Convert an unused satellite dish into a high-gain 4G LTE antenna

[@JeanWard]

UPDATE: You can view a video I created of the final installation here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5qtl6ZrZt-losU

[@JeanWard]

UPDATE: I played around with the setup and got the dish aligned with the tower nicely now. I tested the speed and I now get the following: Ping 15ms, Download 28Mbps and Upload 7Mbps. Signal measurements are also better now: RSRQ -10.0dB, RSRP -84dBm, RSSI -57dBm and SINR 6dB. The dish is producing around 25dB signal gain. Absolutely incredible results! NOTE: Please be careful if you are getting up on a ladder or working on the roof.

[@harveekim1665]

thank youso much

[@gamersite3458]

What application did you use to know the signal measurements

[@JeanWard]

​@@gamersite3458 I used my routers built in signal measurement capability. See if you can log in to your router and check under something like settings to see if you can access your routers signal measurement tool.

[@shamanthks7218]

@@gamersite3458 If you have a Huawei router, you can use Huawei manager app. Search in youtube for 'Huawei band lock sk tutorials' and select the video uploaded by 'SK tutorials'. Go to the description of the video and there's a link to download the apk file. Install the apk file on your android and input your router login username, password and default gateway (which is usually 192.168.8.1). Hope it helps.

[@hArtist109]

Would've this be 2x2 mimo tho

[@VNV67]

Jean Ward, Hello from Florida... OK First of all I did this about 4 years ago and learned quite a bit. You would be better off if you put the feed arm at the top of the dish or just invert what you have there. I did mine with a mobile hotspot that had places for external antennas. But it also had a plug for USB. I mounted it on the arm like you did and ran a long usb cable back into the radio room. And now I can plug it into the USB 3.0 for internet and it also charges the hotspot. Back to the antenna dish. I had it the way you do in this video but I still could not get a full scale on the signal bars. I went out and looked at it and because of the tilt on the antenna it wasn't seeing the tower straight on. I inverted the dish so the arm was on the top and leveled the dish to where it was pointing straight towards the tower and waalaa with a little bit of adjustment I got a full scale of (5 Bars). This tower I was using was 15.3 kilometers or 9.5 miles away. I never had a loss of signal no matter how hard it rained. Any way great video and thank you..

[@JeanWard]

Awesome Dave, this solution really works well. I'll look into inverting the setup as you explain. Currently I get full signal strength also no matter how hard it rains. Take care!

[@VNV67]

@@JeanWard Are you a Ham Radio Operator? de W4DRA

[@JeanWard]

Hi Dave, I'm not a Ham Radio Operator but I've been into electronics and radio for many decades. I used to operate on 11m DX for many years. I used to work in telecommunication R&D in my younger days :-)

[@olanrewajuismailwale1017]

Pls can i make use of Azsky G1+ Quad Band GPRS adapter ? How do i connect/run the cables up to my laptop ?

[@nednewly]

4G pulls from whichever tower you are closest. As more users pull from the same tower it reduces your data transmissions. Between 01:00am and 05:00 is usually an excellent time for cellular data transmission.

[@JeanWard]

Thank you for the advice nednewly, this setup improved the overall performance of my LTE connection drastically given the interference caused by the neighbors dish which points over my house.

[@x-1584]

Your engineering skills are admirable Jean & salute. 👍👾🤙🥂

[@JeanWard]

Thank you X-15, I hope this is useful information and solves signal strength problems others might have too. It's a much, much cheaper alternative to having to buy two yagi antenna's.

[@Richard-og7mv]

Hi Jean. My dad would've loved this vid. He was into amateur radio and quite a few other things too. I always remember him telling me that he'd been talking to the astronauts in the middle of the night. Still not sure if he was kidding me on lol. Glad you got things sorted Jean.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Richard, thank you for sharing your memories of your Dad with us. I know the astronauts on the ISS have an amateur radio and they chat with radio amateurs on Earth. It would make sense that they did so in past missions as well. I've been into radio communications since forever, I think I was 6 or 7 years old when I built my 1st crystal set/radio.

[@Bryan-Hensley]

I know this comment is old, but when I was 7 my uncle and several of his friends (ham radio and telephone tech friends) set up an old phone company microwave dish (about 16 foot dish) on VHF and we listened in on the astronauts VHF portable radios on the moon during Apollo 17 mission. We had to constantly keep the dish pointed straight at the moon to hear them. We could only hear one side of the conversation. The link from the moon was s band I think. You couldn't listen to it. It was mostly a data link. That's what got me interested in satellite equipment and radios.

[@hypersphereengineering6015]

@@Bryan-Hensley that's a really cool story !!

[@johansmolinski]

Awesome idea and great explanation! Next step if I may suggest is to show this video to your neighbor and optionally offer them your help. It would probably serve as a win-win.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Johan, our internet provider is about to install fibre in our area so I'll switch to that as soon as the service is up and running. Unfortunately me neighbor is not approachable.

[@marymiller9870]

Similar here, but the special part is that its family.

[@rinabinette]

Thank you for making such an informative video. I would make a suggestion that a person would use white fuse bonded tape to keep the 4G antenna cooler. Black surfaces can get over 200F in direct sunlight.

[@JeanWard]

Thank you for the recommendation Ray, much appreciated.

