FYI Pepwave Puma Antenna Mount "Tower" (3D Print)

[Neal]

As I recently upgraded to a Pepwave MAX Transit CAT 18 cellular router and Pepwave antennas, one for cellular and one for wifi, I wanted to design a new antenna mount. The antennas come with mounting accessories to attach to a pole or wall of any sort so this is completely unnecessary but allowed me to do some therapeutic CAD design and 3D printing which is my hobby. I designed an antenna mount which I'll call a "tower" as the goal is to elevate this as I can't reach my airconditioner unit as the top shroud is my preferred mounting location but I don't want to add cable length from what came on the antennas which is 6.5 ft if I recall. In my previous panorama antenna mounts I put them side by side with about 10 inch separation which concerned me a little. This time around I want the two antennas to be at different heights so as not to obstruct any line of site coverage of the cellular antenna by the wifi antenna. Therefore I 3D printed two separate "towers" with the wifi tower being lower so the cellular antenna has a clear view at the mounting plane 360 degrees.

It's ready to mount so it will be put into use soon. 3M double-sided tape will adhere it so the fiberglass roof surface.

Thingiverse - The community for Open Hardware

Thingiverse - The community for Open Hardware

www.thingiverse.com

Printed with Prusa i3 MK3S using PETG filament (prusament jet black), 15% infill, no supports needed. Print time: 19h

 

[flyboy013]

What CAD software are you using? I purchased a Creality3D Ender-3 this summer but so far I've only printed stuff from Thingiverse. I need to start designing my own stuff. I haven't done any CAD work in the past so I'm looking for something that that's relatively easy to use to get me started.

 

[Neal]

I use Fusion360. I suggest beginners start with Tinkercad.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

As I recently upgraded to a Pepwave MAX Transit CAT 18 cellular router and Pepwave antennas, one for cellular and one for wifi, I wanted to design a new antenna mount. The antennas come with mounting accessories to attach to a pole or wall of any sort so this is completely unnecessary but allowed me to do some therapeutic CAD design and 3D printing which is my hobby. I designed an antenna mount which I'll call a "tower" as the goal is to elevate this as I can't reach my airconditioner unit as the top shroud is my preferred mounting location but I don't want to add cable length from what came on the antennas which is 6.5 ft if I recall. In my previous panorama antenna mounts I put them side by side with about 10 inch separation which concerned me a little. This time around I want the two antennas to be at different heights so as not to obstruct any line of site coverage of the cellular antenna by the wifi antenna. Therefore I 3D printed two separate "towers" with the wifi tower being lower so the cellular antenna has a clear view at the mounting plane 360 degrees.

It's ready to mount so it will be put into use soon. 3M double-sided tape will adhere it so the fiberglass roof surface.

Thingiverse - The community for Open Hardware

Thingiverse - The community for Open Hardware

www.thingiverse.com

Printed with Prusa i3 MK3S using PETG filament (prusament jet black), 15% infill, no supports needed. Print time: 19h

View attachment 4112

That sure is pretty! Nicely done.

TJ

 

[VTPete]

Pretty cool Neal. Great idea, wish I'd considered this option. It would appear you can then use only the stock 6.5' cables without the extension if mounted in the front cabinet?
Is it absolutely confirmed the Puma series do not require a groundplane? THey appear to be monopole antennas like the other brands that require them.
What kind of adhesive tape will handle the wind resistance buffeting this thing? I'd hate to see this pricey antenna GWTW.
Lastly, any thoughts about how far apart you'll space the two antennas?

 

[Neal]

I'm intending to roof mount these, if I was to remain internal only then I would stick with the paddle antennas. Puma does not require a ground plane. This is what I use for adhesive after using a scotchguard pad to clean off any yuck off the fiberglass then a 91% or better ISO alcohol cleaning. I can tell you my old antenna mounts that got broken are still partially on the roof as they are very hard to break free so the adhesion is very strong. When I mount these I'll finish removing the old mounts that won the battle last attempt.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Y7E2T2/?tag=rvf01-20

I've done various research on antennas, even on the RV Mobile Internet membership area and results as usual with cellular are all over the place. No one probably invests the money like Apple does with antenna testing and tuning. I suspect all of these external/outdoor antennas (anything outside a phone) are less than optimal and pick your preference and hope for the best. I still have all of my antennas on the roof other than the SureCall which I believe got taken out from a close call on a highway bridge overpass (scary). I would often change around from panorama 5 or 2-in-1, panorama omni, and surecall omni. Various locations have ones doing better than others. My last camping trip (trip from hell) the tiny panorama omni's did best with Verizon. I hate cellular!

