Build your own devices, routers, relays, IoT etc.

[belusnecropolis]

On 5/25/2020 at 5:19 PM, lynyrd65 said:

The LM960

I just built this PoE and USB 3 upgraded WG3526 with an LM960 in it today  

I am testing it on the two Kathrein antenna I put on my TrashMonster™ tower.

It works great so far.

I use 3 foot of LMR400 7/16 DIN male to SMA male.



The cards are pretty on par with each other. They both get lots of aggregation combos, the Quectel is Eng samples only and the LM960 is on production revision 2, model A18 now. IMEI manipulation is more for Quectel if you need that for your plan, Telit I haven't figured that part out yet. The 960 is mPCIe so no adapters for most embedded router slots, the EM20 is M.2 so unless you get one of those fancy new routers I mentioned above you need an adapter.

What other questions do you have for me?

[lynyrd65]

I just built this PoE and USB 3 upgraded WG3526 with an LM960 in it today [emoji4] 



I am testing it on the two Kathrein antenna I put on my TrashMonster[emoji769] tower.

It works great so far.


I use 3 foot of LMR400 7/16 DIN male to SMA male.



The cards are pretty on par with each other. They both get lots of aggregation combos, the Quectel is Eng samples only and the LM960 is on production revision 2, model A18 now. IMEI manipulation is more for Quectel if you need that for your plan, Telit I haven't figured that part out yet. The 960 is mPCIe so no adapters for most embedded router slots, the EM20 is M.2 so unless you get one of those fancy new routers I mentioned above you need an adapter.

What other questions do you have for me?

Thanks!

Just ordered an LM960, it should make things easy and it comforts me a bit that it’s a final product rather than an engineering sample.

In my case, I won’t have to play with IMEI stuff since I have a grandfathered Original Unlimited Plus plan with official unlimited Hotspot access on the line.

That WG router you use looks like a good option except it’s out of stock at LTEFix. It looks like you did what I would do with that router too on the antenna ports (replace a couple WiFi ports with LTE ports for 4x4 MIMO).

I’m thinking in exchange for a little cable loss to feel better about it durability wise, I might mount my enclosure under the eave right under the antenna J-Pole so there is some shelter from direct sunlight and precipitation.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with my cabling. I’m considering either buying tools to cut and re-terminate my existing LMR400 cables to the shorter length or buying new cables at the appropriate length. It looks like new cables would be cheaper but maybe getting those tools could be worthwhile for future changes?

Thanks again!


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[belusnecropolis]

15 hours ago, lynyrd65 said:

Just ordered an LM960, it should make things easy and it comforts me a bit that it’s a final product rather than an engineering sample.

Good radio, do not forget to get MHF4 connectors for the antenna ports. Though it is mPCIe format it does not use the U.FL MHF1 ports most mPCIe cards use.

Make sure your order is the LM960AIW203T0W1000 model available here, this is the A18 and most current model. The LM960AIW201T0W2000 is the first production model, and surprisingly still costs more via semiconductor store.

 

15 hours ago, lynyrd65 said:

In my case, I won’t have to play with IMEI stuff since I have a grandfathered Original Unlimited Plus plan with official unlimited Hotspot access on the line.

Groovy.

 

15 hours ago, lynyrd65 said:

That WG router you use looks like a good option except it’s out of stock at LTEFix. It looks like you did what I would do with that router too on the antenna ports (replace a couple WiFi ports with LTE ports for 4x4 MIMO).

Yeah he got more last week and I bought a few of em while he had them. My order from ZBT is taking forever so I jumped on what he had.

 

15 hours ago, lynyrd65 said:

I’m thinking in exchange for a little cable loss to feel better about it durability wise, I might mount my enclosure under the eave right under the antenna J-Pole so there is some shelter from direct sunlight and precipitation.

This is the best place if you have to go outdoors. Too high and you start getting your intra cell interference and like you said good shade.

 

15 hours ago, lynyrd65 said:

Now I just need to figure out what to do with my cabling. I’m considering either buying tools to cut and re-terminate my existing LMR400 cables to the shorter length or buying new cables at the appropriate length. It looks like new cables would be cheaper but maybe getting those tools could be worthwhile for future changes?

I know a good vendor that makes all these custom cables I order, let me know if you need some. Good prices, free shipping. I just order new cables most of the time but having tools on hand means you can make mods now if you don't have time to wait, but that is if you anticipate needing to do this often.

[lynyrd65]

I know a good vendor that makes all these custom cables I order, let me know if you need some. Good prices, free shipping. I just order new cables most of the time but having tools on hand means you can make mods now if you don't have time to wait, but that is if you anticipate needing to do this often.

