I have a Nighthawk M1 with 1 external antenna. Anyone out there have 2 external antennas? If yes, can you share speedtest results between 1 and 2 external antennas? Is it double? About the same?

Ive done this. Standard NH : 35/12 One antenna (patch): 50/18 Twin Yagi's : 120/35 Best of luck,

If you have to use external antennas then it is wise to use two. Technically that is not as simple. It depends on on how many bands you have available and how many streams. With 2x2 Mimo it means that one band has two streams. Depending on current air radio condition each stream has CQI which affect stream modulation which directly affects speed. If you have only one band, two streams, both streams are not necessarily in the same modulation. If you do experiment with one antenna or two, please make sure you have same carrier aggregation combo active when you compare results.

Thanks Nhantenna, I think the issue of directional versus omni antennas might be a bit more "grey". Often folks are trying to use the MR1100 in a rural, fixed mast, type application. And they are trying to optimize connectivity and speeds to masts which are several miles away. To that end employing a higher gain, directional antenna, properly pointed at the mast can significantly improve signal to noise ratios of both downstream (and perhaps more importantly upstream) channels. Secondly, the MR1100 is well known to have poor / chaotic band/tower selection algorithms. Perhaps this has improved recently with newer firmwares and many rural folks have found that directional antennas are needed to "encourage" the MR1100 baseband to pick the right tower / channel. Regrettably, Netgear prevents the US version of the MR1100 from selecting / deselecting preferred bands. Regarding LM400 and other lower loss cabling. As some have done, the best solution is to place the MR1100 as close to the antenna(s) as possible and use as short of a cable run as possible, and then just use the Ethernet connection back to the house to a switch and proper wireless AP. Of course, the downfall / limitation with this, is that you need to protect the MR1100 from the elements (heat most notably) and supply power).

thanks adzza a primary way to get speed out of this Netgear 5G evolution hotspot is multiple CA. When I see your speeds double when you add the second external antenna i suspect this is 2 CA. That said, if CA is NOT supported by your local cell tower, i would not expect adding a second antenna to do much speed-wise. anyone else have thoughts on this?

adzza i noticed you state "One antenna (patch)". ie not yagi. another data point that would be interesting would be one yagi.

Nighthawk M1 + 2 external antennas

16 Replies

adzza
Initiate
Jan 23, 2019
Ive done this.

Standard NH : 35/12

One antenna (patch): 50/18

Twin Yagi's : 120/35

Best of luck,
- nhantenna
  Apprentice
  Jan 23, 2019
  thanks adzza
  
  a primary way to get speed out of this Netgear 5G evolution hotspot is multiple CA. When I see your speeds double when you add the second external antenna i suspect this is 2 CA. That said, if CA is NOT supported by your local cell tower, i would not expect adding a second antenna to do much speed-wise. anyone else have thoughts on this?
  - nhantenna
    Apprentice
    Jan 23, 2019
    adzza i noticed you state "One antenna (patch)". ie not yagi.
    
    another data point that would be interesting would be one yagi.
TeeJay74
Virtuoso
Jan 23, 2019
If you have to use external antennas then it is wise to use two. Technically that is not as simple. It depends on on how many bands you have available and how many streams. With 2x2 Mimo it means that one band has two streams. Depending on current air radio condition each stream has CQI which affect stream modulation which directly affects speed. If you have only one band, two streams, both streams are not necessarily in the same modulation.

If you do experiment with one antenna or two, please make sure you have same carrier aggregation combo active when you compare results.
- nhantenna
  Apprentice
  Jan 23, 2019
  TeeJay74 "please make sure you have same carrier aggregation combo active when you compare results"
  
  can we see the CA details on the nighthawk lcd panel? nighthawk web page? other?
  - TeeJay74
    Virtuoso
    Jan 23, 2019
    No, not able to see that on LCD or webgui. Need to use AT!GSTATUS? command output.
- nhantenna
  Apprentice
  Jan 23, 2019
  TeeJay74 I live in a rural location. Cell tower to the north. Cell tower to the south. For maximum speed performance do the two external antennas have to be pointed toward the same cell tower? Or can I point one north and one south?
  - TeeJay74
    Virtuoso
    Jan 23, 2019
    Definitely both towards same cell tower.

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Nighthawk M1 + 2 external antennas