MR1100 Nighthawk outdoor antenna setup

[TCsBack]

Okay, a little background.  We have the MR1100 through AT&T (FW: NTG9X50C_12.02.06.00), and we have moved to the middle of nowhere with no access to anything but lousy DSL in the home.  We have poor RSRP inside the home -115, but a little better outside -91.  I decided to try a signal booster, and got better results inside -82.  On a whim, I decided to hook the boosters outdoor antenna directly to the two TS-9 ports using a splitter and adapter.  The results were a bit strange.  I got -88 RSRP on the Nighthawk, but the speeds I experienced were nearly identical with the booster, or with only the antenna.  So I decided to hook the modem directly to the antenna without the cable and was able to reach -82 again.  The antenna is described as 75 ohm, 8dbi gain, log periodic, with 50' RG6, 75 ohm cable.

I'm considering trying two 50 ohm, 12dbi gain, log periodic antennas in a -45/+45 MIMO configuration.  They will be connected to the modem with 1 each of 75', 400 series 50 ohm, low loss cables with surge protectors inline, and 50 ohm N to TS-9 adapter cables.

So, finally the question for all you cellular gurus out there.  What do all you think of this kind of setup on this device?  Am I just over-tinkering?  (But it's fun!)  Also, I have "LTE ALL" checked in the cellular band region part of the setup app.  Does this only allow connection to the strongest LTE signal?  I ask because when aiming the existing outdoor antenna, it did not point to the tower I was expecting (that is only 1/2 mile away).  It actually got better strength pointing in almost the opposite direction.  Is my setting causing it to skip over this tower?   Would I be better off setting this to "auto"?  My phone, however, is showing connected to the closest tower.

My intent is to get this setup with the best possible connection, and use ip passthrough, and DHCP off (if I can figure that out properly) to let my nighthawk XR500 do the heavy lifting of my home network.

That turned out alot longer than I anticipated, but I wanted to be thorough.  If you made it this far, thanks for your time

[nhantenna]

1) Focus on upload and download speed.  The modem values (power, strength, etc) are deceiving.  You can have a "poor" signal that is WAY faster than an "excellent" signal.  it all depends on the tower and band you are connected to.

2) You can NOT control which tower you connect to.  If you are on AT&T, you may be switched between towers every minute.  if your nighthawk is connecting to different towers in different directions you likely want an omni antenna.  having a yagi directional antenna pointed in the wrong direction is not good.

3) Radio is crazy.  Experiment, experiment, experiment.  In general you will have best results outdoors, and on top of your roof.

4) I would not recommend you "split" an antenna.  One antenna to one port on the nighthawk.  you do NOT need to connect anything to the second port on the nighthawk.