Welp, I picked the wrong one. Is there a huge difference?

They charged me a Tariff and taxes which I may or may not get refunded so it could cost me at this point to switch to the second revision modem.


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[belusnecropolis]

59 minutes ago, lynyrd65 said:

second revision

Shoot them an email, it takes them like 3 days to ship anything

 

[belusnecropolis]

1 hour ago, lynyrd65 said:

modem

Here is the stock email WebSalesTeam@symm.onmicrosoft.com 


Or this person, I get many emails from them all the time.

Alex Guerra

Internet Sales Representative

AlexG@symmetryelectronics.com

Office:  310.643.3454
Direct: 310.643.3455
Fax:  310.297.0881

Also, it ships from Beautiful Texas USA. The tariff is just what they already paid and they are passing it on to you. They should be able to void your order and process a new one. They have done it for me for this exact same reason. Another thing is they try to hide the cheapo USPS 3 dollar shipping at the bottom of the shipping page, keep an eye out for that and save some $$$

[lynyrd65]

Thanks for all the help!

 

I called, left a voice message and sent them an email.

 

Unfortunately it looks like they were pretty quick shipping since I already have a tracking number and an ETA of Monday. Hopefully you’re right and it hasn’t actually shipped yet.

 

I am in Oklahoma, so that’s part of why the shipping is so quick to get here. I guess that could mean returns are faster too. So at least there’s that.

 

Edit: just heard back from them. They want to charge a 15% to 25% restocking fee. I’m thinking I’ll avoid this group in the future. Is there really a huge difference between the two modules?

 

Edit 2: they decided not to charge me a restocking fee and they’re processing the RMA. Much happier now!

 

 

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[CastIronFace]

I feel like I could have saved a lot of time if I had found this thread a while back.

I started with a T-Mobile Home Internet setup and realized very quickly that i would get drastically faster speeds if the router was on my roof. Naturally I ripped it apart and tried external antennas on the four U.FL connections, no dice (I suspect it's the really small RP MHF4 style connectors, but I cant find the right connector for that). Next I got a Mofi4500 which doesnt work with the T-Mobile Home Internet sim (probably IMEI locked?) I used the Mofi with AT&T for a while reliably but not as fast as I would like (~4-10Mbps). I eventually decided to build my own based on a EM20-G and a Raspberry Pi using GoldenOrb. After downgrading the firmware I was able to get it working in a LTEFix USB enclosure.  I also tried it out in the Mofi with GoldenOrb (it seemed to work till a bandwidth test and it would reset the modem). I am suspecting it wasn't getting enough power since it only seemed to work in the external enclosure when the optional power was hooked up.

I settled on the EM20-G because I read all over the place that swapping the IMEI would be as easy as an AT command, which didn't work out but I figured would allow me to use the T-Mobile sim. I am using the super big 4x4 MIMO panel from LTEFix and all the various configurations are running about equal. That is MoFi up on the roof with the tiny omnis or bigger cheap omnis, small cheap yagis, or the LTEFix panel, same with the EM20-G, and finally the T-Mobile Askey router by itself. The only two variables I can think of is T-Mobile vs. AT&T or the MHF4 -> SMA pigtails from Amazon that seem really thin (like ~ .8mm).

In a perfect world I could test the T-Mobile with the EM20-G and the LTEFix antenna. Even better I would like to mount a router board inside the LTEFix antenna enclosure as there is 2.5cm clearance, even better than that would be POE. I am mainly concerned with power delivery to the EM20-G. Do you have any recommendations for a good router board that would work with it, I don't really care about WiFi?

Sorry for the long winded post :)

[belusnecropolis]

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

feel like I could have saved a lot of time if I had found this thread a while back.

I made this thread for just that purpose.

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

I started with a T-Mobile Home Internet setup and realized very quickly that i would get drastically faster speeds if the router was on my roof. Naturally I ripped it apart and tried external antennas on the four U.FL connections, no dice (I suspect it's the really small RP MHF4 style connectors, but I cant find the right connector for that)

Yeah I did this first thing too. You need to solder to the board to complete externals. The U.FL connectors are only extensions of the MiMo antenna.

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

Next I got a Mofi4500 which doesnt work with the T-Mobile Home Internet sim (probably IMEI locked?)

This is correct.

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

EM20-G and a Raspberry Pi using GoldenOrb

The RPi is kind of a turd for this unless you have it boot from a USB drive.