[@earlgray3925]

Hi Jean That tape is called "self amalgamating tape" in the UK. Cheers

[@JeanWard]

Thanks Earl, I've seen that tape brand for sale in other hardware stores here too. Much appreciated.

[@uncleasshole3787]

Rubber splicing tape? Not super sticky;more so stretchy?

[@earlgray3925]

@uncleasshole3787 exactly you stretch it on to itself and it becomes waterproof.

[@varunkarthik9498]

Hi,great job man,I see this video as the first potential one in my search of improving cellular signal indoors.

[@JeanWard]

Thank you Varun, I hope your installation works as well as mine is. Good luck!

[@jonleviticus8176]

I been using it for 2 years very effective

[@JeanWard]

My setup has been running for a couple of months now and it performs very well too.

[@williamjohnson1264]

A great DIY project video, Jean !! ...I'm always for those kind things on youtube. I often watch those kind of videos; I work on cars freelance and watching someone take something apart first, is a time saver, along with diagnosing problems, and for fixing household appliances!!, but it's also very entertaining. thanks for the useful info, take care.

[@JeanWard]

Hi William, I follow dozens of people that fix things on KZbin too. I've learned a lot by watching these and I find them very entertaining too. I'm going to see if I can do more like that.

[@SuperMform]

An elegant solution, effectively described thanks Jean.

[@JeanWard]

Thanks Wayne, with this solution I'm back to my normal speeds. Works great!

[@whocares9049]

Will definitely try this out. Thanks for sharing

[@JeanWard]

You're welcome.

[@painfullysadcat8474]

Thank you for creating this video! I am now able proceed with my project confidently!

[@JeanWard]

Awesome Hon, I trust this solution will work for you.

[@kimrodulson9095]

Hi Jean great way to re use a forgotten unused antenna dish, i would suggest that you would be better off using Heat Shrink Tubing to ensure water tight covering. Many thanks fir sharing your idea.👍

[@JeanWard]

Hi Kim, thank you, much appreciated.

[@fritanke2318]

Make sure it is legal to use such a powerful directional antenna in your area. Wish I could use one, but it is not legal here. Good info thought 👍

[@JeanWard]

Hi Fri, yes it's legal considering the hi-gain yagi's we're allowed to install - similar gain.

[@makuthreesixty8228]

This is amazing, I now have a new project

[@JeanWard]

Good luck Maku, I wish you success with this project.

[@robsonpereira3810]

This was a great idea and ingenious proof of concept! I will try with 2 dishes for a 5G 4x4 MIMO modem. The only change I will make is to rotate the dish 180 degrees.

[@boojiecentoobie4272]

I had this same idea but had not tried it. Thanks !

[@JeanWard]

You're welcome, I still use this solution today. It works extremely well in my situation, hopefully it does for you too.

[@tcttvradio]

did you try the antenna first before attaching it to the pole? they can be taped to a window. You can report his signal splutter so that they force him to put a filter on it. The telco companies here in NZ will just send out a roof microwave dish to attach to the tower which is cheaper and faster than DIY.

[@JeanWard]

Thanks for the comment. Yes, I did try mounting just the antenna in various places but it dodn't improve the reception. It was only when I mounted it to the dish and poirnted it directly towards the tower that it improvd dramatically. No I didn;t report the guy as our services in South Africa are very very bad due to various, mostly political, reasons. My local telco doesn't support this type of product which you descbibe (they only provide the LTE router). Thank you for the advice, it will most likely help others with similar issues.

[@tcttvradio]

@@JeanWard good as good, I’ll subscribe and if you are interested in collaborating I’d love to chat in future. I have a nice South African couple building next door to me this year.

[@mallooow]

I think the hardware is already there you just need to re allign the satelite dish and find a coaxial adaptor for it to fit the receptacle of the router..

[@JeanWard]

Thanks Mark.

[@amey3387]

Thanks Jean Ward. You just gave me a fantastic solution to my problem. I will try this and post the update. I am getting low signal from 6km far tower

[@JeanWard]

Hi there Amey, please give it a try - it's worked very well for me. Please do let us know if it makes a difference in your situation. PS: It's still up and running with no issues or problems.

[@unknown-sc6if]

after 6month. any updated?

[@ഉണ്ണിമോൻ-പ9ങ]

Any update bruh?

[@ritviksapra1368]

This will be very very useful for 5g network now in 2021....we may even be able to use this for 5g internet for free...

[@psvyme48ph45]

Wow so cool bro thanks for your help 🙏 ❤🎉 UK

[@JeanWard]

You're welcome - I hope this solution works for you too.

[@psvyme48ph45]

@@JeanWard4G antenna put in side to hide it LMB so it looks like a satellite dish

[@techalex1992]

Hi Jean. Sorry to say this, but that little white chinese panel antenna is absolutely the biggest scam ever. Its much better to place the 4g router/mifi directly on the dish, exactly as you did it. Because that little crap will even degrade your signal/speed and make it much worse. 😑😑😄

[@JeanWard]

I agree with you, the reason I chose it was because it is small. Without the dish to concentrate the signal it is pretty bad. Also, the antenna's inside smartphone's are just as small.

[@AstroSmoke.]

