EDIT: Damn this old thread got alot of views...anyway the novatel u720 stopped working one day for no reason a few months ago and I couldn't get it fixed (no computer would recognize it). So millenicom sent me a new franklin cdu-680 and if I put it in the exact right spot I can get a good signal of about -78dbm but I can't move it even a centimeter, higher lower more to the left/right etc, without the signal going to like -95dbm and still lower. And with this setup it gets around 65kb/s down 35kb/s up and pings around 200-250 so I'm really happy with it.

For some weird reason some torrents seem to download VERY VERY fast, like not at first it starts downloading at about 2kb/s but slowwwwly climbs up to about 170kb/s down and 150kb/s UP, speeds that would seem impossible, if the torrent has alot of seeds/peers (though some that do have alot of peeps never go into turbo speed or whatever). But this never happens during normal browsing/file transfers/P2P, only with torrents and signal strength stays the same.

All of this with no antenna (old antenna that didn't work needs the adapter to this modem) but could the reason that my old modem died be because of interference and it overloading the transmitter/something like that? Could that be why raising it higher didn't help/only made it worse? It used to get very very hot and the franklin I have now seems to get almost as hot as it did.


But the speeds I have now are fine and I don't need an antenna or anything now. Thanks to the people who gave advice while I still needed it.

The support people are probably right -- it's probably reflecting the signal away from your antenna. Putting the antenna on the roof would improve the signal significantly -- not only would it be higher up (and closer to line-of-sight) but the signal would not be reflected away from it. The metal roof would likely not much affect the roof antenna (it might moderately act like a ground-plane, which depending on circumstances could cause it to work slightly better or slightly worse).

The support people are probably right -- it's probably reflecting the signal away from your antenna. Putting the antenna on the roof would improve the signal significantly -- not only would it be higher up (and closer to line-of-sight) but the signal would not be reflected away from it. The metal roof would likely not much affect the roof antenna (it might moderately act like a ground-plane, which depending on circumstances could cause it to work slightly better or slightly worse).

Thanks oddball, you always have good advice.

Would it be better to get a flat (directional) antenna or the regular, flingy/slim kind?

Also if I use a TV antenna (the big kind mounted on rooftops), could I get a better signal if I hooked that up as an external antenna with an adapter?

Thanks oddball, you always have good advice.

I'll take that as a BIG compliment! :D

Of course, that's why I'm a Mod, even if my title still says Regular. (I mod NS&H under its new name, but vB has my account screwed up.)

Would it be better to get a flat (directional) antenna or the regular, flingy/slim kind?

It depends. If you know where the tower is you might get better signal from a directional antenna. If you don't know where the tower involved is, you'll get NO signal through it. So that's your choice.

Also if I use a TV antenna (the big kind mounted on rooftops), could I get a better signal if I hooked that up as an external antenna with an adapter?

Since you're transmitting through it, do NOT use ANY antenna that's not designed for the specific frequency range your card works on. Offhand I don't know what range that is, but I'm willing to bet your TV antenna isn't close enough. (It can **DESTROY** the transmitter if it's not matched closely enough.)

I'll take that as a BIG compliment! :D

Of course, that's why I'm a Mod, even if my title still says Regular. (I mod NS&H under its new name, but vB has my account screwed up.)



It depends. If you know where the tower is you might get better signal from a directional antenna. If you don't know where the tower involved is, you'll get NO signal through it. So that's your choice.



Since you're transmitting through it, do NOT use ANY antenna that's not designed for the specific frequency range your card works on. Offhand I don't know what range that is, but I'm willing to bet your TV antenna isn't close enough. (It can **DESTROY** the transmitter if it's not matched closely enough.)

Its not a compliment, its the truth ;)
I was wondering why you aren't a mod already.

Oh and can't I keep turning and refreshing the signal level (currently around -92dBm) with a directional antenna? And I would assume the tower is towards those dark green areas.

Isn't the antenna just a big piece of metal? Do you think I could get exactly what I need at radioshack or something?

Oh and can't I keep turning and refreshing the signal level (currently around -92dBm) with a directional antenna? And I would assume the tower is towards those dark green areas.

Yes, of course you could turn the directional antenna and observe the changes in signal strength. Note that you would be best served by turning along two axes (to disambiguate I mean the plural of axis -- in this case, both horizontally and vertically). You really would want to be along a direct line-of-sight to the tower. (Note that the antenna itself would be mounted on a tower above the ground -- probably higher up than your roof -- so you'll probably have to point the directional antenna somewhat upwards.)

Isn't the antenna just a big piece of metal? Do you think I could get exactly what I need at radioshack or something?

Yes and no to the first question in this set. It is basically a piece of metal, but usually not that big. In particular, it's either an even multiple of the wavelength of the frequency, or a fraction of it (usually 1/2 or 1/4 wavelength). Not knowing the specific frequency used, I don't know the length of antenna you would need offhand.

As for purchasing the stuff at Radio Shack, I doubt they'd carry anything that could be used without modification -- unless they're a reseller for the wireless provider.

You could create something similar to a cantenna, but with a different antenna length and focal point calculated based on the wavelength. Or you could possibly purchase a pre-made antenna, but I don't know what retailers (or wholesalers) would carry a suitable one. I would guess that the frequency range of the device is similar to -- if not the same as -- the frequency range of digital cellular telephone service.

