Looking to do a install of the BR1 Mk2 (when it comes out) in our RV. Looking to do put a permanent set of MIMO antennas on the roof (preferably a blister style antenna package) and have permanent 4g amplification. This is needed due to the Faraday cage effect of the aluminum stud construction of the unit, and distance we are often from Cell towers.
Are there any guides or recommendations on how to accomplish this? There are multiple 50ohm MIMO Style rooftop antennas using SMA on the market, is there any recommended model?
Also - lets talk amplification - I much prefer M2M amps - much like the Wilson(weboost) signal 4g which is a 15db inline amp. I assume I would need two of these, one for each antenna wire. Are there any other considerations?
Unit would be located inside the coach, so regular WIFI antennas are fine for our needs.
I am looking not to use Yagi/directional style as suggested in those articles, and want to use Omni directional units due to the fact we move frequently, and I have no desire to aim the antenna weekly. This is a mobile RV, not a stationary house.
We are in the USA - and I have seen some rooftop antennas that are setup for MIMO and GPS - such as the following:
Note while a single unit, they have multiple SMA inputs. I believe this will do what I want it to do - but was wondering if there was a peplink solution that was superior.
As for cell boosting, agreed that a single booster tends to affect MIMO negatively, hence me thinking two INLINE boosters (one per antenna) would be the way to go.
Hello @mrgrayaz,
Did you see the link in the post to the article talking about the “Taoglas Storm MA450 - 3G+4G+4GX & GPS & WiFi MIMO 5-in-1 Antenna - 700-6000MHz”? The Toaglas brand (from our experience) is amongst the best out there for using on RVs, you can source these locally though your Peplink Partner or another provider local provider.
If you want to have a separate low profile yet high gain antenna per LTE modem connection then look for something like the Taoglas Shockwave TL.10 3G+4G+4GX Magnetic Mount Antenna - 700-2700MHz
When you mount the antennas give the some separation and keep them in from the edge, the metal roof will improve the performance in some situations.
If you are going to go for separate antennas, then use the GPS antenna that comes with your MAX BR1 these work reasonably well.
Our professional advise is DO NOT use any inline boosters connected to your LTE modem (this is regardless of who makes the modems or boosters) focus on using a better antenna solution. Even with one booster per antenna connection, they will still cause more problems than they solve, not to mention most of them put way to much RF power back into the LTE modem and are likely to damage the chip set within the LTE modem (this sort of damage is not covered by any form of warranty).
I like my Panorama 5 in 1 for my RV, it has a built in ground plane so it works well with fiberglass/rubber roofs like most RV’s without having to fabricate your own ground plane.
I currently have a hotspot and use TS9 to SMA adapters for the antenna and it consistently increases reported signal by 10dbm over just the hotspot inside. I do want to get a real LTE router and like you am waiting to see more info on the BR1 Mk2, can’t wait to have real SMA connectors on the modem.
I agree on the boosters, but mldowling may be thinking of wireless boosters when it comes to modem damage. Wireless boosters do 50db+ amplification and some people try and plug the internal antenna connection right into a modem which could lead to the issues.
The signal 4g is a wired booster that only does 15db amplification, it is designed to plug directly in and not damage modems. However all reports I have seen is there are not very many situations it helps over just a good MIMO antenna and could hurt performance most of the time. Mainly its going to help transmit power as the booster is getting it up around 1 watt, where as the modems are 300mw. Doing two for MIMO probably won’t help as I believe all current modems only transmit on one antenna, MIMO is on receive only.
Many people don’t understand that a amplifier always adds noise to the signal, the amount is adds is called the noise figure and you can usually find how much it adds in the amp specs. So on receive it amplifies the signal and the noise, then adds some of its own noise reducing the final SNR potentially giving you a worse result. The best place for an amp and where it has use is long runs from antenna to modem and the amp is close to the antenna allowing it to help overcome line losses.
If all LTE modems did 1 watt transmit like FirstNet modems I don’t think there would be any need for a booster in most any situation.
What did you end up using for antennas? Did you also do external antennas for the WiFi? The Boatant2-Mimo looks sweet but its $500 which is a bit crazy. I was hoping to find something similar at a more reasonable price but striking out. I wonder if anything bad would happen if I just use one antenna and leave the Aux/Diversity antenna/port empty/open? This is for the MK2 with Cat 6 LTE Advanced…
I am also trying to figure out a good external antenna for WiFi as WAN on the MK2. Does anyone know how the antenna ports work on the MK2? Is one dedicated to 2.4ghz and the other 5ghz? Can you change which is which via the admin panel? I want to be able to do both 2.4 and 5ghz WiFi as WAN but thinking of starting with just one external antenna and leaving the second antenna/port empty/open. Would be great if I could switch between bands without having to physically change which port the antenna wire is plugged into.
What did you end up using for antennas? Did you also do external antennas for the WiFi? The Boatant2-Mimo looks sweet but its $500 which is a bit crazy. I was hoping to find something similar at a more reasonable price but striking out. I wonder if anything bad would happen if I just use one antenna and leave the Aux/Diversity antenna/port empty/open? This is for the MK2 with Cat 6 LTE Advanced…
I am also trying to figure out a good external antenna for WiFi as WAN on the MK2. Does anyone know how the antenna ports work on the MK2? Is one dedicated to 2.4ghz and the other 5ghz? Can you change which is which via the admin panel? I want to be able to do both 2.4 and 5ghz WiFi as WAN but thinking of starting with just one external antenna and leaving the second antenna/port empty/open. Would be great if I could switch between bands without having to physically change which port the antenna wire is plugged into.
Hello @mystery,
You can use the same previously mentioned 5 in 1 antennas in this tread with the Pepwave MAX BR1 Mk2, have you spoken to your local Peplink Partner on this for guidance in sourcing a suitable antenna?
Happy to Help,
Marcus
Thank you but those antennas will not work for my application except the BoatAnt2-MIMO which would be nice as this setup would be mounted on a mast in a marine environment but its too pricey and not available at this moment (out-of-stock). I have settled on the Wilson Marine Omni-directional antenna for the LTE. I may opt for a simple/cheap dual-band Alfa antenna for the WiFi.
I am trying to figure out I wonder if anything bad would happen if I just use one antenna and leave the Aux/Diversity antenna/port empty/open? This is for the MK2 with Cat 6 LTE Advanced… mounting two Wilson antennas plus 1-2 WiFi antennas is too many antennas for me, at least as of right now.
I am trying to figure out how the WiFi antenna ports work on the MK2? I know someone else trying the same project as me and he doesn’t know either. Is one dedicated to 2.4ghz and the other 5ghz? Can you change which is which via the admin panel? I want to be able to do both 2.4 and 5ghz WiFi as WAN but thinking of starting with just one external antenna and leaving the second antenna/port empty/open. Would be great if I could switch between bands without having to physically change which port the antenna wire is plugged into.