A yagi tuned to the right freq does the same without focusing any other freq that the dish reflects.

[@JeanWard]

Correct, however I couldn't afford to buy yagi's at the time of assembling this solution (basically you need two yagi's - one for receive and one for transmit), Yagi's are prohibitively expensive in SA, so I used what I could find at a reasonable price.

[@robertschulke1596]

@@JeanWard yagi’s are easily made.

[@Bryan-Hensley]

I used to design, build and install all sorts of satellite dishes. I don't see how you'll get this to work good without a feedhorn. I don't know if I missed you mentioning it, but cellular frequencies are split by polarity. I think it's a 45 degree split. I'll have to look it up. I built a couple of yagi antennas for mine.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Bryan, thank you for sharing this info with us. At least this solution get's me back to the speeds I used to have before my neighbor installed this dish pointing directly over my study where my router is.

[@robertschulke1596]

Great article. Very educational. Thank you. Did you find out why your neighbor is targeting you? Are they unaware? Are they malicious?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Robert, I hope you found it useful. I don't think my neighbor is targeting me, I speculate the signal coming from his dish is not clean or is very high power and it's saturating my LTE modem receiver. Unfortunately I don't get along with him so I resorted to this solution.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

WHat a great little project! Love it :)

[@JeanWard]

Hi Callum, it's great to see you made you're way over here. I've been subscribed to you channel for a very long time and enjoy your content and sense of humor very much. One of my favorite and oldest hobbies is RF (SWL, Antenna's, Satellite's, CB, etc.). See you in the next video. Take care!

[@JeanWard]

PS: I've designed and built so many antenna's I've lost count - my favorite is the EDZ of course (I even built a two element vertical collinear Super J-Pole antenna for 11 m - the length of the thing was off the scale). More at: www.raptorzone.co.za/

[@aiwe6173]

Can you help me, I want to cut the cord for cable. On the house we have 2 satellite dish's still in the same position but no service with both. Can I reconnect the one of the satellite dish's and use it for a wifi. I have the lnb ,a modem and router and I know how to hook up the satellite. My question is do I need a solo node. I just need to know what to hook the cord from the satellite dish to on the outside to the house.

[@JeanWard]

Hello Ai We, interesting question. I use the satellite dish to link my LTE router to my local cell tower for 4G service. If you want to extend your routers WiFi in a particular direction you'll need to gain access to your routers WiFi antenna's which are probably inside the router on the PC Board. This is a challenge and I will not recommend doing so as you'll need to open your router, disconnect the WiFi antenna from the PC Board, connect a piece of coax and move the internal WiFi antenna to the dish where the LNB use to be. This is a very specialized procedure and I don't recommend doing it. Possibly try using a WiFi extender instead, those are freely available online.

[@fromdalmatia8721]

My neighbor gave me the password of his wifi, but of course my signal is weak, due to many physical obstacles. I have a satellite dish that is about 25 years old, which I do not use. Should I also have a modem/receiver at home to amplify the signal? The signal comes to the external wifi extender located on the satellite dish, and the USB should go to the modem in my room? Thanks.

[@JeanWard]

Hi From Dalmatia, a similar setup to mine should amplify the signal at your premises as long as you point it directly at the source of the signal. I mounted an external WiFi antenna at the dish where the LNB normally mounts and I ran two coax cables into my house to where my router is and connected the two coax cables to the back of the router where external antenna's plug in (I also set my router to use external antenna's and not the internal one's on the router). A similar antenna is seen here: www.takealot.com/dual-polarised-high-gain-lte-antenna-with-10-meters-cable-bundle/PLID34148767?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8e-gBhD0ARIsAJiDsaUmb5AXB80g-k9U6Yc0qFSXB4v1_PaZHMujiX4aIqc7uQ5sGikuYVcaAs6vEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[@fromdalmatia8721]

@@JeanWard Thanks a lot for the explanation

[@alivevilaalivevila6665]

I just build this kind of antenna too. Damn I point the antenna wrong and still got a good signal. To lazy to fix it, cause I use bamboo with 10 meter highto install it.

[@JeanWard]

Hello there, the omni-directional nature of the small antenna at the tip of the dish will pick up an improvement as the installation is above the roof and most trees and bushes. Believe me if you point it directly at the cell tower you'll see a dramatic jump in signal strength. Thanks for dropping me a note on your experience with this type of antenna.

[@alivevilaalivevila6665]

@@JeanWard I already got 94-100% signal strength with RSSI -55dBm, -15 RSRQ, -85 RSRP and 6 dB SINR. this is on B3 1800 band. I point it directly to the tower, but but vertically it toward the sky, I just need to fix the vertical tilt. my tower is 1KM but there is a lot of tree here.

[@stuffoflardohfortheloveof]

Wow! What a brill idea...I need to try this...thanks for posting 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿😁

[@JeanWard]

I hope this solution works in your situation as it did in mine - it's still up and running like a charm.

[@DepthWish]

Hello Jean, awesome video! I subscribed and am in Indonesia. I trying to help a friend here that has a yagi style antenna previously installed. However, it is worse with the external antenna than the internal and the thing is there is only 1 coaxial connector to a splitter just before the router and there is not an "external antenna" secondary device like you have between your dish and the router. Would you be able to comment on this device and then having the two antennas? I think we are close but the installer was missing something that you have figured out. Many thanks!

