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anthonws
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Looking for guidance on improving LTE signal (LHGGR LTE6) on a 6-7km distance connection

Tue Aug 09, 2022 2:54 pm

Hi,

Context:
During summer vacations, and other times of the year, I visit a remote village where there is no cell phone reception. Nearest area with cellphone service in LOS, is around 6km to 7km from where the LHGGR LTE6 antenna is.
I'm not a networking professional, and the only thing I have done ever remotely close to it was my CCNA 20 years back... :P
So, I've used the best of my abilities to research and determine what devices to use, how to position them, etc.
Overall, I've positioned the LHGGR antenna on a high stance, using the lateral wall of the garage, where I get a LOS with the area that has cell coverage. Antenna is mounted at around 5 meters high from ground, and current location elevation is 831m, whereas the highest elevation point of cell coverage area is about the same height.
Now... I've been having a hard time finding the actual position of the operator antenna... Did a bit of wardriving with some phone apps, but couldn't actually pinpoint the location, to get a as accurate as possible elevation of the operator's antenna, and then calculate a better positioning for my LHGGR.

Connection quality is not bad, but naturally I always wonder if there is anything else that I could improve.

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I can get speeds between 5-30Mbps for DL (average of 10-15 during the day, which I guess it is related to the # of clients connected to cells) and between 20-30Mbps for UL.

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Asks
What are your go to cell information services or platforms?
What are the Android/Web apps that you would recommend for finding cells location, aligning antennas (angle, height, etc.), terrain elevation plotting?
What other general guidance could you provide for attempting to increase the signal quality (e.g., band lock, different antenna, etc)?

Thank you all for your attention! Eager to get a bit more of knowledge on this :)

p.s. Would also like to read more about signal interference, particularly day vs night, given I have seen heavy drops in RSRP values during the night.
 
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bpwl
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Re: Looking for guidance on improving LTE signal (LHGGR LTE6) on a 6-7km distance connection

Tue Aug 09, 2022 7:05 pm

Where is eNB ID 5614??? (No search function, but OP must know the location on the map approximately)

https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=268& ... pe=roadmap
 
Zacharias
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Re: Looking for guidance on improving LTE signal (LHGGR LTE6) on a 6-7km distance connection

Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:43 pm

The signal itself is not bad...
You got a really bad SINR... that means a lot of noise...
 
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anthonws
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Re: Looking for guidance on improving LTE signal (LHGGR LTE6) on a 6-7km distance connection

Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:53 am

@bpwl Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately the problem is that there is no registration of that antenna in the area of cell coverage... I at least can't find any 5614 antenna in a wide range around that area. And this has been one of the aspects I have been struggling while looking into Intel offered from OpenSignal, etc.

@Zacharias I assume there is really nothing I can do, other than finding a alternative antenna, where there's less noise along the path... :( not really easy since I don't have LOS for other areas that have coverage (and where I know the exact spot of the antennas).

p.s. I think I found them! I used MCC and MNC code, alongside geo reference, to find them on this map:https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/pt-pt/map ... 07/-7.0216
At least this will allow me to do some more wardriving and confirm which antenna is which.

p.s.2 Any recommendation on an app to plot the terrain elevation, to ensure a proper LOS connection?

p.s.3 I have used this: http://www.heywhatsthat.com/profiler.html

Based on elevation profiles, it looks like it is easy to spot which antenna I'm connected to (out of the 2 possible).

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