Installed with Waveform MIMO 4x4 Log Periodic External Antenna Kit for 4G LTE/5G Hotspots & Routers purchased from Amazon. I wanted to aim each Yagi separately utilizing the signal strength displayed in the WAN Connection Status. I connected antenna A to cellular port A, obtained 5G signal adjusted antenna to -60dBm RSSI. I disconnected antenna A and connected antenna C to port B, following guidelines listed in Waveform setup instructions for connections to Peplink Max BR1 5G. I received a -90dBm RSSI LTE signal, no 5G signal. I continued to check the other antenna in the other ports and only received the LTE signal. I knew antenna A to cellular port A obtained 5G signal, so I tried it in ports B, C, and D. No 5G signal in ports B, C, and D. I put antenna back in port A and received the 5G signal.
How do I benefit from an antenna array if only 1 port receives 5G?
“The technical specifications list 1x 5G” (BITESnBYTES) but I would expect the cellular antenna ports to work together to bring in the maximum 5G signal available. In my test only 1 cellular antenna port brings in the 5G signal, making the remaining cellular antenna ports of no value.
The modem used has 4x4 MIMO, when you are not connecting Antenna A the MIMO cannot work, so 5G won’t connect as 5G needs 2x2 MIMO at least.
Also MIMO is meant to be aimed at one direction, as your serving cell is also expecting a single client coming from one spot not aimed at multiple directions…
If you want multiple directions, you need multiple modems.
with 5G modems it is a bit more complicated and for different bands the 5G modem uses different antenna combinations. Therefore for the best performance you need to connect all 4 antennas.
In case if you purchased directional antennas (I guess it was this one), you should connect all 4x antennas to the router and all 4x antennas should be pointing same direction.
I purchased the quad array Giedrius listed and plan to use all 4 Yagi pointed at the same tower line of sight. In an effort to aim for the maximum signal, I was attempting to aim 1 at a time utilizing the feedback from the Max BR1 Pro 5G Wan Connection Status with each antenna connected to it’s specific cellular port one at a time. That’s when I discovered only 1 port would receive 5G. I’ve decided to return the array and stick with the Waveform MIMO 4 panel. Hindsight maybe I could have connected each Yagi to the A port and aimed them separately and then connected all 4 as they should be. thanks for your feedback
ok, understood your idea. Sadly but even for the alignment you still need to connect all antennas at once. The beamwidth of Yagi antenna you purchased is from 56deg up to 105deg. Depends on frequency and polarization and you can find it in Waveform datasheet. This is a lot, thus you do not need to make a very precise alignment. Just need to find more or less right direction to the carrier tower station.
Also, instead of reading RSSI values, you can use Speedtest and measure UL/DL speeds.
