Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Ronski]

I have a wireless router in my loft that I use as my access point, it basically covers the whole house pretty well, except for our bedroom. Our house is an L shaped house, and if you imagine the router is in the middle of the upright of the L then the very bottom right hand side of the L doesn't get very good reception.

The router has three removable aerials, last night I put three external aerials on and spread them out, so they are spaced 1.5 meters apart, spanning a total of about 3 meters.

Would moving the aerials further apart improve things, or do they need to be close together to function correctly?

I tried Googling but was swamped by results, nothing I read seemed to answer my question.

[JGO]

I suggest the first thing is to check for interference - say with one of the software tools available. With luck (!) getting the clearest channel will stop the WiFi receiver screwing down the speed, not because of poor signal, but for poor S/ (N and I) ratio.

If not, you really need expert help on site, as there are about (infinity)^4 ways to set up your aerials so trial and error will be very slow and painful. Sorry .

[Ronski]

Thanks for reply, I've used [ur=http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/l]insidder [/url]to scan the channels on my tablet, it even recommends the best channel to use - been well aware of this for years, but worth mentioning though.

It not the best position/angle/location I'm asking for, as I realise there are so many variables. It whether it's OK to spread the aerials around the loft using extension leads and separate aerial mounts.

Obviously a router is quite a small device so the three aerials are close together, what I thought would aid signal distribution was to use extension leads and aerial mounts to effectively spread the three aerials out over a larger area, but I don't know whether this will cause problems, or improve things.

Hope that makes sense. 

[burakkucat]

I believe that the three aerials are split into 'two of one function' and 'one of the other'! (I.e. two transmit and one receive or one transmit and two receive.)

Perhaps you should consider using the leaky feeder technique across your roof-space? 

Solwise - leaky feeder cable
Google search - leaky feeder

[broadstairs]

I was having problems with wi-fi reception around the house especially downstairs with my wi-fi router upstairs, so having an access point I was not using I decided to use mains transmission of the ethernet signal downstairs and place the ap in the lounge. I found that the signal was radiated much much better around the whole house from the downstairs ap so I now have wireless disabled on the router and just use the ap.

Could the problem be that your router is where it is in the loft?

Stuart

[Ronski]

Thanks for the replies, the leaky cable looks a good idea, but looks like it will work out more expensive than buying another access point.

I have my main router downstairs, with wireless, but it's never given a very good signal, so I put my old one in the loft which vastly improved things, but still leaves one area that doesn't have good reception on my tablet.

[broadstairs]

I think one of the issues with wi-fi is that routers are often very variable in their wireless capability, sometimes I think wireless is an afterthought and so performance is sub-optimal often. Whereas access points may be better as their design criteria is wireless.

Stuart

[JGO]

Ronski, having slept on the problem it may be that you are not getting a good signal in the "Toe" area because the signal has to pass through two outer walls on it's way ?

So IF you could locate the aerial right on the angle it could see both ways.  Would be inclined to go for one element only; more may give you nulls which by Murphy's law will be in the desired direction !

[asbokid]

The aerials are probably being used for Antenna Diversity for MIMO.

MIMO is a technique that uses multiple antennas to exploit the multiple propagation paths that a signal takes between each of the antennae in a microwave radio system.

Each propagation path will have a slightly different length and therefore each signal will arrive at a slightly different phase.

The idea is to identify those different propagation paths from each antenna, and to modulate different data on each of them.  In theory, this should see an increase in bandwidth and reliability.

Traditionally in radio-communications, multiple propagation paths cause an undesirable phenomenon known as multi-path fading. This is where the signals from each path all converge at the receiver where they interfere with each other, impacting bandwidth and stability. 

MIMO seeks not only to overcome the problems of multiple propagation paths but to exploit the phenomenon.

Those "rubber duck" antennae that you have at the moment will be omni-directional, radiating the signal wastefully.  So perhaps measure the sort of signal dispersion you need to cover your whole house efficiently, including the "toe", and then purchase high gain directional antennae to suit. 

cheers, a

[JGO]

"Those "rubber duck" antennae that you have at the moment will be omni-directional, radiating the signal wastefully.  So perhaps measure the sort of signal dispersion you need to cover your whole house efficiently, including the "toe", and then purchase high gain directional antennae to suit."

Yes BUT,  high gain (highly directional is essential for high gain) implies physically big multi element, even at WiFi frequencies. As WiFi is usually aimed at avoiding disturbing the look of the the house with cable connections, the cure could be worse than the disease.  Suggest if two lobes from the heel, one toward the toe, the other up the leg,  doesn't prove a workable solution then it is time to think again from scratch.

Suggest the multipath problem is not fading; if either transmitter,receiver or reflection point is moving you have  more serious problems, like an earthquake !
AIUI adaptive aerials aim to steer a null on to the unwanted reflection(s) but again more elements, 1 extra per null.

 

[Ronski]

Thanks for all the replies, I'll post details of the equipment I'm using later, as I'm at work at the moment.

@JGO What are these nulls you refer to?

[JGO]

@JGO What are these nulls you refer to?

Nulls in the polar plot of aerial gain vs angle.  Steer one onto an unwanted reflection and it isn't there ! 

[Ronski]

The hardware I have is as follows.

Router/DHCP server DGND3700 V1 I think.
Router configured as access point in loft Edimax BR-6574n Output power  11n: 16±1dBm, 11g: 16±1dBm 11b:18±1dBm

I did notice this today on the Edimax site, which looks interesting EW-7428HCn, until I noticed the network port was only 10/100Mbps, why make what looks like a great device and then cripple* it with 10/100, surely 1Gbps port hardware doesn't cost much more???

• 11b@11Mbps: 26+/-1.5dBm
• 11g@54Mbps: 24+/-1.5dBm
• 11n (20MHz)@MCS15: 23+/-1.5dBm
• 11n (40MHz)@MCS15: 23+/-1.5dBm
(power is limited to 20dBm in Europe due to CE regulations)  --- tell it your not in the EU and probably an instant power boost!

May still be an option, as I only use the wireless for the tablets/phones/and occasionally the laptop.

*Or is it a case that Wireless N will not even saturate a 100Mbps connection?