Help me figure out Cellular antennas

[Tnedator]

Currently, I have two Poynting 2-in1 Cellular (2x2 mimo) and I'm running a Max Transit Duo with two sims active at all times.

In the coming months, I plan to overhaul my setup, and will likely go to:

Max BR2 Pro 5G with two active sims + Max BR1 Pro 5G with active sim in BR2 wan port (or some other setup with three 5G capable modems all active for bonding, redundancy, etc. - will soon be adding a t-mobile sim into my mix).

So, at minimum I need to add a third antenna, and more likely upgrade to 4x4 MIMO antennas? I'm assuming there are no combo antennas that would handle multiple radios at the same time?

Any advice from anyone that recently has gone down this route/researched current offerings would be greatly appreciated. Not looking for the cheapest, but instead the best.

I have zero ability to fabricate, 3D print, etc., so will be looking at fairly basic installs (currently flat on my roof, but tried to install them so would have both be blocked by same AC unit, for instance).

 

[Neal]

Personally I'd not put Wi-Fi on the roof so I'd only get antennas for cellular. My two favs are the Pepwave and Parsec's. Make sure whatever you get is 5G compatible. If you don't need a long wire run, don't get long wires. The parsec husky has outperformed cellular IMHO, but not Wi-Fi. Pepwave did much better with Wi-Fi on the roof, but again, I'll never do Wi-Fi on the roof again and I will make sure leads are as short as possible. I have 15ft leads on my 2 x Parsec Huskies mounted on top of the air conditioner shrouds and they are performing outstanding in spite of 15ft leads.

 

[Tnedator]

If I do three, how far apart do you think they need to be? I think I could get from my middle AC to wiring closet in 7-10' I think. Back AC, would probably be 15'. Would also have one or two fan shrouds as well, but not as tall and maybe not as sturdy.

 

[Neal]

I have one on the front A/C the other on the rear A/C. Pepwave said around a foot apart back when I 3D printed mounts for the Pepwave's prior to switching to Parsec's. I don't know for Parsec. They have good support, try reaching out to them.

 

[Tnedator]

I have one on the front A/C the other on the rear A/C. Pepwave said around a foot apart back when I 3D printed mounts for the Pepwave's prior to switching to Parsec's. I don't know for Parsec. They have good support, try reaching out to them.

With both of them having wires coming out the bottom, how did you mount them on AC. Did you 3D print something for on top of the AC's to mount the collar and route the wires?

On separate note, how difficult is creating 3D stuff? I don't mind buying a printer, just no clue on how you guys actually fabricate mounts and stuff.

 

[Neal]

I used a hole saw and cut the appropriate size hole in the top of the shroud. Used the included nut to attach the antenna. Wires run down the side and out where the "clam shell" connects, no issue at all getting the wires routed out. I did use a wire loom wrap to keep all of the wires together then adhesive cable ties to secure the run to the roof.

3D printing typically requires some CAD/CAM skills. You can tinker around at tinkercad.com and see if you get the bug for it or not.

 

[Neal]

Both of these antennas come with various mounting options such as pole mount brackets as well. Just have to be creative like we have to figure out with Starlink.

 

[Tnedator]

Thanks. In all the years in and around tech, I've never had a need to do any CAD work. I might play around and see if I can, since it would be cool to be able to fabricate things.

 

[Tnedator]

Last question. I've never run wire through the roof, I've had a dealer do it. Now, I have one large or two small holes for the current antenna.

Do you normally run it all through one hole, or one hole for each antenna? If you have to drill a new hole, how do you know you aren't going to hit something important?

Do you use on of the cable entry plates, and then put Dicor around it, or do you also use tape or what?

In my case, I don't have the fiberglass roof, I have the Brite Tek roof if that matters. Would like to do this run myself rather than dealer.

 

[Neal]

I typically do one hole per antenna but with the 7-in-1's I've had to run Wi-Fi down one hole and Cellular another to reuse what I had in the past. GPS wherever it fits as well. I put some type of cap/guard over it then fill with Sikaflex 221 then top with Dicor as needed.

Very careful planning, a wi-fi endoscope can help although never did much for me other than "what did I just hit" and yeah, it's risky so only drill through a layer at a time, investigate, etc. Over my driver's seat is actually two layers, the roof and then there is a top part of the compartment. It's a treat. Nothing a credit card can't fix.

Careful planning. Measure 10 times before doing anything. Small hole before large hole.