[@JeanWard]

Hi there, thank you for taking the time to watch the video and subscribing. The best solution is to have a router with transmit and receive antenna connections connected to an antenna with two connections. Using a splitter might not work as there will be losses and the transmit and receive will probably interfere with each other - two seperate antenna like I use in the video will be the ultimate solution alternatively two yagi antenna's. I hope you get the problem solved. Regards.

[@crappymeal]

do internet providers do a package that has two sim cards sharing the same data package and contract? i want to avoid needing a sim for my phone and a separate sim for my router.

[@JeanWard]

Hi there, I'm not entirely sure. If I'm not mistaken some providers make a 'virtual' SIM available. Please check with your service provider.

[@MissHeird]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@JeanWard]

You're welcome!

[@KeeganGraham]

Could this be used to maybe amplify the WiFi signal off of the router?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Keegan, I don't see why not, the principle is the same although the signal will be directional. If you can't mount external WiFi antenna's you'll need to mount the router at the position where the LNB used to mount which means you'll need to protect the router from the elements if mounted outside.

[@Panjok7]

Probably there's a mistake. RSRQ got from -11 to -12, and -11 was better.

[@JeanWard]

Hello Pavel, these figures are a snapshot at the time I did the video, the RSRQ varies up and down but the overall signal stability improved somewhat.

[@haroldrathbone1228]

I think it would be worth the money to invest in an outdoor antenna and some wire ties since your going to go through this much anyway.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Harold, LTE yagi antenna's in South Africa are around R1000-00 (around $68) - at the time too expensive for me so I used an old satellite dish that was lying around in the shed.

[@haroldrathbone1228]

@@JeanWard I apologize for sounding rude. Or should I say for being rude. Your video provides good inexpensive alternative to the pricy commercial antennas. Thanks

[@JeanWard]

No worries Harold, I don't know why LTE antenna's in SA are so expensive.

[@kimpanattoni]

I may have missed this in the comments somewhere... But how would you adapt this to wanting to boost signal for cell phones themselves. We use our phones for internet and their hotspots for the computer internet. All we have is a plain Netgear WNR2020 router that would usually plug into a cable modem via ethernet. When we bought this place, we found 2 unused satellite dishes, one still mounted and adjustable on the pole. If we had a way to adapt this to provide our cell phones with stronger signal throughout the house, it would make a huge difference. We simply cannot afford standard internet right now.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Kimberle, unfortunately this solution only works in situation where your device (cellphone/router) has external antenna connectors for use with externally mounted antenna's. I don't think cellphone have external antenna connectors. Good luck, I hope you find a more affordable solution.

[@kimpanattoni]

@@JeanWard: I am not looking to hook it up to my cell phone directly. I would like to know how I could adapt the process to something indoors, like my router's internet port via ethernet or to another indoor repeater of some sort. Thanks. :)

[@Gw0wvl]

Better coax would reduce the antenna system losses .

[@JeanWard]

I absolutely agree with you, thank you. I will give it a try sometime in the future, it will make a big difference for sure.

[@rames8027]

Would it not be better to aim the whole dish at the source given that all singles are focused at the receiver?

[@JeanWard]

The dish should point directly to the 4G LTE tower for best results as 4G LTE uses direct, line-of-sight communications.

[@rocky1ish1]

This guy used an old satellite dish and connected to a router like the old TP-Link when I have Andy boosted the signal dramatically

[@JeanWard]

Awesome, I'm delighted it worked in your setup.

[@jorgerodrigues6525]

i have a 1800 Mhz 4G Antena 3,10 kms(+/-) away, since i have a good RSRQ signal ,but an extremly poor RSRP signal (-115/-120 dBm) would a better antenna attached with the dish make a difference instead of the one that got advertised ?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Jorge, a better antenna would make a difference, the one I'm using is a miniature antenna and isn't as efficient.

[@lloydngobeni273]

Thank you so much.I will continue with my project

[@JeanWard]

Good luck Lloyd, I hope this project helps you like it did in my situation.

[@raydreamer7566]

Does it make any difference if your signal antenna is placed in the upside down position at the dish to copy the receiving inverted antenna signal ?

[@JeanWard]

I inverted my dish to make it easier to align it in the direction of the cell/LTE tower. The arm that mounts the LNB to the dish is in line with the direction the dish should point. So you don't necessarily need to invert the dish.

[@raydreamer7566]

@@JeanWard Ok. I thought you would have to invert the WiFi antenna. Thank you for explaining.

