David_M
Premium
join:2009-10-13
Calistoga, CA
|  Antenna question for Franklin
Hi, I've been looking over the boards for a while now and am trying to figure out what would be the best kind of antenna for my Franklin CDU-680 modem. I am out in the country and unfortunately about 8-10 miles away from getting cable or dsl. I ran an antenna search report which came up with 6 towers and 101 antennas within its 4 mile max radius & I can see the lights from one of the towers up on the mountain at night. So, I guess what I'm trying to determine is if I should buy a grid, parabolic, dish, whatever antenna. Thank you for any help on this!
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Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA | The parabolic grid is the ultimate. There is no better.
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... need help? »evdo-tips.com/ |
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Max Signal
Premium
join:2008-03-07
Buffalo, NY | reply to David_M
A Cyfre antenna/Amplifier kit would work well. And would be easy to setup |
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David_M
Premium
join:2009-10-13
Calistoga, CA
| reply to Jim_in_VA
Ok, I finally got in a parabolic grid antenna along with a 50' LMR-400 cable, FME/Female to TNC/Female Adapter, and the pigtail for the CDU-680.
Trying to figure out which way to point the dish is another matter, any recommendations. I'll post the speeds after everything is all finished.
Thanks |
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Belinrahs
This ship is taking me far away
join:2007-09-07
Nashville, MI
clubs:  
 ·Millenicom
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
| The best way is to try many different pointings to see which gets you the best signal. You could go up on your roof with a laptop, open the ##DEBUG screen, and keep tuning it till you've got a reasonable signal.
»www.evdo-tips.com/ is the best place to look.
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Sprint MBB thru Millenicom Unlimited service - Franklin CDU-680 (with 32" omni) connected to a CTR-350; Linksys WRT160N running DD-WRT in repeater mode one room away from the Cradlepoint, to cover the house with 4 bars of N WiFi. |
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caribconsult
Premium
join:2003-03-19
Mayaguez, PR
·HughesNet Satellit..
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to David_M
Ah, the fine art of antenna pointing. Do as Belinrahs suggests; get on the roof with your laptop and start by pointing the grid at what you think is the nearest antenna. Use antenna search and get a general idea of the compass headings from your house to the various antennas and mark them to identify them to yourself. You might even lay out some lines with masking tape pointing towards the towers if you can't see them, which is likely if they are 4 miles away. Also, eliminate any locations that are not Sprintcom...there are lots of antennas out there but they don't all carry Sprint.
OK, once you've got one antenna lined up, get connected, open the debug screen, note the RSS, the RX power, the Ec/Io, and the DRC. Write these down. Then run about 7 speed tests, throw out the best and worst and average the rest and note that down, and then proceed to the next tower and start all over. When you get done you'll have some real data on what your device is doing with the different antennas.
Next, you want to go to Jim_in_VA's website »www.evdotip.blogspot.com for some info on how to interpret the data. The highest RSS doesn't always translate into the fastest connection. Ec/Io, or signal to noise ratio has LOTS to do with speed.
Good luck and find that good tower!
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Sierra 598U/Cradlepoint CTR500, grid antenna, Millenicom unlimited, 2 LinkSys WiFi a/p, 4 XPPro and 1 Ubuntu units, FireFox everywhere. |
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