 

[VTPete]

Others have internal ground planes as well but still suggest external, like Micromark. A metal plate within the top of your stand would suffice, it might assist with the rigidity of the structure as well. I think it can only help. I'm NO expert, but I think of a ground plane for an antenna as similar to having a high quality audio recording environment. If you don't have a properly designed room that eliminates standing waves and undesirable frequency interactions, you need to use trade off's like a microphone isolation shield, so the sound waves aren't entering after interacting with the environment out of phase etc.. An antenna on top of an RV on a ground plane allows you to reduce the interaction of reflected radio waves that reduce the efficiency of the antenna. I don't think too much is undesirable.

 

[Neal]

Others have internal ground planes as well but still suggest external, like Micromark. A metal plate within the top of your stand would suffice, it might assist with the rigidity of the structure as well. I think it can only help. I'm NO expert, but I think of a ground plane for an antenna as similar to having a high quality audio recording environment. If you don't have a properly designed room that eliminates standing waves and undesirable frequency interactions, you need to use trade off's like a microphone isolation shield, so the sound waves aren't entering after interacting with the environment out of phase etc.. An antenna on top of an RV on a ground plane allows you to reduce the interaction of reflected radio waves that reduce the efficiency of the antenna. I don't think too much is undesirable.

View attachment 4115

No, ground plane not required, went through this with panorama and reached out to them, also not required. A ground plane has to be a specific size which is quite large actually, I think it's around 8in x 8in. I actually put one under my surecall mounts to test it.

 

[flyboy013]

I use Fusion360. I suggest beginners start with Tinkercad.

Neil - Thanks for the suggestion. I did start with Tinkecad and quickly moved up to Fusion 360. When my son (4th year VT aerospace engineering student) was home for Thanksgiving he taught me a few things when I got stuck. I've printed a few things for my mod which extends the Sanicon output to an exterior discharge pipe. I had to 3D print a few things to get the job done.

 

[Neal]

Nice job! It's always better to try and design your own vs. using others' from thingiverse etc. so you learn. Keep up the great work and welcome to the addiction fun of 3D printing.

 

[AbdRahim]

Hope you don't get any roof leaks with all of these changes. I may have to meet up with you when my Wi-Fi Ranger is totally obsolete.
I will even spring for thee pineapple pizza.

 

[Neal]

They are all glued on not screwed but I’d have no problem with screws. Did that initially such as with WiFi ranger. Dicor is the key.

it’s obsolete. Bring pizza.

 

[ComplicatedVan]

This is a tangent from the original thread but I wanted to ask a question about antenna placement and interference (and possible self-created mount options) and I didn't want to miss out on all the expertise of those on this thread if I posted and you all missed it. One possible solution would be figuring out how to make a mount that raises the antenna, and that's what this thread is about.

I have decided to go with a Parsec Husky roof mount antenna with a Max Transit Cat-18. I want to be able to get good signal in boondocking situations and the Husky is best in fringe locations according to my research on RV Mobile Internet.

The problem is by the time I'd figured this all out we'd gotten pretty far along in the roof design of my Ram Promaster and we'd already installed the MaxxAir and planned out the solar array.

Was about to order the Parsec from Mobile Must Have today and I asked the associate if mounting the Parsec's exterior edge 12" from my MaxxAir would be a big problem (hoped it wasn't, was only thinking about the materials - plastic - and not about electricity). He said that when the MaxxAir was on the electricity used to run it would create a magnetic field and would cause interference with my nearby Parsec.

As there will be countless times when I want internet and the fan at the same time, do you experts think I should forego the Parsec for a smaller antenna like the Mobile Mark, thus adding a few inches distance (though still not recommended 18")?

THANK YOU FOR ANY INSIGHT.