[@JeanWard]

Here are some links to shop for the type of LTE antenna I use, please check what type of connectors work on your router, there are screw on and push on types: www.amazon.com/dp/B07FKN7XXZ/ref=sr_1_54?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588183898&sr=8-54 www.amazon.com/OUYAWEI-Antenna-External-Antennas-Connector/dp/B081DZR243/ref=sr_1_116?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588183977&sr=8-116 www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z7Q8X1H/ref=sr_1_139?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588184063&sr=8-139 www.amazon.com/Eugeneq-Broadband-Antenna-Signal-Amplifier/dp/B084MJH11C/ref=sr_1_143?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588184063&sr=8-143 www.amazon.com/dp/B083WCSCF3/ref=sr_1_145?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588184123&sr=8-145 www.amazon.com/Jadeshay-Antenna-Signal-Amplifier-Hotspot/dp/B082NR98XB/ref=sr_1_241?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588184194&sr=8-241 www.amazon.com/dp/B07XXYNDJP/ref=sr_1_246?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588184194&sr=8-246 www.amazon.com/Romsion-Antenna-External-Antennas-Connector/dp/B07Y1P9YNK/ref=sr_1_291?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588184262&sr=8-291 www.amazon.com/OUYAWEI-Antennas-Antenna-External-Connector/dp/B07WR779TV/ref=sr_1_293?dchild=1&keywords=lte+antenna&qid=1588184262&sr=8-293

[@JeanWard]

Hope this helps, this antenna works very well indeed.

[@cutiebaliwFreedownload]

I think much better if you put it on the center since it's high gain on cell-site tower and not high gain satellite frequency mostly likely horizontal right? since it's cell tower not actually satellite what you think? I test my theory other day and I get 20mbps+ when I point it on center focus

[@JeanWard]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us ... I'm delighted this solution helps you in your situation.

[@anthonyreijm501]

i am just beginning to learn about this and I have been looking at making diy wifi antenna to put on a dish do you know if it is possible to also put one for the cell signals on the same dish? Thank you

[@JeanWard]

HI Anothony, if I understand your question correctly you are asking if you can use this setup to boost regular cellphone "voice' signals - the only way I can suggest is if you mounted your cellphone at the front of the dish which isn't really going to work. Perhaps there are cellphone available which have external antenna connectors which my work.

[@jherometenorio8106]

Allo is your modem sim driven?

[@JeanWard]

My router has connections for external LTE antenna's, this is where I connected the external antenna which is mounted on the dish in place of the original LNB which I removed. These external LTE connections on the router are not powered.

[@torethagaardnielsen5807]

Super smart tip which I am sure could be usefull. The place where I live we have access to super fast fiber net 👍

[@JeanWard]

Hi Tore, they stopped installing fibre here when I live and are switching from copper to 4G LTE. I wish I had fibre, it's much better in my opinion.

[@JeanWard]

I just checked, I get on average 20 MB/s download and 5 MB/s upload.

[@PKMCCOY-xt6jl]

Thank you very much, Sir. You'd do well here on the farm, in Iowa.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Kent, I'd love to live out in the country - things are getting a bit weird here in the city with the C..V.. :-)

[@kevinsl97]

Thanks for the video. Does the dish improve both upload and download or download-only?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Kevin, if you use an antenna like I used it improves both up-and-download speeds. The antenna I used has two built in antenna's (one for transmit and one for receive). Some antenna's only have one so be sure to get one like I used. Thanks for the question. Regards, Jean.

[@Bryan-Hensley]

@@JeanWard I don't mean to step on your toes but that's not what the 2 leads are for. One lead is one polarity and the other lead is the offset polarity.

[@wishmangames]

you should cut the creeper plants in your house cuz they are huge you might be bitten by a snake because of them..

[@JeanWard]

Thanks for the concern, fortunately snake's have been eradicated in our area.

[@Blackchicco11]

This will work best on the rain network

[@JeanWard]

As long as you have line-of-sight with the tower I'm certain it will work.

[@That1ufo]

I did almost the same last November, i have it in a loft space and the same modem but with the ears on and i simply placed in front of the lnb, I also have a tv Arial lined up in front of it probably doing most the work, the main problem i had was forcing it to stay on a tower farther away 7KM or 4KM but that had a far better speed and signal than 3 or so closer at 1.5KM but poorer and likely over subscribed, to many people on them.

[@JeanWard]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us That1ufo.

[@pizzaboy1996]

Hi, Jean. Thanks for sharing! Did you do any grounding /earthing for the support pole?

[@JeanWard]

Hi John, earthing a mast is highly recommended. I earth my masts with a copper pipe in the ground.

[@keithcookman2918]

Self Amalgamating tape. Yer only man 👍

[@JeanWard]

Still no sign of degrading after all this time ... works great.

[@T-money0985]

If the neighbor knows your wifi password then they may be using that antenna to get YOUR wifi signal :)

[@JeanWard]

Thanks for the information Travis, much appreciated. I've just ordered Fibre, so hopefully I can get off the air soon ...

[@suhayldadabhay103]

I'm having low internet connection in Klerksdorp using Telkom lte. I might give this a try.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Sihayl, it's well worth the effort. I get a gain of 25dB doing it this way. The trick is finding the cellphone tower you're connected to. Use the cellmapper website I list in the video to locate the towers around you and point your dish to each of them keeping an eye on your LTE routers signal strength. When you get maximum signal you'll know which tower you're using. Remember to point the dish down so that the incoming angle lines up correctly with the LTE antenna mounted in place of the original LNB. The angle of incidence and reflection of the dish is very important. Give it a try and good luck. Please don't fall or get hurt especially now that the hospitals are focusing on C V 1 9 only.

[@suhayldadabhay103]

@@JeanWard thanks, I'll give it a try after lockdown.

[@olanrewajuismailwale1017]

Sir, the communication network in my area is very poor indeed. I have Azsky G1+ Quad Band GPRS adapter and Microstar MSM_485 wireless modem and unused 90cm dish. How can i connect these with your description to improve the network ?

