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Forum Discussion
Nighthawk M1 + 2 external antennas
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?
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.
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?
- Definitely both towards same cell tower.
TeeJay74 "Definitely both towards same cell tower."
Since I have one cell tower to the north and one cell tower to the south I was thinking about using two external omni-directional antennas. Then I do not have to point anything. If AT&T wants me on the north cell tower or south cell tower they can move my Nighthawk between towers as they want. Your comment "Definitely both towards same cell tower" has given me pause. If I use two external antennas should I stick with directional yagis or are omni-directional antennas ok too?
- Live testing is needed. Use that tower which gives better performance. So please do testing with directional yagi's with both towers and choose the best. Yagi's narrower beam means it get less interference from other directions and lower interference is a key to better LTE performance. I would use omni's In urban environment where it gets performance benefits utilizing signal reflections.