Hi Gain GPRS GSM antenna

louis346789

I am looking to improve mobile broadband reception on boat by as much as possible.
I see hi gain antenna at
http://thewifishop.net/3g-broadband-/-gprs/high-gain-10dbi-3g-antenna-with-magnetic-base/prod_150.html

that gives 10 dbi gain. anyone any advise on will this work or on better options
thanks

Louis

watty

That needs a metal surface, won't work properly on Fibreglass.

If you are on ocean rather than inland waterways you need portable/Mobile satellite, not an aerial.

You are unlikely to get more than 6dB from that which will nearly double the range.


See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGAN
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuraya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_Satellite_LLC

The reality is that Mobile 3G has a tiny fraction of range for Data compared to voice. You need about 1000x signal for decent data as a minimum for a voice call.

ingen

louis346789 wrote: »

I am looking to improve mobile broadband reception on boat by as much as possible.
I see hi gain antenna at
http://thewifishop.net/3g-broadband-/-gprs/high-gain-10dbi-3g-antenna-with-magnetic-base/prod_150.html

that gives 10 dbi gain. anyone any advise on will this work or on better options
thanks

Louis

i assume you use inland waterways? or coastal? i just fitted a globesurfer 3, with external antenna sma connector, and an external antenna http://www.globesurfer.co.uk/globesurfer/3G_Antennas.html

it work grand for general use, however when far from land 3g signal is sparce.

i got the HGO-3G antenna.

i also use inmarsat, fleet broadband, speed up to 432Kbps, with a sailor / thrane and thrane unit, its expensive at $13.50 per mb, but you can use many marine programs that compress emails, etc to reduce data usage.

i dont know what your usage requirements are, but i mainly use the inmarsat for weather, the odd small txt email, and uploading boat position to web.


and also 3g coverage falls off very quick when you head out a bit from coast, however 2g goes much further.


i have the iridium 9555, also which comes with fiddly software that you install on the laptop, that does the compression via the software, and you connect the phone via usb, the software is called direct internet 3 and you can install on mac or pc. it works but is slower than the inmarsat, and i pay $1.25 per minute for the data transfer over iridium network, ( if i use it) speeds are 2.4 Kbs/s.


these satellite systems can be very very expensive, but are probably over kill for what you are looking for,

louis346789

hi this is for inland waterways ( river shannon) there is patchy coverage with normal gsm antenna. i want to improve on this

watty

Well, the linked aerial needs about 1m x 1m of sheet metal (any kind) to mount. it's a magnetic base intended for parked car.

puting it on a pole or short mast with 6 rods horizontal (each about 15cm) at the magnet would do instead and help a bit.

  \     /
    \ /
---- O -----
    / \
  /     \

top view of mast
O = magnet base 

louis346789

hi watty
thank you. i can do that. is there any additional things i can do that would help such as amps
louis

watty

No, you can't do anything with amplifiers

louis346789

i see one here that needs no base area. its more expensiove but wouled it be better

http://www.wpsantennas.com/295-pw-digitalantennaincpowermaxglobalmulti-band9dbicellphoneantenna.aspx

watty

needs a minimum length metal pole and is improved by the radial rods (at which point it doesn't need a metal pole).

Probably a better choice as there is no sensible method of mounting the other one.

9dBi = 6.8dBd

So about 6dB gain. Any higher gain needs a directional aerial bolted on a wall. The beamwidth vertically is reduce as you increase gain which is why ALL higher gain aerials need to be on a mast or pole and not at deck height.

Use FME or N-type connectors and RG213 cable if any distance to modem as the skinny cable loses a lot of TX and RX signal. Use 30cm of cable tail to modem of skinny cable e.g. RG174