[@JeanWard]

Check if your equipment can connect to an external antenna. If it does, connect the external antenna as shown in the video, otherwise if it can't connect to eternal antenna's this solution unfortunately won't work for you.

[@ZourkalayniGarba]

Where can I find this antenna please?

[@JeanWard]

Hello, please see the links in this video's description - I have included a list of possible options were to purchase the LTE antenna. As for the satellite dish - you can find those at regular satellite TV shops, or you could use an old unused dish.

[@robsonpereira3810]

I have seen in the video "kzbin.info/www/bejne/gX20lZdriaitl9k"​ that recommends to install an offset dish in an upside down position (i.e. 180 degree rotation) for terrestrial use as the dish will point better towards the horizon. It seems to be a great idea! Cheers from Texas

[@JeanWard]

Hi Robson, thanks for sharing this info with us. It might very well improve the signal strength, I just do have the will to get back up there to play with the alignment :-) Greetings from South Africa.

[@robsonpereira3810]

Hi Jean, your video was the first that popped up when I searched for "LTE Dish". Nice job and well explained with benchmarks. I found older video (5 years older) with similar reports on LTE or Wifi bands. This video from Australia shows some simulations: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gX20lZdriaitl9k - It is a small world :)

[@JuanMantilla77]

Great video. I want to put to practice this project but i have some questions about the operation range or effective distance for 4G or 3G. Do you have a github repository or documentation about all elements, devices and instalation process used? Thank you so much.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Juan, with UHF and SHF distance normally depends on line-of sight. It is technically possible to cover up to 50 km to 150 km. Please refer to the following link for further details: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_site Unfortunately I don't have a web page dedicated to this antenna. I'll try my best to get something up on the web in the future, time permitting.

[@Muneeb034]

Dear sir thank u I was also try to search this type of video and I will try .once again thanks sir Love u and may u live long.

[@JeanWard]

You are welcome Muhammad, I hope you find this solution useful in your situation. Take care!

[@Muneeb034]

@@JeanWard sir how can i know that my antena is omnidirectional or directional ?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Muhammad, a yagi is normally directional. Is it possible for you to send me a link of what your antenna looks like?

[@filmywap2832]

@@Muneeb034 AAP mujhe urdu me bata sakte hain kya

[@altaafsheik5725]

Thanks for the video was think of doing this plus I've got a spare satellite and the same router

[@JeanWard]

Hi Altaaf, good luck with your project, I hope it works and improves your tower connection stability. Take care.

[@alvinjoelacosta8458]

❤️❤️ justo la informacion que necesitaba encontrar

[@JeanWard]

Awesome, I hope this solution works for you.

[@augustusmshila9719]

thanks for the video.just a question,is the satelite dish compatible with stations such as M2 ,M5,M2 LOCO,etc. thanks in advance

[@JeanWard]

Hello Augustus, please provide further detail about M2/M5 as I don't know anything about this.

[@augustusmshila9719]

@@JeanWard i meant the UBIQUITTI point to point(p2p) transmitter(station) and reciever(access point)

[@JeanWard]

Hi Augustus, thanks for the clarification. Yes, I think it will work nicely, as long as you mount the TX and RX antenna in place of the LNB. Good luck.

[@augustusmshila9719]

@@JeanWard cheers brother,from nairobi kenya.

[@JeanWard]

Greeting to you from Pretoria, South Africa.

[@thedavesofourlives1]

Did you flip the dish upside down?

[@JeanWard]

No, I just pointed it down to be line-of-sight with the tower.

[@JustJJ555]

Can you use any type of router? Or does it have to be specific one

[@JeanWard]

Hi Justine, any router with two external antenna connectors for receive and transmit will do - also, also the router should be able to switch from internal to external antenna's.

[@That1ufo]

Has to be a 4G modem/router with a sim card slot.

[@offclouder8438]

Excellent work. Well done.

[@JeanWard]

Thank you, I hope this solution worked for you. This antenna continues to be of huge benefit to me.

[@zsoltszepfalvi5798]

Can you do it instead 4g antenna with mobile router? I have the data sim, and a tp-Link router that could act as a tranciever and I need to buy this mobile router, but the supply is better for it so it will be second hand approachable I suspect as well.

[@JeanWard]

Hello Zsolt, I have not tried that option so I can't really comment on it. if you do opt to mount a router at the end of the dish instead of an LTE antenna make sure it's protected from the elements like the sun and rain.

[@mahm0odfadhel876]

Is this a norma TV dish?

[@JeanWard]

Yes, I used a normal satellite dish. I just removed the LNB and placed the LTE antenna in its position at the end of the arm. I hope this helps.

[@markklem]

I say, are those Cambridge Speakers?

[@JeanWard]

Absolutely, they date back to the 90's - The subwoofer is under the desk. :-)

[@markklem]

@@JeanWard I had those as well. 4 satellites and a subwoofer :)

[@gamingwithmoose5998]

Fantastic video

[@JeanWard]

Hey there my friend, good to see you! Thanks for the complement.

[@khalidaniazi4887]

i have a router which gives 4G LTE. Will this work for my router?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Khalida, the router should also have external antenna connectors with the ability to switch to external antenna's.

