Hi there,
I have installed 2x2 MIMO antennas supporting up to LTE.
Is it possible to connect 5G modem to these antennas before I will be able to upgrade them?
Antennas are designed to support given frequency bands, not specific standards like LTE or 5G…
Assuming your 5G modem only needs 2x2 MIMO and not more (or you can disable the unconnected antenna ports, or you have multiple 2x2 antennas) you should be OK.
It may be the case that your carrier is using different bands for 5G vs LTE in your area, and your antenna may not be optimal for them but without you giving a bit more information like what the antenna actually is and then doing some research to see what bands are in use in your area you will probably just have to give it a go.
Worst case you could possibly disable 5G or specific bands on the modem whilst you wait to swap out the antenna if it was a problem.
I think all 5G peplink modems are 4x4
I am not trying to use 5G over LTE antenna.
What I wonder is if I can use newer modem before upgrading antennas. I could disable 5G bends, but I am not sure if it is possible to connect those 2x2 antennas with 4x4 modem (there are multiple antennas if that could be utilized)
Yes you can. A few ways:
- Use two of those antennas (you mentioned you have multiple) to feed all 4 ports. If you do this, check the polarisation of the antennas and try to have them different (ie mount one sideways, if they support that).
- Use one, and set the modem into 2x2 mode (a feature of 8.3)
- Use one without setting the modem into that mode. This will work, but will be slower than the above two options.
Thanks for the info. I found the option to change it to 2x2 (antenna A and D)
If I would want to combine 2 antennas, how should I connect them?
If you are combining two 2x2 antennas (i.e. you have 4 cables total to connect) you don’t need to use that option, that is for if you ONLY have one 2x2 antenna available (i.e. only 2 cables total to connect).
How best to connect them might depend a little bit on exactly what the antennas are (perhaps tell us exactly what the antenna make/model is) because how the antennas are polarised and how they are mounted might influence that decision.
If you have an antenna that is say 2x2 XPOL then you could just do:
Antenna 1 = A+D
Antenna 2 = B+C
If you have for example 2x vertically polarised antennas then you might get improved results as @bryn.loftus mentions by mounting the antennas in a way to create some more polarisation diversity, in which case try:
Antenna 1 = A+B
Antenna 2 = C+D
In any case for reference A+D are TX/RX ports, B+C are RX only.
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The antennas are 2x2 and all are vertically polarized.
The antennas are separated physically by approximately 10ft
When I search the antenna online, the datasheet is different from what I was provided.
This is the same model but my datasheet shows support for 5 bands
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/HUBER%2BSUHNER/1399.17.0222?qs=Cv1v43EOJprVwSuQ4TS8KQ%3D%3D
Hi Roman,
if the modems is this one, then looks like each antenna port support all LTE/5G bands. It is possible to connect 5G modem to this antenna. To advice you we need to know Peplink router SKU.
Hi, we will be testing with MAX BR2 Pro.
The datasheet for this model I was provided, doesn’t state support for 5G.
OK I see it now, the antenna version you have is missing 3300 - 4900MHz frequency range support. At least this what I can see from the datasheet link you share. It is a bit sad, that the vendor doesn’t provide graphs over the frequency range… So hard to comment if it will work or not.
In any case, Let us know if you will need any helps with the antenna selection.
Lastly if you want to connect this antenna to MAX BR2 Pro, you will need at least two such antennas. Also check which version you have -5GH or -5GD so that we could advice how to which ports antennas should be connected.
Thanks, We must reuse current antennas for now. In the future we may be able to upgrade them.
We are ordering the device, but I didn’t see any version options in the datasheets.
Hi Roman,
in case you will use -5GD, then need to connect A and C antenna ports. In case you ordered -5GH, please connect A and D and also enable 2x antenna mode via UI (check comment no13).
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Hi, I was looking for similar support here.
I have a MAX-BR2-PRO-5GD-T-PRM but for each modem I have only two antennas ports (2x2 MIMO).
Should I connect the antennas on each modem to A and C or A and D?
Is it advisable to use the paddle antennas on the other ports unused or go with the Two antenna mode?
Hi Donal,
for -5GD, please connect antennas to A and C port. Please not, that connecting 2x antennas will affect the performance. Also, we do not recommend using 2x antennas on the -5GD as there is no special mode to enable 2x antenna mode as on -5GH. As we checked with the modem vendor the -5GD should handle 2x antenna mode automatically, but you never know how good is the modem FW to handle it.
As for the other ports I would leave them unconnected as the received signal difference will be two large anyways.