughout the day. The best way to increase your speeds is to use high gain external antennas, and/or upgrading to a higher CAT# modem.

[LakeTown87]

For fun you could try just one Wilson to the main and paddle on diversity. Don't know why but at times this helped when mine was mismatched. But might been a fluke.[/color]
My antenna story=
I have T-mobile service in rural area with trees and such just under 5 miles away. Started off with mimo proxicast antenna wasn't bad really. https://www.amazon.com/Proxicast-Cross- ... B01NBSLNJ6 Then got the log periodic antennas and that was an improvement. (These are the ones that look like your Wilson antennas but 50 ohm ones)Then third antennas was the panel type and they where definite improvement again.

By the way started with booster too!
Still use it though just for cell phones.

From my experience and reading on here those panel antennas seem to do best. Uncle of mine has one in his attic pointed at a tower.
It "might be I say might" be possible to point one inside the house. Specially is there is a window towards the tower and if it is a two story home.
Even if just for temporary fix if concerned with $.
I have 3 of those proxicast antennas and would sell one half price plus shipping. But to be honest "believe" you would be better off with the panel type.
One note though about the panel type antennas it is way heavier. So if it is currently mounted on something not very strong and stable could be an issue.

Man I actually tried the single Wilson and I had some gain. I’m really interested in the poxi. Is that a MIMO antenna with two cables? I realize now I should have looked at it before the reply. It’s late and just got in off the lake. The pole I have up right now is an old CB antenna pole and wouldn’t hold more than one panel most likely. I have some more sturdy stuff I could rig up for it though I’m sure. TBH, anything at any height should be an improvement. After reading your post more thoroughly it sounds like we have similar situations. Shoot me a number on the Poxicast and shipping and I’ll see what I can come up with. I intend on sending back my weboost booster kit. Was told I needed the original box and packaging which got burned along with all the other “quarantined” boxes on my porch. Told me there would likely be a 25% restocking fee . Got pretty pissed at the whole situation. My uncle has a little better booster with next to no signal at his house. Had a 60ft tower built next to his house to get a different internet service and attached his booster to it. He went from one bar and 3mbps to full service and 18mbps. Thought I could see similar results but he has line of sight and I’m shooting through trees. Just different situation. I already have decent signal and with all the interference here it just raises the noise. I wish I would have just bought some good antennas. I should have done some research first. Oh well. Just give me a price on the antenna and we can exchange and go from there. Thanks a lot for your help.

[gscheb]

Well I did edit and update the post a few times. Do that when got more time to do it and something came to me that remember about the past.
Wouldn't beat your self up about more research if you read the forums allot of people do the exact same thing. Get on youtube and you see mofi routers and boosters and all is awesome. That is what made me try it. Found this site much later and then started to learn things.
Yes it is a mimo antenna with two wire leads.
Do you plan on running the LMR 400 thru your home? Asking because don't know if you realize how thick this stuff is. Bigger than your average coax cable tv wire.
Also have 3 extra sets of it laying around.
Remember longer runs mean more loss it is why I started with 50 foot run and went down to 15 foot run.
1. 50 foot set that are proxicast, I started with these, replaced them because didn't them this long when moved router to attic.
2. 25 foot set
3. 20 foot set this set is n male to n male, has a adapter at the end that goes from n male to sma male. (this is important to know because means that it is even bigger on the end) meaning bigger hole in house.
Let me know if you are interested in this as well please.
Used to be a place on here where you could private message people.
So you don't have to have your email address and home address for everyone to see.

[LakeTown87]

What would you take for the 20ft strands of LMR N to SMA with a poxicast? That setup would get me through until I can afford to build my tower with some sort of POE CAT6 setup. My plan is to eventually have no more that setup but can’t afford it right now. I’ll be teaching summer school online all summer so maybe this will help me. My email is devin.carr@westsideeagles.org. Shoot me an email and we can exchange phone contacts Thanks for helping me!

[gscheb]

3. 20 foot set this set is n male to n male, has a adapter at the end that goes from n male to sma male. (this is important to know because means that it is even bigger on the end)

Just making sure you see this now here about size?

[LakeTown87]

I’ll tell you what....is there anyway you could send me your phone number via my email address so I can just give you a call and we can work it out? Thanks in advance.