Question

I have an RTU 950 connected to two of these aerials 4G LTE Marine outdoor MIMO omni antenna they are mounted about 6' (180cm) above the height of the deck. One aerial is being used for 3/4G the other for the Wifi extender function.

My question is this. Are these the best antennas I can use to get the longest range and to pick up the weakest of signals. My reception for 3/4G seems good but as a WIFI extender I do not seem to be able to connect to any services unless the signal is very close i.e less than 200m. What are the recommended antennas for this device and should the 3/4g antenna be of the same design as the wifi extender?

Should I put the antennas up the mast, my mast is 25m tall so whilst the height is good the cable length would need to be very long probably over 40m.

Answer 1

Hello, Paul,

Thank you for contacting us.
I would like to inform, that in most case, WiFi antennas could reach up to 100 meter in line of sight.
Provide a wireless signal up to 200 meters is really outstanding result.
Placing antenna on a higher place also will not give any wanted effect, because every meter of the cable from antenna to the router will weaken receiving signal.
Hope it helps.

Best regards,

Sigitas

Comments

You misunderstand me I am looking to pick up shore based WIFI and use that to access the internet. So if we are on our boat and there is a cafe on the shore and we know the password we went to be able to use that WIFI on the boat. The problem we have is the reception is poor. Some systems sold by other companies are reporting reception of more that /12 a mile

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Hello, Paul,

Thank you for a reply.
Well, I understand question correctly and the answer remains the same - this antenna will not receive better results, than having at the moment, using this external antenna.
Let me explain why:
I do not know for sure, but I guess, that this cafe at the beach shore, for sharing WiFi for a customer using a simple access point. These devices have up to 6-7 dB antennas and are designed to cover a small areas. Also, they in most case have circular radiation pattern. More information could be found in our wiki. 
Having a powerful receiver, you are able to get some fragment of this signal, but this signal is very weak and should provide very low speed. In order to have a better connection, in this case, Cafe should have directional antenna, placed directly to your boat, but again the maximum distance of properly working in ideal conditions, will be around 150-200 meters.
In order to receive WiFi longer than this distance, will need a more complex solution, like point to point antennas.
Hope it helps.

Best regards,

Sigitas