[@That1ufo]

Not all have external inputs but i had good results by simply placing the modem at the correct place near the LNB indoors in an attic space, and some have used a usb 4g dongle strapped to a tv antenna before.

[@malomepatrick8334]

Where did you bought the 4G antenna? Am also From South Africa

[@JeanWard]

Hi Malome, I purchased the antenna from www.hdcabling.co.za/contact-us/ in Centurion.

[@malomepatrick8334]

Thanks Sir

[@roytallow6784]

Einstein your relative ? The Wizard 🧙🏻‍♂️! Your invention using a unused satellite dish 📡! 4G Antenna ! KUTGW ! JW ! 👍🏻🕵🏻‍♂️👍🏻

[@JeanWard]

It works like a charm, wow I get fantastic/stable speeds now. I highly recommend this to anyone who's struggling with similar problems.

[@DonavanAarons]

Likely just at full bars because its outdoors regardless of the dish

[@JeanWard]

When I turn the dish away from the tower the bars drop. When the dish points directly to the tower the bars are full.

[@hcteksnamuh]

can i put in mobile signal feeder along with the tv feeder.... 2nfeedernin 1 dish?

[@JeanWard]

Hi CritiqueMoKo, I would not recommend doing that as you'll be feeding the 4G LTE signal into your LNB and you need to turn your dish away from the satellite to point to your local cell phone tower.

[@hcteksnamuh]

@@JeanWard okay i see.... thanks for the quick response...cheers!

[@rajjtech5692]

Wonderful experience you have!

[@JeanWard]

Hi Rajj, Yes this solution is still working 100% today. I get a great connection with my local LTE tower with excellent signal stability ... I highly recommend this set up.

[@danny_the_K]

Jean, your SINR (signal to noise ratio) is terrible and is your main problem now. Your signal strength was improved nicely to -95 RSRP, but now you have to figure out where the interference is coming from. The dish on your neighbor’s house needs to be turned off for 5 minutes to let you compare the SINR with and without that signal. I hope you are on good terms with your neighbor. Your RSRQ will probably track with the noise source. Your SINR needs to be better than 10db, preferably close to 20. BTW, every 3dBm of signal power change in your RSRP is a 100% change, so the 14dBm is real more than a 400% improvement. Your only real issue now is noise. Yes I am a design engineer in cellular in the USA.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Dan awesome feedback and suggestion. Thank you! My neighbor and I don't get along that well so I am reluctant to ask him to turn his equipment off. The dish made a huge difference and is working well to this day. Take care. Jean

[@Caalimmerwelle]

What if no signal n town. Does it work?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Merwelle, I doubt this will work if there is no signal in your area. You need at least a weak signal that is just above the RF noise floor.

[@odisusila2098]

Hi Jean, great video! I'm experiencing a bad 4g signal on my smartphone, and I believe the problem is caused by lower elevation. Inside my room the signal is pretty bad, and if I bring my phone outside especially to higher ground the signal coverage is great. The heights difference between my room to the higher ground is around 3 meters. And since i don't have an unused satellite dish and I'm not using 4g routers (only smartphone), do you have another suggestion to fix this problem? Thanks in advance

[@JeanWard]

Hi Odi, line-of-sight with your local tower is very important and elevation can play a part. I don't know of any solutions for a smartphone, all I can suggest is that you perhaps consider purchasing a router and mount an external antenna above the roof then connect your smartphone to the router via WiFi. Sorry I can offer you any solution, there might be one but I'm not aware of it as such. Any viewers please comment if you know of a solution.

[@meetoo594]

I made a custom phone holder and replaced the lnb on one of those portable satellite dishes with it. Got it pointed out of a window and I just slot my cellphone into it when im home. There is no signal in the house but a fair one outside, using the dish I get 2 bars instead of none. The dish is pretty small so I imagine a larger one would work better. Obviously the downside is the phone cant move so I have to use handsfree for calls and texting is.....Problematic lol

[@belalsqoor2788]

Is this type used waterproof?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Belal, if you wrap the antenna enclosure in the tape I mention it will be waterproof.

[@miononno]

you have got a worse RSRP going from -11dB to -12dB... not an improvement. However, not a real problem..

[@JeanWard]

Hi MioNonno, the overall improvement taking the other measurements into account helps a lot for better signal stability.

[@miononno]

@@JeanWard for sure. I'll try It soon. Thank you

[@bakhtikhalidou5215]

Is it really works for you!! And where about the antenna that u already used is it enough!!

[@JeanWard]

Hi Bakhti, yes it made a big difference to my download speed and signal stability. Without this dish I had very low download speed and long latency delays. I've been using this dish for a few weeks now at it is still the same ... very good solution to low signal and low speed problems. Please don't fall or get hurt if you try this.

[@bakhtikhalidou5215]

@@JeanWard thanks a lot ❣️

[@balakrish2756]

It is a great idea. I am planning to use this idea for boosting the 4g mobile signal inside the house. will this work if I install signal booster router(6dbi) inside?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Bala, yes it will work indoors, but not as effectively though as walls do attenuate 4G signals a lot.

[@balakrish2756]

@@JeanWard Thanks for the reply..I will reply how well it works. I will use signal amplifier if needed. I hope that works.

