Antenna information, options, help please

[Lawsonc]

Hello and noob here. Sorry for the long post. I've looked through as much of the forum as I can and haven't quite found the information I need yet. Sorry if I missed it somewhere.
I will try and be as specific as I can to the situation. Geographical location: Central Ky and decent signal in most places surrounding us. I'm not quite sure exact locations of cell towers but I know there are 2 different ones within about 2-3 miles "as the crow flies". Now as far as our house topographically. We live about half way down a hill ( approximately 100 yards below top of hill) surrounded by trees in all directions. Our house has a tin roof which I know can cause issues. It has cedar siding. But otherwise normal construction.
I can go to the bottom of the hill still surrounded by trees and have cell phone service. I can go the opposite direction up the hill from the house and do not have any cell service until I reach the top. Obviously it seems cell service would be opposite and have better signal up higher. At the bottom of the hill i do have a river so I'm not sure if the valley it runs in carries signal better.
Our closest television (off air) are about 30-40 miles away. We can pick them up with a cheap Walmart indoor antenna without too much of an issue. But we can only put it in one spot of the house for it to work.

We currently have a satellite provider for internet and telephone. We occasionally use netflix but its main use is telephone and wifi on our cell phones. Which we have to put on wifi calling. Service is not good enough to make or receive phone calls and texting is sporadic.
We are planning on putting up an outdoor antenna for better off air reception. Which will be pointing in the north northeast direction. Fairly certain our providers cell tower is located in the southwest direction.
I do have an amplifier that is internet compatible (will allow return path) but at a small signal loss.
Please feel free to ask any questions I haven't put answeres to in here. I've tried to cover as much info I can.

Now the questions I have are
1) Is it an option to mount two different types of antenna on the same tower or will they interfere with each other?
2) With having a tin roof how far away from the house should I place the tower and how far above the roof line should it be?
3) Is there anything I'm missing in my thought process?

[Didneywhorl]

How far, on foot, is it to the top of your hill. Is it still your property at that hilltop location?

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

It is unclear if you're asking about US LTE only spectrum and whether you are considering omni or unidirectional antenna (the decision, I assume, would be highly dependent on the actual vs. estimated tower locations, and some basic signal/speed readings where possible, unless you are fine with purchasing equipment and hoping it actually helps)

[Lawsonc]

@Didneywhorl its approximately a quarter mile to the top of the hill.

@LoveMeSomeCALTE Short answer is I am planning on placing an outdoor antenna to receive off air channels. I have absolutely no idea what kind yet. Been looking at Yagi, if that's the right word. The biggest feat I'm trying to accomplish is get rid of satellite internet and just use cell service. There is very minimal service, mostly no service, in the house. I am hoping that placing a 4g LTE antenna will allow us to ditch the satellite. I have no signal measuring equipment. I do know that the the microcell we had way back when worked well. But I know it ran off the internet. Feel free to ask any other questions. I will reply as best I can.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

You probably used a femtocell as I believe actual microcells need FCC licensing.

In either case, the fact that you had one working at your current location implies you had, atleast then, access to the service provider's network via broadband as otherwise the femtocell would have no backhaul to broadcast.

What was that broadband connection and why can't you use it now?

Now, whether placing a 4g LTE antenna will allow you to ditch the satellite depends on you locating the towers, going to them with your modem and running some speed tests.

Then it's a matter of using a directional antenna to connect to the best performing tower

[Lawsonc]

What we used was branded by AT&T as microcell. They stopped producing and supporting them a while back.

[Lawsonc]

I guess I'm going to throw some money at it and hope it sticks. Really need to know the answer to three questions. Minimum distance above metal roof line, which antenna will provide the best signal, and will placing a 4g lte antenna on the same tower interfere with an off air antenna?

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

will placing a 4g lte antenna on the same tower interfere with an off air antenna?

Technically no, very different freq.

which antenna will provide the best signal

For LTE you need MIMO. How you do it is up to you - you could literally have two phase shifted yagis or use a ready made one that comes with that design built in and looks like a box.

Honestly, I need to learn this myself, so if you want, I can create a new thread specifically for LTE MIMO and ask very specific questions there.

[internot]

For LTE you need MIMO. How you do it is up to you - you could literally have two phase shifted yagis or use a ready made one that comes with that design built in and looks like a box.

Honestly, I need to learn this myself, so if you want, I can create a new thread specifically for LTE MIMO and ask very specific questions there.

I would be interested in this thread. I picked up a Mofi setup from a neighbor who was using it with a single Wilson directional panel (so not MIMO I guess) and am curious about how much better I could do with a dual antenna setup.

[MattB29]

The subject of getting a wireless data only connection at your home is a bit complex. First off does your cell phone provide you with a good data connection? You can find what the readings are usually in the settings area and under the system >About phone and than sim card status. Mine for instance shows a -110dbm 30asu LTE connected status at the moment as I sit by my computer it is a Verizon MVNO. This would be a poor connection that works but not great.

I have used wireless internet for my homes internet now for about 6 years. I previously had Dial up and Sat as my only options.

Before you get too far on buying antennas and such you might want to start small with simply getting a hotspot and seeing if it works in your home.