TP-Link Deco x80 5g External Antenna

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Starlith

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#311975 3-Mar-2024 13:28

Has anyone been successful installing an external antenna to the TP-Link Deco x80 for fringe 5g?

This one apparently has issues at the house and is not getting picked up by the Deco unit itself, leads me to think the cabling is bad or the location it is mounted to is just outside of the fringe area.

Could also be a config issue with the Deco - I'm thinking One NZ could be actively blocking the External Antenna especially if they discourage the use of them which is what the rep has said.

SATTV

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#3202774 3-Mar-2024 16:44

I am making some wild assumptions here.

You are using One NZ wireless broadband.

You are on the 5G plan https://one.nz/broadband/wireless-broadband/

If so check all the connections and adaptors.

Being 3.5GHz loss in cable is extreme so cables need to be as short as possible.

Make sure you are pointing to the correct tower.

Make sure the TP link is accessing the external antenna. ( I dont know if the spark have firmware limitations )

I dont know if 5G uses MIMO like 4G but @coffeebaron should be able to help on that one.

Have you got the antenna at vertical, 45 deg or horizontal.

Was the antenna and cabling self install or by an installer.

Is 4G working?

John

I know enough to be dangerous

Starlith

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#3202841 3-Mar-2024 18:38

SATTV:

Being 3.5GHz loss in cable is extreme so cables need to be as short as possible.

Sorry I should explain - it is One NZ Wireless broadband and was done by an installer where we provided the equipment.

The cable length being 20 meters is a possible culprit - any idea what optimum length is before major losses occur for this antenna and router combo?

Spyware

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#3202852 3-Mar-2024 19:06

What is the distance to the tower?? Loss is determined by cable type used.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

Starlith

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#3202890 3-Mar-2024 20:27

Spyware:

What is the distance to the tower?? Loss is determined by cable type used.

In that case it's this one - distance is hard to judge but I'd say within 1km and we are within the coverage of One NZ's 5g coverage map but not by much.

Without Antenna getting 5g for 60% of the time when the Deco is next to the window.

coffeebaron

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#3202990 4-Mar-2024 08:55

For 20m, I would have used LMR400 cable, or reduce the distance and use 15m LMR300 cable: https://www.gowifi.co.nz/coax-cables/p-41.html

Also make sure there is definitely signal difference between no external antenna and with external antennas to ensure its working correctly. I have seen issue where the pin from the antenna cable does not insert fully into the antenna port. There is a post here on geekzone somewhere about filing down the connector rim.

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nztim

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#3203003 4-Mar-2024 09:30

coffeebaron:

For 20m, I would have used LMR400 cable

That stuff is real thick and a bitch to work with

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Morm

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#3210656 25-Mar-2024 15:28

On the X80 you need to check 2 things

1) The external antenna is enabled in the app (its disabled by default)

2) If it is a single YAGI, then use the top antenna port rather than the bottom. The external antennas are also 5g only, not 4g