As opposed to a TV antenna, you can cannibalize an old PrimeStar dish (the big oval ones that were ground-mounted). If you replace the LNB with a Cantenna, you can have a large signal reflector

Oh and can't I keep turning and refreshing the signal level (currently around -92dBm) with a directional antenna?

With a signal of -92, I would say a directional antenna would be best. 6db of gain will give you -86 at best, and probably not even that, which may still be questionable.

I'm not sure what level EVDO needs to work well, but I would start with 10db or more of gain, which you should be able to do with a directional antenna. I would shoot for -78 or better. Keep the coax short, if they are on 1900mhz coax loss will be significant, and even on 800/900 it is a real problem.

With a signal of -92, I would say a directional antenna would be best. 6db of gain will give you -86 at best, and probably not even that, which may still be questionable.

I'm not sure what level EVDO needs to work well, but I would start with 10db or more of gain, which you should be able to do with a directional antenna. I would shoot for -78 or better. Keep the coax short, if they are on 1900mhz coax loss will be significant, and even on 800/900 it is a real problem.

I'm hoping since its (going to be) higher up that will give me an even bigger gain. Just moving it a few inches can change signal strength dramtically, but for some reason higher signal strength doesn't always mean faster speeds.

EDIT: What frequency is EVDO? I don't use the other kind of network Rttb 1x or something, extremely slow.

What frequency is EVDO?

It can be 800, 900, or 1900 MHz. Depends on the carrier, but even then the same carrier may use different frequencies in different areas.

I have 1XRTT in my area, and you are right, it's slow!

Well I ordered an antenna from there, and to say the least I wish I hadn't. When the antenna is connected, the signal actually GOES DOWN, even when its ON TOP OF MY HOUSE.

Yet without the antenna its doing just fine (except shitty signal strength, of course) on top of my speaker, which isn't very high up at all. As soon as its connected, the signal drops.

Anything worth knowing before I ship it back?

Well I ordered an antenna from there, and to say the least I wish I hadn't. When the antenna is connected, the signal actually GOES DOWN, even when its ON TOP OF MY HOUSE.

Yet without the antenna its doing just fine (except shitty signal strength, of course) on top of my speaker, which isn't very high up at all. As soon as its connected, the signal drops.

Anything worth knowing before I ship it back?

why do you have it on top of a speaker.

how about your ground.. you may need two.. one for the radio and one for the antenna.

why do you have it on top of a speaker.

how about your ground.. you may need two.. one for the radio and one for the antenna.

It just works better on top of a speaker.

And this antenna didn't need to be grounded.

acording to the page:
The magnetic mount antenna is recommended for use on cars, trucks, RVs and boats. It must be mounted on a metal surface (8" diameter) to function properly and is not recommended for home use (instead use our regular indoor booster antenna).

a magmount needs a groundplane and the car,rv ect is the GP.
now even tho its on a metal roof, magmounts can be real shitty things.

try one of these, http://www.wpsantennas.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=427 -1900mhz or similar pointed at the providers tower, does have evdo in the blurb somewhere, would have to find out the freq used by your system and buy one to match

there are plans for homebrew high gain antennas. if you want to build your own.
i personally dont know shit about the bandwidth of EVDO. and any yagi design i could give you would have very small bandwidth.

also try http://www.evdoforums.com/
good luck. there is an antenna out there that will fit the bill, im gonna put my .02 on a yagi

i only clicked this thread because pix were promised.

65kb/s down 35kb/s up and pings around 200-250 so I'm really happy with it.


damn thats a little lame.i have a novatel u727 that gets anywhere from 700kbs-1.5mbs.

whos your carrier btw?

damn thats a little lame.i have a novatel u727 that gets anywhere from 700kbs-1.5mbs.

whos your carrier btw?

I don't know what the deal is with mine...the other day I was downloading something with firefox and it jumped up to like 230kb/s down (don't know what that is in kbs) and the signal was 1 point worse than usual. This lasted for the whole day and now its back to normal...

If I put up a ftp server and try to download stuff from my computer I get the file at around 70kb/s+ (UP) which means the modem has to be holding back in normal browsing or something. Torrents still get crazy high speeds if you pick a good one.

I think it has to do with how many connections you can get, like with torrents theres a lot of seperate IPs you're downloading from so its fast, but if you just download a file from 1 IP/website/server the speeds are just average. But what makes it do this...

Technically the network is sprint but with millenicom theres no contract.
Good links PDX thanks

I don't know what the deal is with mine...the other day I was downloading something with firefox and it jumped up to like 230kb/s down (don't know what that is in kbs) and the signal was 1 point worse than usual. This lasted for the whole day and now its back to normal...

If I put up a ftp server and try to download stuff from my computer I get the file at around 70kb/s+ (UP) which means the modem has to be holding back in normal browsing or something. Torrents still get crazy high speeds if you pick a good one.

I think it has to do with how many connections you can get, like with torrents theres a lot of seperate IPs you're downloading from so its fast, but if you just download a file from 1 IP/website/server the speeds are just average. But what makes it do this...

Technically the network is sprint but with millenicom theres no contract.
Good links PDX thanks

I have a u727 with sprint