Hi all,

There is a Chateau 5G (D53G-5HacD2HnD) working in a hangar, which is of course a Faraday cage. I know The hangar is 100x50 meters.

1. Can you recommend an antenna for the Chateau 5G that I can place outside of the hangar? Ideally the antenna will be 5G compatible but LTE is also okay.
Is it correct to assume that the LTE antennas from MikroTik are not 5G compatible?

2. Can you recommend a mobile app that I can use to measure the reception quality in different areas inside the hangar. I am asking this because after 2 days of trials we finally found a spot in the hangar that has the following (best so far) reception:
LTE - almost 50-70 Mbps
5G - 3-5 Mbps only (that is why we had to disable it (/interface/lte/set lte1 network-mode=3g,lte). The 5G is unstable and switches back to LTE most of the time.
Providing power for the Chateau 5G is not very easy in the hangar, that is why I am asking for a mobile app so that we can do sort of a survey with out mobile phones.

Thank you!

I'd recommend you look at what LTE band your carrier is offering, and get an antenna based on that. The Chateau support various band from ~700Mhz to ~4Ghz, but antennas perform differently at various band in use Had good luck with Taoglas and Poyning antennas, but the specs/needs are more important than brand. Here looking at the RF "on the ground" drives the selection. Since the hanger nor cell tower are likely moving, you can likely use a more directional antenna based on the tower's locations. The cable length and type often makes a bigger difference than a particular model of antennas. I'd recommend putting the Chateau as close to where you plan to wire the antenna outside.

Most phones have a "field test mode" that shows the phone's signal data, typically by calling *3001#12345#* on a smartphone. Assuming you have a phone using the same LTE carrier as the Chateau, you can see both the bands and signal (at least from your phone's POV). This may help when looking at antennas. Or moving the the chateau around temporary outside would be even better measurement, since that's what you'll be using.

Mikrotik smartphone apps actually do a pretty good job of showing the signal levels from the Chateau, and have a graph of SINR (or RQSP/RSSI) that can be used in pointing an external antenna.

@Amm0, thank you so much for your time and clear reply.

Looking for any 5G antennas in my country made me realize I should go for LTE antenna instead. And wait for the 5G antennas to become more available on the market. Do you have experience with this antenna: https://mikrotik.com/product/mant_lte_5o

If I assume that the cable type will be the best possible, should the distance between the antenna and the Chateau be like 1-2 meters or can be up to 10-15-20? I have no experience with this at all.

Thank you again!
Ros

Looking for any 5G antennas in my country made me realize I should go for LTE antenna instead. And wait for the 5G antennas to become more available on the market. Do you have experience with this antenna: https://mikrotik.com/product/mant_lte_5o

If I assume that the cable type will be the best possible, should the distance between the antenna and the Chateau be like 1-2 meters or can be up to 10-15-20? I have no experience with this at all.

At US$20, it's hard to beat the price. They have 5dB of gain, while the internal antennas are perhaps 2-3db antennas. And if it's already generally working inside a metal hanger, not sure a higher gain (more expensive) antenna even offer that much more speed. Now with the Chateau 5G, you should be able to use 2 of the mAnt-LTE-5o, and that get you "4x4 MIMO" which is helpful for "carrier aggregation" (e.g. multiple bands) which is used by some 4G bands too. Mikroitk sells 1m cables, you'd need 2 per mAnt, so that length may be best to plan around... Otherwise you'd need some low loss, lower gauge 50ohm cabling with SMA ends.

The MikroTik Pro App would be best for remote testing:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mikrotik/id1323064830
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... oid.tikapp

Regarding antennas, if you look at @Seán's teardown
https://confusedbird.com/thread-119.html

You may need to rewire the external antennas for the best coverage.

Hi,
I am using the mAnt-LTE-5o, but not for speed boost. In normal weather I can reach the same speeds (limited by subscription at 100MBps) with or without the antenna. For more reliability in bad weather conditions. I had issues with my wAP ac LTE6 kit dropping Internet connection with just the the tiny, internal antennas. I don´t have those problems any more.
Btw. at higher LTE Frequencies (LTE6kit supports up to 2.6GHz) you have very high losses using coax cables, so if you use more than a few meters of cable you can loose too much of the signal.
Of course, you pick up also a lot less noise, because the mANT is directional, meaning: even if you loose all of the gain advantage of the mANT it would still be preferable than an omnidirectional built in antenna of your router.

Of course, you pick up also a lot less noise, because the mANT is directional, meaning: even if you loose all of the gain advantage of the mANT it would still be preferable than an omnidirectional built in antenna of your router.

I'm not sure the mANT-LTE-5o is directional however, still an omni... But the gain from just being outside, vs inside a metal hanger, is where I think the advantage here. Totally agree to keep cables short.

You are right! It´s an omnidirectional antenna. Anyway, it seems to be much better than the built in ones and it certainly helped in my case.

Regarding antennas, if you look at @Seán's teardown
https://confusedbird.com/thread-119.html
You may need to rewire the external antennas for the best coverage.

I'd pay attention to this post above. I don't have the 5G mode, so I kinda assumed the Chateau 5G actually have 4 external SMA, since the modem supports 4x4 MIMO, and that it was switchable - neither are true apparently. But @hecatae's link to Sean's "confused bird" posting explains you may need to install SMA pigtails inside of the Chateau 5G if you want all the antennas to be external.

You are right! It´s an omnidirectional antenna. Anyway, it seems to be much better than the built in ones and it certainly helped in my case.

I have two of the mANT-LTE-5o connected to a Chateau LTE12, makes a big difference compared to the internal antenna.

I have two of the mANT-LTE-5o connected to a Chateau LTE12, makes a big difference compared to the internal antenna.

I'm just surprised the 5G doesn't have 4 external antenna ports by default. 4x4 MIMO makes a big difference in performance since it enables carrier aggregation to work effectively.

To the OP, you just want to make sure the cables are 50ohm, if the cable doesn't have specs on loss per meter and ohm rating, I wouldn't buy. Just note that some thick 75 ohm cable (e.g. "RG-6", cable TV) would be a BAD choice. Personally, I'd mount the chateau on the hanger wall near wherever you drill for the antenna cables to go outside – the Wi-Fi likely boom thoughout the hanger regardless of where the Chateau. You could likely use the 1m Mikrotik SMA cables which are the right spec. If you get 2 x mANT-LTE-5o, you need the SMA pigtails to connect up inside the chateau (see the link @hecatae shared).

While the Chateau 5G doesn't do PoE IN (AFAIK), you can always an external passive-PoE to 5.5/2.1 DC jack converter to get you power via ethernet to where it's mounted if there isn't an AC outlet nearby.