Any Secret to using an external antenna with the LG6100D?

[alanhouser]

Hello. I'm thrilled to have a shiny-new Netgear LTE Gateway LG6100D from Sprint, or I was until I cannot get it to work with an external antenna system.

I bought a 50' LMR-400 cable and an adaptor to attach a Wilson Wide-Band Yagi - 314411 to my LG6100D. I've attached the antenna cable to both the "Main" and the "Aux" antenna connections, and with the antenna pointing directly at the (one mile-away) tower, I see no difference in signal strength. When connected to either port, I never had more than one bar. I played and tested for over two hours. The only caveat: I was indoors, pointing the antenna out of a window. I plan to test outside as well, but I was shocked to see no change in the signal the entire time. I'm not sure what to do next, aside from reaching-out to other users of the Netgear unit.

Is there a special setting to use the antenna ports with an external antenna?

[VE6CGX]

Hi,
50' long cable(is it very good quality one?) ought to have some loss. Is the target LOS? Keep in mind visual LOS and RF wave LOS are not same. You have to keep trying
in many different position and height. Result is some times
hard to believe.

[alanhouser]

VE6CGX wrote:
Hi, 50' long cable(is it very good quality one?) ought to have some loss. Is the target LOS? Keep in mind visual LOS and RF wave LOS are not same. You have to keep trying in many different position and height. Result is sometimes hard to believe.

Thanks. Yes, it's very high-quality Wilson LMR-400 low-loss cable.

Good to know on LOS/'RF LOS'; We were told by sprint that even though we're one mile from the tower, we're sitting on the dark-side of the "V" pattern emitting from the tower. Inside the house we get 1-bar on both a Netgear Zing and the 6100. The data speed is high (12-20MBPS down; 8-10 up), but can drop from one to zero bars several times throughout the day. If I walk 50-70' from the house, I instantly get FULL BARS. —so the thought of using a yagi is to push my antenna lobe out there into the sweet-spot. I still haven't found it yet, but has been too cold to play outside with it.

[VE6CGX]

Hi,
Also put that Yagi on a stick when you carry it around hunting the good spot. Body can
interfere with antenna. Somme times aiming it wrong may work better and regarding height
it is not

[VE6CGX]

Hi,
And don't carry the antenna around with your hand. Mount it on a stick couple feet long tto
minimize the effect of your body.

[alanhouser]

Problems fixed! (at-least for my situation)

In troubleshooting, I noticed my network channel was locked at 41. I called Sprint, got my MSL number and deleted channel 41. Now I'm on 25 with full bars! I guess 41 wouldn't go through our walls. (Same issue on Zing and the 6100!)

—Why Sprint support wouldn't help with this, I have no idea.

As for the issue with the antenna not working, I'm pretty certain the jumper-cable inside the 6100 (from the board to the antenna) has gotten disconnected. Guess I'll only know if I can void the warranty.

[DonUp0]

alanhouser wrote:

Hello. I'm thrilled to have a shiny-new Netgear LTE Gateway LG6100D from Sprint, or I was until I cannot get it to work with an external antenna system. I bought a 50' LMR-400 cable and an adaptor to attach a Wilson Wide-Band Yagi - 314411 to my LG6100D. I've attached the antenna cable to both the "Main" and the "Aux" antenna connections, and with the antenna pointing directly at the (one mile-away) tower, I see no difference in signal strength. When connected to either port, I never had more than one bar. I played and tested for over two hours. The only caveat: I was indoors, pointing the antenna out of a window. I plan to test outside as well, but I was shocked to see no change in the signal the entire time. I'm not sure what to do next, aside from reaching-out to other users of the Netgear unit. Is there a special setting to use the antenna ports with an external antenna?

I also recently purchased a Netgear LG6100D from Sprint and the same model Wilson Yagi that I will mount on a tower outside of my house. Does it matter which of the two antenna ports that I connect the yagi to?

[DonUp0]

I have a Netgear Gateway 6100D. Does anyone know why the device would show a much higher data usage than actual? The Sprint website shows a little less than 7 GB, normal for about 2/3 of the way through the month, but the Gateway shows 394.6 GB split about equally between 3G and 4G data. This is only the second month that I've had it and it was the same way the first time, indicating hundreds of GBs of usage over my limit. It doesn't affect my account, Sprint bills on what is shown on the website, but that feature of the router is worthless. Any advice would be appreciated.

[DannyJillard]

Well maybe some tips for you:
1. Are you pointing it at your correct ISP's antenna?
2. Maybe you need to earth the antenna?
3. Depending on the ISP/s antenna it may be only dispersing 180 degrees, so you could be potentially pointing towards the rear at the antenna and therefore its doing nothing for you.

I'm a mobile provider engineer. Ask me anything.

[Pennje]

Does anyone know the difference between the 'MAIN' and the 'AUX' antenna ports? I'm thinking one is for CDMA and the other is for LTE. I mounted an external yagi on a tower @ 47'  just to pick up a usable signal, I now have a CDMA signal but no usable LTE signal. I'm looking at another yagi for the 'AUX' port, but wanted a second (or more) opinion(s).

[gkarasik]

---

@alanhouser wrote:
Problems fixed! (at-least for my situation)

In troubleshooting, I noticed my network channel was locked at 41. I called Sprint, got my MSL number and deleted channel 41. Now I'm on 25 with full bars! I guess 41 wouldn't go through our walls. (Same issue on Zing and the 6100!)

