Surf soho, 3 external antenna connections
External dish WiFi antenna, 1 connector
Would you;
- split it
- connect to a single input
- buy 3 more dishes
?
Thanks
Why do you need the external dish antenna? Is it because of low signal strength (RSSI)? Or do you simply want to use it because you have it.
If you’re going to use an external antenna you really want to get a MU-MIMO antenna.
Hi. Sorry your message seems to have slipped by. Can you tell us more about your challenges? Are you using wi-fi as WAN and it’ inadeqiuate? Or is it lack of “coverage” by wi-fi on the LAN side? FWIW, I’m not sure I’d vote for any of your three alternatives at this point. More information, please?
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Thanks for getting back to me, Rick.
I’m using the SOHO in my rv,
Looking for a little more oomph to slurp my son’s WiFi when I’m there. Mostly.
I tried 3 longer antennas, didn’t help enough.
I’m trying this CCrane dish and it’s repeater plugs in the back. RJ45.
I think thats going to be my solution. But Haven’t really been down there yet.
I think I kind of love it, How it all works together.
I never really fully invested in this giz but now that I have I really like it.
Thanks,
Kurt
I have a SOHO and Panorama 5 in 1 rooftop antenna on my RV I primarily use for the MIMO Cell antennas with my Jetpack, but it does have MIMO Wifi elements as well.
I have tried various configs, normal inside all three antennas, 1 roof top, 2 inside, 2 rooftop 1 inside, 2 only inside or outside with one empty port, it all works.
I haven’t noticed much difference either way as my RV is fiberglass its mostly transparent to WiFi. You definitely want all three antennas connected for 3x MIMO other than that the more elements outside seem to help with WiFI WAN and campgrounds while sacrificing speed on the LAN inside but its a very slight difference. If your RV has a metal skin this would be much more pronounced (Airstream).
Right now I think I am running 2 inside one external, but in the end it just did’nt make much of a difference that I could measure. The SOHO does an amazing job at picking up WiFi regardless of antenna location and if I turn up transmit power all the way it will overwhelm the wifi in my house from across the yard through a block wall, my device will prefer the RV, I have to remember to turn it down when home and parked.
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Kurt: “Wi-fi slurping.” Interesting concept. 
Well, I’d say the experiences relayed by @jharrell are more similar to ours, although we don’t have a lot of SOHOs out there. I can tell you I’m not too excited at all about any of the alternatives you suggested in your first message, however.
Other things to consider: Can you get your son to move his AP? Or, add another one closer to you? Can you move closer? Have you tried turning the router 90 degrees and changing the position of the antennas (e.g., one vertical and the others 45 degrees off to either side)? In marginal cases such changes can make a difference.
A super-important issue is the construction of the shell of your RV, as suggested. If I had an RV I think the first thing I’d be likely to do would be install a good MIMO antenna on the roof and use short, high quality transmission lines between router and antenna. (Actually, you may need more than one antenna - depends on the design.)
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Is the Surf SoHo wifi hardware/connection/firmware any different than the MAX series? We have a MK2 that is just using one external antenna, with terminators on the open antenna port(s), with no issues, but no MIMO. Not a big deal as we are using Speedfusion so have that bandwidth limitation. I was thinking about adding a Surf Soho at another location with one external non-MIMO antenna so would leave the other ports open or terminate them, curious if that will work just as it did on the MK2?
I just received this antenna that I will be installing on my RV rooftop. It is made by MobileMark and is the LTMG602. I will be installing it on a 12" x 12" 0.125" sheet of H14 aluminum to act as a ground plane. Here is the Spec Sheet and RF Radiation Pattern. 5 dBi gain on WiFi bands
I was able to custom order it, so I didn’t bother with the GPS antenna, and I only ordered it with 12" antenna leads.