Nighthawk M1 + 2 external antennas

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).