Parabolic Grid for Wi-FI

onedavester · Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: Parabolic Grid for Wi-FI

Will a CONIFER 2.4GHz MAG GRID PARABOLIC ANTENNA work on Verizon's 1.9Ghz EVDO? I kinda put the cart before the horse and bought one today. I am including a pic for reference.

Also does the pic show the correct orientation for EVDO or does it have to be sideways?

I know these questions have been asked for other Grid antennas but I want to know specifically about this make and model.

Thanks in advance.

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:15 pm Post subject:

That should work just fine. It does need to have vertical polarization which is opposite as pictured. So, turn the whole thing , feed and all, sideways
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Jayson · Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:11 pm Post subject:

Dave let us know how it works for you ...if you get any improvments and whatnot....
I have been thinking of buying one of those and wonder how it does!!!....

exagerie · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:08 am Post subject:

Dave, I'd like to know if you have line of site to your tower that you'll be using that antenna on.

My initial try with an antenna like that didn't work out for me. It was the wintertime and I couldn't really fool with it much. Now that it's nice and sunny I'm going to try again. By the way, I know where to point the antenna but I don't have line of site. Trees and hills. Sad

Any information is appreciated.

onedavester · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject:

Line of sight. I do depending on the time of year and right now I am just clearing a line of trees with a dual band Yagi and getting mixed results because two towers are in direct line with each other so the antenna is bouncing back and forth between two towers. This is actually a nightmare for me because the antenna keeps drifting from the tower 8 miles away to the tower 5 1/2 miles away. Some nights I get up to -78db and run at speeds between 700-900k and ping yahoo.com as low as 89ms. Tonight I got almost nothing as if one of the towers is down. I have tried to just catch the edge of one of the towers hoping the Yagi will ignore the other with no success.

We are in the middle of the worst rainy summer weather since I was born in Upstate New York so that is affecting me as well. My hope is that the new antenna will be more stabile if nothing else.

The funny thing is that I can surf better without my amplifier hooked up on most days. It is as if the noise level is being amplified just as strongly as the signal boost so that is a problem as well. I have seen these Wi-Fi antennas do amazing things with Wi-Fi before so I am hopeful.

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject:

One thing to keep in mind when selecting a antenna is the dB gain. Particularly in your situation where you have two cell towers in line. By decreasing the dB your reduce the RF reach, which can minimize or eliminate the furthest tower. For example:

If the far tower is at/near the limits of the 12 dB pattern and you use a 6 dB gain antenna that far tower would be eliminated.
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onedavester · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:34 pm Post subject:

That is a terrific illustration and exactly why I keep trying to catch the edge of one tower while ignoring the other. So far it has been a challenge. Right now I am on the desired tower as I write this post with only 1 bar and -98db and am flying at 700-800k down and pings to yahoo.com as low as 99ms.

Last night I could not connect at all with 3 bars and a -78db signal as if the tower was not functioning because it works fine today without re-aiming.

I am hoping this parabolic I am about to get will help. I have until 8/26 before my 30 day trial is up and I do not want to give up but may have to if this stays consistently inconsistent as I work out of my home office at night and need some decent broadband solution.

There is a company I have been in touch with that uses towers for fixed wireless broadband but they want $169.00 month to month, $159.00 with a 1 year contract and $149.oo a month with a 2 year. $95.00 installation fee and a speed QOS guarantee of a minimum of 1mbs down and 512 up. I don't see how this is possible but almost want to spend the money just to see. They also have a 30 day money back except for the install fee trial so they are very confident this will work at my location.

If anyone is interested in this solution PM me as I don’t want to give them free advertising in here.

onedavester · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject:

BTW..anyone know why we cannot edit our posts? If I want to add something or correct spelling on a post I cannot.

here is my speed shot I meant to add above:

BajaMnstr · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 06 Dec 2007 Posts: 11

The antenna will definitely work, you'll loose a few dB of gain though, because the collector is made to resonate at 2.4ghz. For example i have a 23dBi parabolic grid antenna like yours that i had bought from hyperlink. When i ran it through my anyritsu spectrum analyzer and graphed the data i had lost about 2 db over the same antenna with 2.4ghz as a source. so it's definitely worth it for about 21dBi of gain.
remember though every 3dB is about half the power or double depending on direction. But either way you slice it, you can't beat it for a nice directionalized high gain antenna. I also use mine NLOS on 1.9ghz. and i get great signal and the tower is roughly 8miles alway

-Wayne

onedavester · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:34 pm Post subject:

Sounds very encouraging and I am grateful that someone with a spectrum analyzer stepped in here as it makes me feel a little bit more "warm and fuzzy" about this antenna. I am receiving the antenna this Friday and have till next Saturday before my trial runs out so I hope I can get a decent enough lock to want to keep this service.

n6gn · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:04 pm Post subject:

onedavester · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:04 am Post subject:

I also like the idea that if you have to put it up high, it has much less wind resistance than traditional cellular antennas of any sort.

onedavester · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:02 am Post subject:

Ok Boys and Girls here is my preliminary results with my new antenna. Draw your own conclusions:

I will tell you that my old Yagi would work with or without my Wilson amp. This new Parabolic Grid has to have the amplifier or I can only get about -103 at best. With the amp I get a steady lock now at -93db. With the Yagi and amp combined I use to get as good as -78db but my pings were higher and my signal faded out constantly.

Bottom line the Parabolic locks in and stays locked much more and even with a signal as low as - 110 I can still surf at 500k plus as to with the Yagi at anything over -103 I couldn't use it at all.

I will show some screen shots of the antenna set up and where I am having to point it to get through some trees about 1/4 mile away with great success. I am also actually looking forward to Fall as when the leaves go away my speeds are almost sure to get better. There is also a new tower scheduled to go up soon in another direction that I may have a better line of sight to. Even though it is further away, because of my results I am confident that it should be as good if not better.

onedavester · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:06 am Post subject:

Ok Boys and Girls here is my preliminary results with my new antenna. Draw your own conclusions:

I will tell you that my old Yagi would work with or without my Wilson amp. This new Parabolic Grid has to have the amplifier or I can only get about -103 at best. With the amp I get a steady lock now at -93db. With the Yagi and amp combined I use to get as good as -78db but my pings were higher and my signal faded out constantly.

Bottom line the Parabolic locks in and stays locked much more and even with a signal as low as - 110 I can still surf at 500k plus as to with the Yagi at anything over -103 I couldn't use it at all.

I will show some screen shots of the antenna set up and where I am have to point it to get through some trees about 1/4 mile away with great success. I am also actually looking forward to Fall as when the leaves go away my speeds are almost sure to get better. There is also a new tower scheduled to go up soon in another direction that I may have a better line of sight to. Even though it is further away, because of my results I am confident that it should be as good if not better.

onedavester · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:06 am Post subject:

Moderators, please remove my duplicate post.