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Can you replace a booster indoor antenna with an outdoor antenna?

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2020 8:48 pm
by optymyze
Hey everyone! New here. I've researched all that I can alone, and now I need some help to answer some of my questions. Basically, my family lives in rural, eastern Kentucky and have satellite internet. We get 0 bars at home because we live in a small hollow.

However, dummy me just recently remembered that on top of our mountain (TOM here on) we have a clear LOS to a Verizon tower. With my phone I get 25mbps down, 6mbps up at TOM.

Here is the clear LOS shot from TOM to the Verizon tower. This is using exact GPS coordinates of the tower and registered height. I'm just using ubiquiti's airlink software 900mhz setting to simulate the link since what Im receiving is 700mhz (Band 13). I have a frequency meter on the way so I can see if I'm getting any other freqs. (*The shot is actually 17 miles, not 20)
Image

*And yes, I'm sure I'm getting those speeds from this specific tower because all other towers are blocked by large mountains and once I block this one, I'm back to 0 bars*

Soooooo, I've been crunching all kinds of research on how to beam this connection down to my house. It appears the biggest question I can't seem to get answered anywhere is this:

Can I replace the indoor (low gain, not very directional) antenna with an outdoor (higher gain, more directional) antenna so that I can better redistribute the cell signal down to my home (and maybe my grandmas and uncle nextdoor)?

So it's easy to picture, here is what is happening currently:
Image

Here is what I'm trying to get to happen:
Image

I want to beam it about 1,000 ft and through a light amount of trees.

If I can do this, would it be ok to use a typical booster like this one?
https://is.gd/5aG0SY

or would I be better off with the CelFi because it has so much higher gain on the boost, thus making the redirecting antenna more effective (now an outdoor yagi rather than internal panel)?
https://is.gd/2loq1d

If I can't do this^ using a booster, my next solution is to convert the signal to Internet using a modem, then beam it down using WiFi. I'm confident that this WiFi method would work maybe using 2.4ghz but definitely 900mhz AP equipment. I just wanted to get the actual cell signal (voice included) down here if I can. Regardless of which of the above is actually possible, I'm looking into maximizing my TOM link with a parabolic grid or MIMO panel.

All help is greatly appreciated!

***EDIT: I'm leaning toward actually making both setups, the LTE antenna (here I
m going all out) setup to WiFi beam down, and then a cheap cell 700mhz antenna -> booster -> distributing antenna setup***

Re: Can you replace a booster indoor antenna with an outdoor antenna?

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:22 am
by ironman_gq
You can usually put a different antenna on the boosters, what booster are you using?

You won't have any luck beaming service 1000' with a booster regardless of the antenna you use, you might be able to run a cable that far. With LMR600 cable you'd lose about 25db of signal strength just in the cable, if you have a strong enough booster and good signal at the receiving antenna it might work. Probably won't be cheap and would work best with a high gain single band receiving antenna

Re: Can you replace a booster indoor antenna with an outdoor antenna?

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2020 7:55 am
by toddw
You could do this, its a project I'm working on...

Line of sight antenna is mounted 1k feet from your home. It comes into an all weather enclosure that has a LTE router. Multiple large solar panels and battery array in separate enclosure, powering the equipment. A pair of ubiquiti nano M2's, one in AP mode connected via ethernet to the router....

One at the house pointing up at the AP mode ubiquiti in sation mode. Then hook up a wifi router of your choice to it. After that, enable wifi calling on all your devices.

I have done this with large rural properties that have outlying buildings (barns, shops, etc) that have power. The solar panel/battery box is a new project I'm looking to try to help folks out.

Re: Can you replace a booster indoor antenna with an outdoor antenna?

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 8:15 am
by caezar
Question: Can I use the existing 3 gauge run, install an electrical panel out by the original 42 panel array and connect breakers from both array inverters to the new electrical panel ?