High speed internet access on the move is becoming ever more
a necessity as people wish to stay connected to family and friends, conduct
business as well as needing to access information about local services. In
mobile leisure applications, internet
access is increasingly important to the owners of boats, narrowboats and
caravans, but due to the transient nature of the application having fixed line
access or fixed wireless access is not appropriate, so owners have to turn to
wireless services
There are a number of methods of wireless access, but 3G and
4G services are increasingly popular due to ever higher download speeds on
offer. With a new generation of routers or personal hotspots, users can use 3G
or 4G wireless to access the network and use WIFI capabilities to distribute
the internet to devices on the boat or in the caravan. However, when parked or
moored up in more remote areas or in weak signal areas, embedded antennas or
simple "rubber duck" type antennas as supplied with the router or
modem hardware might not be enough to establish a reliable 4G network
connection. Therefore it makes sense to use a high quality 3G/4G antenna to
connect to the network.
There are a variety of 3G/4G antenna options from mobile to
magnetic, from permanent mount small or low profile antennas to high gain
antennas for wall or pole mount. Which antenna to choose and how to use them
can be daunting for the uninitiated! I'll try to help with a few pointers.....
Firstly, you need to understand your router, modem or dongle
device. Many will have one or two antenna connectors, and you will need to
establish what type of connector this is. Common connectors include SMA, TS9
and CRC9, but there are many others. If your device has two antenna connectors,
it is handy to know if the device has diversity or MIMO (multiple in multiple
out) options - in simple terms sometimes using two antenna ports with 2
antennas (or a single MIMO antenna - it should have 2 antenna cables and
connectors) will improve the download speed.
Once you have established your antenna connector, it is time
to figure out your antenna mounting options.
Mobile antennas - Typically there are two ways to use a
mobile antenna - either laptop-mount or window mount. For laptop mount, there
is typically a plastic hook supplied with the antenna that can slide over the
lid of the laptop and the mobile antenna can be mounted onto the hook. Alternatively the antenna can be
window-mounted with suction cups and then the antenna cable(s) can be routed
back to the modem or router. See the WA_700_2700 as a good example of 4G 3G 2G
(supports all bands) mobile MIMO antenna for laptop or window mount.
Magnetic antennas - There are usually two options for
magnetic mount antennas. Low cost rubber style magnetic antennas like the
Pentamag antenna (3G and GSM only) or full-on rugged, robust low profile
antennas such as the LTE-HIGAIN-MAG (4G with fall back to 3G and 2G). Typically
they have one cable and connector to connect up to the antenna port on the
modem or router and are mounted outside the vehicle, boat or portacabin and
mounted onto metal surface. So with the magnetic antenna’s gain and new
location you are able to pick up a signal and through the cable route this down
to the modem or router - for example, in a narrowboat the router is inside
without signal and the magnetic antenna is outside picking up a 4G signal. A
magnetic antenna is perfect when you do not want a permanent antenna
installation (i.e wall-mount or stud-mount
i.e. drilling a hole through the skin of vehicle or boat) and would like
to move the antenna around or remove it to avoid damage or vandalism. Bear in
mind magnetic antennas are ideally mounted onto a conductive metal surface as
they need the metal surface in order to radiate properly.
High gain antennas for Wall or Pole mount - there are number
of high gain outdoor antenna options open to 4G users - high gain
omni-directional (they radiate in every direction pretty much equally) antennas
or high gain directional (work in one direction only similar to traditional
house mounted TV antennas). High gain antennas can be wall or pole mounted,
some can be both. What they offer is higher performance in terms of receiving
the signal and then they pass this signal along a low loss cable to the modem
or router. A fine example of a high gain omni antenna for wall or pole mount is
the FGO antenna. This offers up to 5 dBi gain for 4G, 3G and 2G frequencies. A
directional antenna will offer more gain than an omni, but is a bit more
restrictive as you have to point it at the local 4G mast, but you will benefit
from an increased gain of perhaps 9 dBi or 10 dBi - an example of this is the
LPP7270 pole-mount antenna. In mobile applications, wall-mount antennas are not
ideal, but it is possible to fabricate a temporary bracket on which mount a
wall-mount antenna if pole-mounting a high gain antenna is not suitable.
Now we have understood the mounting options, there are
always other considerations, some of these are:
Long cables = higher signal loss - unless you are using very
thick low loss cable then as a rule of thumb, the longer the coaxial cable, the
more signal loss (or attenuation) you are likely to get reducing the usable
signal strength received at the modem or router and thereby impacting your
download speed. In an ideal world, cable lengths should be no longer than
really necessary.
Nearby objects - If possible try to mount your antenna away
from large objects or obstructions and most importantly from any protruding
metal surfaces (the metal surface on magnetic antennas are mounted excepted of
course). Obstructions and metal objects close to the radiating element of the
antenna can impact the propagation properties of the antenna and adversely
affect antenna performance and in turn hinder download speeds.
Elevation - in many cases the higher up the antenna is mounted
the better chances of signal reception - so do bear this mind when
window-mounting or choosing a metal surface for the magnetic antenna. Needless
to say, the better signal you get the better download speed is possible.
Antenna and Cable Quality – remember not all antennas are
made equal and this can have an impact on your download speeds. Spurious claims
about antenna gain are prevalent in the market so it is advisable to make sure
that antenna you are purchasing is from a reputable manufacturer and vendor.
Likewise choosing a quality cable such as BWL195 or BWL400 from a quality cable
manufacturer should ensure that cable losses are minimised.
