Any guidelines on orientation of the base and satellite RBK50's?

[alokeprasad]

I have the base/router placed in the front of the house.  The satellite will be at the rear of the house.  This is just the way the cable outlet is laid out.

Is there any undertanding on the broadcast pattern (laterally, and vertically) of the signals from the base and satellites? 

I'd prefer to send the wifi signals towards the inside of the house and up to the 2nd floor, and not across the street. How to best orient these for that and effective beam-forming to devices inside and up on the 2nd floor?

These have fixed intennas inside, so presumably, send the signals in some dipole pattern ...

Aloke

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

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@alokeprasad wrote:

I have the base/router placed in the front of the house.  The satellite will be at the rear of the house.  This is just the way the cable outlet is laid out.

Is there any undertanding on the broadcast pattern (laterally, and vertically) of the signals from the base and satellites? 

I'd prefer to send the wifi signals towards the inside of the house and up to the 2nd floor, and not across the street. How to best orient these for that and effective beam-forming to devices inside and up on the 2nd floor?

These have fixed intennas inside, so presumably, send the signals in some dipole pattern ...

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There are some nice pictures of the antennas in the FCC filing: https://fccid.io/PY316200341/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-RBR50-RBS50-rev-pdf-3926901.iframe 

You are correct.  There are two sets of 2.4G/5G antennas mounted vertically, which will radiate in a typical dipole "torus" pattern.  And, yes, half of the signal will be broadcast toward the outside.  Nothing can be done to avoid that.  The signal will be weaker directly above (and below) the units.

Since Orbi supports MIMO, the best orientation would be to have the "flat side" of the Orbi facing inside the house (rather than the end which would put the one set of user antennas directly behind the other one).

It may take some experimentation to find the optimal location.  Netgear often shows the satellite on the 2nd floor toward the middle of the house.  That is the advantage of using a WiFi "backhaul" connection between the units.  The satellite can be moved (and moved again) until the best location is found.

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

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@alokeprasad wrote:

I have the base/router placed in the front of the house.  The satellite will be at the rear of the house.  This is just the way the cable outlet is laid out.

Is there any undertanding on the broadcast pattern (laterally, and vertically) of the signals from the base and satellites? 

I'd prefer to send the wifi signals towards the inside of the house and up to the 2nd floor, and not across the street. How to best orient these for that and effective beam-forming to devices inside and up on the 2nd floor?

These have fixed intennas inside, so presumably, send the signals in some dipole pattern ...

---

There are some nice pictures of the antennas in the FCC filing: https://fccid.io/PY316200341/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-RBR50-RBS50-rev-pdf-3926901.iframe 

You are correct.  There are two sets of 2.4G/5G antennas mounted vertically, which will radiate in a typical dipole "torus" pattern.  And, yes, half of the signal will be broadcast toward the outside.  Nothing can be done to avoid that.  The signal will be weaker directly above (and below) the units.

Since Orbi supports MIMO, the best orientation would be to have the "flat side" of the Orbi facing inside the house (rather than the end which would put the one set of user antennas directly behind the other one).

It may take some experimentation to find the optimal location.  Netgear often shows the satellite on the 2nd floor toward the middle of the house.  That is the advantage of using a WiFi "backhaul" connection between the units.  The satellite can be moved (and moved again) until the best location is found.

[alokeprasad]

Thanks for that great link!

It is hard to believe that these have such small fixed antennae while the NightHawk (and some Asus) WiFi routers are sprouting antennae everywhere! And adjustable too.

I'm replacing my R9000 X10 with the RBK50.  I wonder how the range of the base RBK50 compares to the R9000 ...I hope it is better.  The strength of the 5GHz channel of the R9000 drops quite abit at the place where I plan to place the RBK50 satellite.

[CrimpOn]

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@alokeprasad wrote:

Thanks for that great link!

It is hard to believe that these have such small fixed antennae while the NightHawk (and some Asus) WiFi routers are sprouting antennae everywhere! And adjustable too.

I'm replacing my R9000 X10 with the RBK50.  I wonder how the range of the base RBK50 compares to the R9000 ...I hope it is better.  The strength of the 5GHz channel of the R9000 drops quite abit at the place where I plan to place the RBK50 satellite.

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My guess is that you will find the Orbi signal strength comparable to any other WiFi router.  The FCC regulates the "radiated signal" at the antenna, which is a combination of transmit power and antenna gain. I find this reference interesting:

https://afar.net/tutorials/fcc-rules/ 

Hmm. I may take my Dremel to one of those large antennas and see how big the dipole inside actually is.

[FURRYe38]

30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite