PEPLINK 42G Mobility Antenna 6 ft SMA or 1 ft QMA?

Product Discussion
1

I will be installing a Mobility 42G Antenna connected to a Max Pro BR1 5G PEPWAVE router on my 28 foot cabin cruiser. I would like to ensure the best cellular signal possible so I am considering two options.

  1. 42G mounted on the mast on the roof, 6 foot cable option, router mounted on the ceiling inside below the mast. I have to route all 7 wires through the roof, router is placed inside the cabin, some signal loss with 6 foot cable, but still a short run.

  2. 42G mounted inside an existing TV antenna dome on the mast, 1 foot cable option, replacing the TV antenna. PEPWAVE router mounted inside the water tight dome under the antenna, with custom made stand. With this option, I get the shortest run possible for signal strength, and I only need to run power through the roof through existing holes to the mast. Router is less accessible, but I can wire a switch for power reset.

As above, the 42G comes with either 6 foot SMA cables or I can get 1 foot in QMA cables. I’m still a bit undecided between the above two options. I’m considering if I should get the 1 foot QMA option in case I want to try to put it in the antenna dome, or I could buy high quality QMA → SMA extension cables (6 foot max) if I decide to move the router inside the cabin.

I want to know if anyone has thoughts on the two options and which you would go with and why?

2

Hi Alan,

I can comment a bit from the performance side. In case you will go with 6ft option you will loose some signal because of the longer cables. If we ignore the additional atapters which will be needed for 1ft option then here is what you could expect:

  • Low bands (617-960MHz) - very slight signal degradation. Efficiency degrade ~5% or less than 1dB in signal loss.
  • Mid/High bands (1.7-4.4GHz) - moderate signal degradation. Efficiency degrade %15-20% or ~1-1.5dB in signal loss.

The results above were taken from our (Peplink) internal antenna test reports in the lab.

In my opinion is that with the additional connectors and adapters you can loose up to 1dB, so there will be not much gain of an antenna with 1ft cables as you can not connect the antenna directly to the router (additional adapters are needed).

Let’s see if others from our community has to comment on your topic as well.

3

One more thing. In case you need cables and adapters, then here is what Peplink has to offer :wink:

4

Thanks for the reply and the performance numbers.

At a minimum with the 1 foot option, I would need at least 1 adapter or cable (Female QMA to male (RP-)SMA) for each connection. But, I may be using right-angle adapters for the straight SMA connections on the 6 foot anyway.

If going with the 1 foot QMA option and needing an extension cable, I would probably get custom cables made because Female QMA to male SMA is hard to find with the right length etc. and it is possible to get them made with the exact connectors (right angle etc.) built in without as many connections subject to signal loss.

At this point it’s probably mostly preference on where I want to mount it and run the wires.

5

I would not worry about a few feet at all. Just use quality cable with proper connectors.