—Why Sprint support wouldn't help with this, I have no idea.

As for the issue with the antenna not working, I'm pretty certain the jumper-cable inside the 6100 (from the board to the antenna) has gotten disconnected. Guess I'll only know if I can void the warranty.

---

Hi,

Please can you provide more detail about "deleting" Channel 41? I've been inside the GUI and can see where I can change to a different channel, but I don't see where I can delete the channel assignment altogether.

GaryK

[vspp]

I just turned off Band 41 in advanced setting and my signal strenght went from 1-2 to 5 bars.  Had to get MSL from Sprint to try it and it worked.

Open Sprint Gateway router webpage and do the following - Settings, Network, Setup, Advanced Settings, Get MSL# from Sprint and enter, uncheck 41box, Submit.

[vspp]

Settings, Network, Setup, Advanced Settings, Get MSL# from Sprint and enter, uncheck 41box, Submit.

[TerribleTed]

I bought an external antenna just today to hook up to the 6100d.  I could not get it to recognize although the two paddle antennas worked.

Our Sprint Tower is having issues per Sprint but my old Clear Express Hub with external Amp antenna worked just fine on same tower. Of course WIMAX is now shutdown.

The antenna I bought is a Hawkings MIMO HOA12DP.  It supports both 2.4 and 5 ghz but not working.  Sprint did not have a list of compatible externals.  Netgear does not have a list.  Amazon and Ebay sell a couple that are touted to work.  

Any suggestions?   If changing channels from 41 to 25 would work, let me know.

Helpless in Dallas

[vspp]

2 things to check - make sure the male pin on the antenna  is reaching the female conector, I had one that was to short. You may have to file the non treaded extention to the female on the router to make the pin reach.  Band 25 is a freqency that seems to be stronger than 41. 

I just turned off Band 41 in advanced setting and my signal strenght went from 1-2 to 5 bars.  Had to get MSL from Sprint to try it and it worked.

Open Sprint Gateway router webpage and do the following - Settings, Network, Setup, Advanced Settings, Get MSL# from Sprint and enter, uncheck 41box, Submit.

It also increased the SINR/SNR to a better quality which is what I was looking for as my VOIP needs a clean signal. Lost a little speed in down load but worth it.

This site has good information to understand what all the readings mean.  

http://knowledge.digi.com/articles/Knowledge_Base_​Article/Understanding-LTE-Signal-Strength-Values

After I did this I decided I didn't need a antenna.

Hopes this helps

VSPP

PS  The 2.4 and 5 ghz are not what you are recieving from the tower but is the wi-fi sent out by the router.

[gkarasik]

---

@vspp wrote:

I just turned off Band 41 in advanced setting and my signal strenght went from 1-2 to 5 bars.  Had to get MSL from Sprint to try it and it worked.

Open Sprint Gateway router webpage and do the following - Settings, Network, Setup, Advanced Settings, Get MSL# from Sprint and enter, uncheck 41box, Submit.

---

Thanks very much!

GaryK

[TerribleTed]

I just checked the SMA's and looks okay. But, will get differnt make of cable in am to see.  Also, wrote to Hawkings support to see what they can tell me.

I should hear back from Netgear support directly in the am.  Sprint will take a bit of work to get Tier One support tech.

[TerribleTed]

Latest update:

I tried several configurations with the modem to include changing the MSL and shutting off Band 41, setting the modem to CDMA and attaching an external Hawking antenna.

Only a brief connection with the Hawking and nothing.  Hawking said all it's new exertnals are rated to work with this modem.

But, NetGear wrote back and said no externals are supported and discouraged as possible damage to internal workings can happen.  (I understand what they are saying but so many weblinks show working configurations.)

So, Sprint sent a new modem.  I can get 1 Bar on LTE with default settings, a varying down and up speeds:  😧 2.87 to 5.90  UP .25 to .95.

On CDMA, spotty reception with default channels varying between 3 to 4 bars.  Won't support VOIP phone on this setting.

On LTE with 1 bar, can hold a decent VOIP and that is centering the antennas to split between the three towers in our area.  All towers are within 2 miles but each has a different bandwith that they support.  My antenna appears to be getting reception bouncing off the buildings that surround my apartment.

Oh well!

[vspp]

I find that location is critical, I can move my router 2-3 inches and it will go from 4-5 bars to 1 bar.  Same thing with moving antennas to different angles.  I helped a lady with an appartment in town and found that the only place to put the router was in one bedroom in one corner.  So you might try anywhere and everywhere in your house and then work off wifi.  Here is a good speed checker which will also give you Jitter reading which is imporant with VOIP,  should be under 5 to be real good but seems to be ok up to 10 or so.   http://support.ooma.com/speed-test/

[vspp]

I have a cell phone which works off sprint so I can use my cell phone to help find the best signal location

[gkarasik]

Hi,

I got the MSL code from Sprint and tried various combinations unchecking bands and resetting band priorities. Nothing made any difference. What did make a difference was relocating the modem to the attic. That increased reception from one to two bars. Then moving the built-in antennas a matter of centimeters increased reception to three bars.

I'm researching external antennae for use in the attic.

GaryK