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

I also tried it out in the Mofi with GoldenOrb (it seemed to work till a bandwidth test and it would reset the modem). I am suspecting it wasn't getting enough power since it only seemed to work in the external enclosure when the optional power was hooked up.

Yes 4x MiMo at 3x aggregation pulls from 1.1-1.5 mA. Get you a thicc wall plug if you plan to pursue this more.

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

settled on the EM20-G because I read all over the place that swapping the IMEI would be as easy as an AT command, which didn't work out but I figured would allow me to use the T-Mobile sim.

Yeah I am the one that figured this out on this radio. It is a simple AT command, you just need the correct syntax and the IMEI from the Askey router.

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

I am using the super big 4x4 MIMO panel from LTEFix and all the various configurations are running about equal. That is MoFi up on the roof with the tiny omnis or bigger cheap omnis, small cheap yagis, or the LTEFix panel, same with the EM20-G, and finally the T-Mobile Askey router by itself. The only two variables I can think of is T-Mobile vs. AT&T or the MHF4 -> SMA pigtails from Amazon that seem really thin (like ~ .8mm)

It is a great antenna. Medium gain but the ability to have a smaller footprint than 4 or 2 antenna. I get all of my MHF4 from LTEfix or another domestic supplier.

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

In a perfect world I could test the T-Mobile with the EM20-G and the LTEFix antenna

Do you just need the correct connectors, N Male>LMR400>SMA male? I know a guy(me) if you need some. 

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

Even better I would like to mount a router board inside the LTEFix antenna enclosure as there is 2.5cm clearance, even better than that would be POE. I am mainly concerned with power delivery to the EM20-G.

 That antenna is light on the room but you would need to modify the internal connections to end in MFH4 to go from the antenna lead to the EM20. PoE is functional 

 

9 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

Do you have any recommendations for a good router board that would work with it, I don't really care about WiFi?

I always have ideas  my living is building LTE routers and consulting so if you would like to communicate let me know when is a good time for you to talk later in the week. 

[CastIronFace]

11 hours ago, belusnecropolis said:

Yeah I am the one that figured this out on this radio. It is a simple AT command, you just need the correct syntax and the IMEI from the Askey router.

After seeing this comment, I tried a couple of things and viola, it works. Unfortunately I still wasn't successful connecting to the network. It was a bit tricky with the pi because it has a hard time initializing the modem after a reboot if I don't cycle the power on the modem too, of course that's resetting the IMEI. Working quickly I was able to get it all synced up, but still kept getting the Call failed/Out of Call errors in the logs. If it would have worked I would have worked harder to figure out a way to pass the AT command prior to bringing up the network. I did verify the IMEI with AT commands and uqmi as well.

11 hours ago, belusnecropolis said:

Do you just need the correct connectors, N Male>LMR400>SMA male? I know a guy(me) if you need some. 

I have all the connections I need, but I am unable to find the thicker 1.13mm coax pigtails. LTEfix doesn't seem to have them either  

I ordered a ZBT WG3526 since it seems pretty well supported, and based on your comments I am going to get a beefier power supply for it as well.

On a separate note: I figured out a couple of things about the Askey router, not that it matters much those little MHF4 looking connectors on the antenna traces look like test points. When you use the proper cable it acts like a switch and disables the antenna while taking measurements. MHF-SW23

Also there is a serial port nearby the sim slot that is marked Tx, Rx, Gnd on the flip side of the board. I was able to watch the board boot by hooking up an arduino like a jerry-rigged ttl cable, no shell though. I saved the output if anyone cares.

[belusnecropolis]

15 hours ago, CastIronFace said:

1.13mm coax pigtails

I can ask about acquiring some. MHF4>SMA male? What length do you need and how many? 

[CastIronFace]

52 minutes ago, belusnecropolis said:

I can ask about acquiring some. MHF4>SMA male? What length do you need and how many? 

Four SMA Female of any length, but even better would be MHF4 > N Male, that would be one less adapter. I am tearing down the antenna and moving the N Female bulkhead jacks to the inside of the case. At least I found a copper interlink that had a cold solder joint

Edited June 5, 2020 by CastIronFace

[lynyrd65]

Where did you source that Kathrein antenna and what would one cost if you don’t mind me asking?

I’m thinking about picking up one of these Proxicast panel MIMO antennas otherwise to provide my two new streams.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBSLNJ6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KLQ2EbNHCCWB8


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[belusnecropolis]

On 6/5/2020 at 4:23 PM, lynyrd65 said:

Where did you source that Kathrein antenna and what would one cost if you don’t mind me asking?

