Nighthawk M1 + 2 external antennas

[nhantenna]

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?

[adzza]

Ive done this. 

Standard NH : 35/12

One antenna (patch): 50/18

Twin Yagi's : 120/35

Best of luck, 

[nhantenna]

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?

[TeeJay74]

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]

@adzza i noticed you state "One antenna (patch)".  ie not yagi. 

another data point that would be interesting would be one yagi.

[nhantenna]

@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]

No, not able to see that on LCD  or webgui. Need to use AT!GSTATUS? command output.

[adzza]

I did tst with single Yagi too actually. 

Single Yagi: 75/20

I used high quality Yagis, not cheap eBay crap. CA is 700/1800 

[nhantenna]

@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?

[nhantenna]

@adzza tell me about your two yagi orientation.  are they both vertical to the ground?  one +45 degrees and one -45 degrees?  what works best for you?

[TeeJay74]

Definitely both towards same cell tower.

[nhantenna]

@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?

[TeeJay74]

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.

[JSchnee21]

Hi Folks,

A couple questions / comments if you wouldn't mind:

1) Can you provide a url to the Yagis you've purchased that are working so well?

2) Are they mounted at a 45 degree angle / 90 degree versus each other?

3) How did you adapt from the antenna connector to TS-9?  How long are your cable runs and what kind of Coax did you use?

Currently, my understanding is that ALL CA is INTRA tower.  So, multiple antennas have to point to the same tower or there will be no CA (or very poor CA with a much weaker signal).

Best,

Jonathan

[nhantenna]

@JSchnee21 I currently have ONE 700MHz ONLY yagi for AT&T use.  It is mounted vertically.  I use a very short run of LMR400 cable (antenna NOT installed on my roof yet).  As far as how to convert to Netgear jack, different antennas use different connectors.  Start at the antenna connector and work your way to the Netgear.

@TeeJay74 The discussion about intratower CA makes sense to me.  The discussion about using yagis over omnis does not.  iPhone does not have yagi antennas.  Users do not have to point an iPhone north or south to connect to different cell towers.  Currently iPhones are outperforming the Netgear in speedtests so they don't appear to have omni interference issues.  Is there a specific issue with Netgear and external omni antennas?

[JSchnee21]

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).

[nhantenna]

Most of my interest in a second antenna was to help with heavier traffic like 4K Netflix/Amazon/Youtube.

Now that AT&T has throttled video streams on Unlimited Plus consumer accounts to 10Mbps, 4K streaming is not happening.

I'm hesitant to invest into hardware for any heavier traffic (video streams or otherwise) if AT&T is just going to randomly start throttling everything.