[@jrr851]

Lekker man. Good work.

[@JeanWard]

Thanks Jamie.

[@ashajacob7073]

Hello Sir, My router shows 5 bars signal (Huawei E5788U - CAT16 LTE) and it gives me incredible speeds during the day (@8mbps or 1MB/s) but the issue I am facing is that during the night I get very pathetic speeds at 0.6 mbps or 64KB/s...When I checked with my neighbour he has a comparatively chepaer Huawei Router, gets only 3bars signal and has speeds worse than mine, at the same time when he switches his router to 3g only mode he gets 10mbps stable all the time, while I put my sim into the router and was able to get only 1mbps, Sir Can you please explain why does this happen? Thanks

[@JeanWard]

Hi Abraham, with what you've said I speculate that your LTE speeds are lower at night most likely because a lot more people are accessing the Internet at night for entertainment purposes. The more people that access your local cell tower the lower the speeds will be. There might be fewer people on 3G thus the higher speeds there or your neighbor might be switching to another cell tower on 3G with fewer people accessing that cell tower. I'm no expert, this is just my opinion and there might be another reasons I'm not aware of.

[@jevelvongrate7147]

Great video sir! I rarely smash the like button and you deserve it. I am living in Philippines and my place is one of the worst if internet signal is in the conversation. I really don't have knowledge on how to make a solution before I watched this video. Thanks to you sir! But I have a question and I hope you can help me. Can you please list all of the equipments needed for this DIY? Because I am not sure if what I heard was all correct according to your video. Typed words from you will be a sure one. Thank you!

[@JeanWard]

Thank you for taking the time to watch the video and for the thumbs up, much appreciate. Here is a listing of the suggested things for this project: a) A conventional satellite dish. b) A small LTE 4G Antenna (I listed a few URL's where you might be able to purchase the LTE 4G antenna I used, any other small LTE 4G antenna should work too). c) A mast of some kind to get above a roof for line-of-sight with the cell tower. d) A grounding wire from a copper pipe in the ground to connect to the mast for lightning protection. e) Coax cable (normally a long length of coax cable is included with the LTE 4G antenna - as is the case with this particular one a purchased. f) Some self-fusing/amalgamating tape for a one layer wrap around the LTE 4G antenna to protect it from UV and to make it water resistant. g) Use the self-fusing/amalgamating tape to mount the LTE 4G antenna to the LNB mounting bracket (remove the LNB 1st). h) I stripped some RG58 coax cable and inserted the antenna's coax cable inside this RG58 outer plastic cover to protect the thin coax from the sun. i) An LTE 4G Router with two external antenna connectors. j) Cell tower direction finding software, for example the software I used. I hope I covered everything. Good luck with your installation. Kind regards Jean

[@jevelvongrate7147]

Wow thank you sir! Nah smashing the like button is a small thing for you sir since you are a great youtuber. I have seen a lot of my countrymen here in the Philippines doing this with MiMo and dish antennas. But the MiMo are also facing the same direction as the dish and they're getting good results. Is it a good idea, sir?

[@nesande1626]

please share new satellite dish poss-ion (small video clip). satellite dish should be down ? today i am going to buy dish . can i use yagi antenna for LTE antenna.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Nesan, I'll try to do a video clip as soon as possible. You could perhaps mount the yagi where the LNB normally goes just point the yagi towards the dish.

[@JeanWard]

Hi Nesan, I have created a video of the installation, you are welcome to view it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5qtl6ZrZt-losU

[@nesande1626]

@@JeanWard you are such a nice and talented person . Thank you for your help.

[@donjones1124]

Brilliant well done!

[@JeanWard]

Thank you Don, much appreciated. The improvement it made in my setup is amazing. Many don't believe it can make a difference but I can assure them it really does - you need line of sight with the tower to get the best results.

[@stillalive4ever686]

so you used LNB KU Band for signal 4G

[@JeanWard]

No, I removed the LNB and installed the 4G LTE antenna at the end of the arm where the LNB used to be mounted.

[@Kurma99ET]

Terimakasih ilmu yang bermemfaat,, back yess

[@JeanWard]

You are welcome kurma 99. Thank you for taking the time to comment here.

[@AplikasiPenjualan]

How to make 4G antena without buy it

[@JeanWard]

Hi, I haven't tried building a 4G LTE antenna itself, but you might like to try these antenna's: www.instructables.com/DIY-2G3G4G-Wireless-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster/

[@ppk777-y2d]

Pls improve audio quality

[@JeanWard]

Hi Paul, I will in the future when I can afford to purchase a new PC. In my country South Africa a good, quieter PC costs in the region of R20 000-00 which is not within my budget and most South Africans for that matter. I'm running a 2006 PC tower with two fans, I put quieter fans in however the temperature inside the box gets too high. I'll see what I can do in the meantime.

[@geneb564]

What is the name of your router

[@JeanWard]

Hi Gene, my router model is B535-932.

[@jazerolf]

Can we use the LNB instead of the 4G antenna?

[@JeanWard]

Hi Z, standard satellite LNBs are designed to operate at very much higher frequencies, the require DC power to operate and they cannot transmit, so these LNBs are not suitable in this application.

[@robertfournier947]

Makes sense