Install WIFI antenna on Batwing Mod

tahiti16 wrote:
Short is absolutely a critical but with the huge difference in loss between the 2 cables I would opt for the lower loss. Remember we are trying to "fix" a weak signal and the cable we are talking about is before any amplification.

That is the point that many people seem to miss. In theory most Omni antenna's are only able to add up to 8db of gain (despite what the packaging may say), with most in the 2-5db gain. Cable loss is so high in some cases it can be as much as about 1db per foot for really cheap crappy cable. This tends to defy most peoples understanding of antenna theory. Ya an antenna on a 100ft pole would be great, your line of sight would be fantastic. The problem is that you would gain 8db from the antenna, but may loose 20-30db from cable loss, putting you way in the hole. Also joining cables adds additional issues to because of connetors, a pair of 5ft cables connected together will loose about 1db additional vs a single 10ft cable.

My antenna was an 8db antenna, I figured with the RG58 at the length I choose, I would loose about 2-3db. When I tested, I was seeing +5db vs without it, exactly what I expected.

My opinion is that as long as you get it outside the trailer and up above the roof line, this is your best case scenario, as if you plan the placement of the router and the antenna carefully, you may only need 2-4ft of cable to do it and if you use RG58 or better you will only loose a few db from the cable. This will deal with line of sight/obstruction issues, faraday cage issues from the trailer itself, and cable length issues.