How to improve the signal to my Netgear NightHawk M5
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- How to Improve my Home Office NightHawk Connection?
In this video we address the question on how to improve the signal to a Netgear NightHawk M5, also called the Netgear MR5100.
The solution is to use an external 4G or 5G antenna. We use the Poynting XPOL-2 v3 model, and connect it using rfshop.com.au TS9 pigtails.
The solution is also applicable to the older NightHawk M1 and M2 models, as well as the Huawei B818 router offered by Optus and Vodafone.
rfshop.com.au/...
#Netgear #Nighthawk #homeoffice #home4g #homewifi #homeinternet #betterconnection #workfromhome #poyntingantennas #greatantennas #homewifisolution
I like your work!
This is, how I helped my two family members and two neighbors at a summer house settlement at Heidkate near Kiel/Germany with a very very bad Lte connection to get a stable internet from almost 0 to 25-50 Mbits.
I thank you very much!
Many thanks for the feedback. I really love the mobile broadband technology
Hi David it's Ben Crawford here with the set up in my Cave this is great I've got lots to share with the community on this one !!
Ben, there’s much more to study on this router setup from my end as well
Love your work! Got to like anyone who gets the same enjoyment out of getting even a few dB improvement on SNR. Showed the video to my wife to prove there are others who get the same enjoyment out of dB as I do. On a serious note looks like a great for the house. I was only just on the web site looking for some solutions to my RV project and the very important comms fit out. Been a long time RF Shop customer & always trying to keep it real. Thanks to you & your cat and the roll of alfoil (I'm sure Michael Faraday took some from the kitchen too!)
Keep Keeping it real man!
Thanks Dean, much appreciated. Next video (already done but I "pace" myself not to edit and upload yet) was the MIMO-3-12 on my pink caravan...connected to the same Netgear NightHawk M5. Got same awesome results.
As for Stella the cat, she's such an amazing creature. Never had a cat so "engaged" with humans as this one :)
@@RFShop Awesome David ... perfect timing I get a notification when its ready. Look forward to it.
Great video! Gave me tips on how to measure and compare signal strength.
Hello Adam. I would always use the App on the phone for that.
Hi from Ireland Excellent video
Hello again David and everyone who who contributed to you in this post.
I have the V3 ponyting and Night hawk M1 despite what I might have said
I can see already that there will be degradation of the T9 connectors if I'm taking them in and out even once a week to charge my nighthawk.
Has anyone seen T9 to SMA adapters that Can permanently set on the nighthawk and thus reduce the erosion of the T9 connectors?
David: Niamh from Novatel in Ireland speaks highly of you and all your work and at one time she had T9 to SMA adapters but couldn't find them anymore.
Hi Ben,
I am humbled by the feedback !!!
We do have those TS9 to SMA adapters. I will make an enquiry again with the supplier who helped us once and get more of those in stock. I agree that they are too delicate / fragile for repeated use.
Great myself and I'm sure Niamh will want to know/buy
Keeping it real !!
Practical advice for everyone.
Ive just purchased this exact setup from your team.. We have just built a new house and recently had a TV Antenna and 4g filter fitted by a professional TV antenna company. Hubby wants to know if its possible to install our new PoyntingXPOL-2 on the same mast as the TV Antenna without causing any issues or interference to either. (Physically there is enough room)
Or of we should purchase and install on a separate mast. Any ideas. Thanks
Hi Lauren,
The official recommendation is to try and avoid putting the 4G antenna on the same mast as the TV antenna.
Having said that, I may have told customers that it's quite possible to mount both antennas on the same mast, as long as they are separated by at about 500mm if possible.
You may consider attaching a laptop via the ethernet port as your phone is not giving an accurate speed reading since it's trying to fight thru the aluminum frame as well.
True…I realized that as I was editing the video 😬👍🏻
Is there a portable aerial that will boost signal, even if a little bit. We live in a highrise unit complex, ground floor, so we only have openings front and rear of our unit. We also have a caravan hence why we chose the Nighthawk M5 for our internet, so we could travel with it as well as use it in our unit. Would like something portable to serve both applications if possible.
Kevin, the Poynting XPOL-1 comes to mind. It's a small antenna with suction cups you can put against the window. It works quite well.
amazing :) this M5 is capabl;e of being modded to support 4x4 with external antennas. Is it worth it? Looking at reliability, ping and speed
I'm still playing with the M5, but if you modify it (off-course, breaking warranty etc) it should offer you quite a bit of extra performance. I do love this little unit
thank you, oh yes it's a great device :) I read about it and found out that this external 4x4 modification seems not to benefit the 5G signal at any point, so i think I skip this for now, and rather try to design a 10cm long nr5 yagi for the second TS9 port
your channel is amazing, great value and hobbylike dedication. greetings from DE. wish i lived in AU
Vielen Dank
I wonder what the speed have been had the router been outside the box instead of in? Also, what would the signal have been like had the aerial been inside the box instead of out?