I’m thinking about picking up one of these Proxicast panel MIMO antennas otherwise to provide my two new streams.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBSLNJ6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KLQ2EbNHCCWB8


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I sell them for 150 plus shipping. 

The proxicast is pretty sweet. Make sure to get the 5G model, it includes CBRS and the lower C-band going to auction this year.

[CastIronFace]

Any ideas why I cant get connected using my T-Mobile home internet sim? I did manage to get the IMEI changed between boots. I also tried setting the interface to 464xlat protocol since the T-Mobile askey router labels the connection type "LTE - Connected (464 XLAT)".

[lynyrd65]

I sell them for 150 plus shipping.   The proxicast is pretty sweet. Make sure to get the 5G model, it includes CBRS and the lower C-band going to auction this year.   

I wonder how realistic it would be to expect any benefit from Low Band 4x4 MIMO on the proxicast? That looks to be the biggest possible advantage to the proxicast. (Edit: It appears the LM960 only supports 4x4 MIMO on mid-band anyway)

 

Your antennas look sleeker and have a bit higher gain on the mid-bands I would expect to see the most benefit from 4x4 on.

 

I’m in very much an Edge-Of-Cell area with this installation so 4x4 MIMO gains in general may be mostly wishful thinking on my part.

 

Band 2 signal from current setup

https://i.imgur.com/i62NBqT.jpg

 

Recent typical speed test

https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/3944846734

 

 

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[CastIronFace]

Here is my hacked together system. I built 4 bi-quad antennas for band 2 mounted to a large ground plane covered in copper foil tape. The goop is high temperature hot glue used just to reinforce the antennas. On the flip side is a WG3526 and a POE af/at splitter. All that is mounted in a large LTEFix enclosure. I built some rudimentary standoffs on the 3D printer that insulates the router and provides mounting points for all the antennas. I disabled the WiFi to try and save a few precious milliamps.

Edited June 17, 2020 by CastIronFace
Changed router board from WE3526 to WG3526

[notsrealinc]

On 4/12/2020 at 9:41 AM, belusnecropolis said:

Commercially available; Quectel has a cat 4 device or you are looking at 300 bux for an LM960 from Telit.

I have a few engineering samples of Quectel's RM500 and RM510 coming, they have band 71 on 4G and 5G, production models should start up whenever the Wuhan coronavirus slows down in Hubei and Shenzhen. 

Where did you get RM510 or RM500 at? I see a few "ship now" for sale on Alibaba for $300. 

[belusnecropolis]

20 minutes ago, notsrealinc said:

RM510

Quectel, I try to avoid the network of acquisition agents on Alibaba. I pay more but they come when they say they will.

[lynyrd65]

Edit: I’m an idiot, my connectors for my primary antenna cables were RP-SMA instead of regular SMA. I bought two longer SMA adapters and foolishly two shorter RP-SMA adapters. No wonder the LMR cable connectors didn’t want to fit [emoji37]. With the two longer SMA adapters connected to the primary modem ports everything connected! Now I’m just mad RP-SMA exists!

 

Original post:

 

I got my new antenna, WG3526P and LM960 all assembled with the AT&T SIM inserted. I flashed the latest version of rOOter on the WG3526P and set my default APN to "broadband" which I believe is right for AT&T but I'm having some issues I think. The LM960 doesn't appear to want to connect. It's just stuck at connecting....

I'm not sure what steps I might have forgotten or if I messed something up?

 

 

[belusnecropolis]

21 hours ago, lynyrd65 said:

RP-SMA

You need me to send you some MHF4>SMA male?

[belusnecropolis]

LM960 got the IMEI boot from T-Mobile last week for UDP's. Working on a fix.

Mergers are great!

[ingenium]

LM960 got the IMEI boot from T-Mobile last week for UDP's. Working on a fix.

Mergers are great!

Ooo that sucks. Is it a regular T-Mobile plan, or their home internet plan? I didn't think they checked the IMEI for normal lines?

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[belusnecropolis]

On 7/14/2020 at 9:05 PM, ingenium said:

Ooo that sucks. Is it a regular T-Mobile plan, or their home internet plan? I didn't think they checked the IMEI for normal lines?

I have seen consumer and business tablet UDP's get the nice no service error. I have a fren with some IoT bucket plans that is going to test one out later. Still crackalackin' on a fix. 

[lynyrd65]

Got my new outdoor POE powered WG3526/LM960 setup roughed in. There’s definitely some cable management and maybe some antenna tuning left to do but I’m happy with the speed results especially since this is during peak usage time.








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