From my testing today, using a similar method, the results of speeds would have been similar with or without an aerial. In some instances, I had a higher signal without an aerial in lower signal areas. I tested 2 different aerials.
* my use case is not to use in a building but to use outside in low signal areas.
Do you have detail on the antennas you used for the tests ?
yes please, try and demonstrate connection to the nighthawk when in a bad reception area. ideally I would appreciate your advice, I am a videographer in Sydney, Australia. I've recently taken up wireless live-streaming (have a studio but since have taken up portability). I have the Nighthawk m2 and use that, it really isn't the best coverage I have glitching live-streaming issues when th location I am live-streaming is really poor (less than 1 bar signal at times!). What would you reccommend for portability live-streaming? (I stream special events via our wireless - hollyland 300 mars pro. I would love your advice in terms of wifi connections as I am honestly clueless! Many many thanks
I have some material ready…just did a few tests during trip on the Great Barrier Reef with resukts. 60km to the nearest shore
looks like a great idea if the signal inside ( or where you want to mount the device ) is poor - but what was with the 60% loss?? That surely can't be good.
It was very hard to try and replicate a real world problem in the aluminium house. My next drmo will be where the signal is really weak
@@RFShop cool. Well, subscribed now so I don't miss it! :)
Thanks for this video! I have a XPOL01 I plugged it into my M5... Since unplugging it my M5 will not connect to the mobile network at all! it's like it's forced it to use the the External Antenna! Just says "Searching"
Oh dear...it sounds like the "switch" is stuck. Have you looked closely if there's not maybe a short-circuit or something broken inside the connector?
@@RFShop Thanks its since Netgear released a firmware update. They have a forum thread titled we need your feed back Mr5200. Hoping they fix it soon
Wait, that aluminium shielding isn't also killing the WiFi from the netgear? You should do the speed test on a device connected via ethernet cable..
Luc, the modem is always in the foil so the difference between tests is with or without the external antenna.
I do agree that foil would hurt WiFi as well, but I was close enough for it to pass through.
The reason he tested it with the M5 wrapped in tin foil is because the M5 has a 4x4 mimo antenna internally and he is plugging it in to a 2x2 mimo antenna so it would have been significantly faster with out the antenna plugged in which is what he doesn’t want you to know. The antenna is also only wired in to the low band so it sucks arse as it cant use the high bands.
True. I tried my best to break it in an environment where there's RF everywhere around me. Next time I'll just have to go remote, so big lesson learned. However, it's pointless to take the video down from UA-cam since the lesson I learned is worth sharing and I don't mind being ridiculed if it means others also think about the problems and how to overcome them !!
I'm confused. You say you have good service w/o an external antenna, and the antenna would be no real help. I would be interested in seeing a situation, where you get no useable service, and then you add an external antenna. Shielding the phone has no value, since there is already ample signal available.
Richard, there are many scenarios and questions relating to external antennas on a NightHawk M5.
Question 1 we get a lot is, is it possible?
In this video I simply try to address that first question….yes, it is possible to connect an external 4G antenna to a Netgear NightHawk Router.
This leads into Question 2, where we hear people asking what to do in a building or caravan where the signal is OK outside but weak inside. In making this particular video we can now also illustrate to those questions what needs to be done. More on this in my next video already shot.
The next Question (Question 3) is how good will an antenna improve the signal in a weak or remote area. For this test I will go to Rapid Bay again, and will do so in a few week’s time.
Following that, I will once again have to demonstrate how different data speeds will be with and without the new Cel-Fi GO 41 on a device such as the NightHawk M5…and that’s Question 4.
Last but not least, on the NightHawk M5 I need to demonstrate 5G capability and whether an external antenna makes a difference.
So, all in all, the router opened a whole can of wurms and I’m just chipping away at the questions we get at RFShop in an informal style. Now I can at least point some people to a video on UA-cam 😊
Hope that helps!
My ts9 cables dont seem to fit into my nighthawk m5 properly. They just fall out . Any tips?
Hi Christian, no, not really. TS9 are very delicate and some manufacturers don’t seem to get it right…did you buy from us or elsewhere?
Hiya! I just want to ask if it has band locking and cell id locking on netgear app.TIA!
I actually don’t know. That’s why I much prefer Teltonika where this is much easier ( although I don’t know if you can lock to a specific Cell ID )
My m5 will not work without the aerial after using even in good reception areas, why is this?
It may be that the small TS9 connector is still stuck in external antenna mode. I've seen that happen a few times.
My man u have so much packet loss on the test..
yeah. I'm confused about that, and would like to see that aspect addressed, as that's not right.
The only way to "break" the system in a good signal environment is to shield the device. The "break" and poor performance translates to packet loss and hence slower speeds, so it was intentional. That's what poor signal quality does :)
The only way to "break" the system in a good signal environment is to shield the device. The "break" and poor performance translates to packet loss and hence slower speeds, so it was intentional. That's what poor signal quality does :)