I work for a client which has a RUT950 installed on a sailing vessel. He wants to use external antennas for the mobile and Wifi connections. What is the maximum allowed cable length of the antenna cable? Or the maximum amount of signal loss in dB for both Wifi and mobile? I could not find this information in the manuals.
Hello,
As a general rule, it is recommended not to exceed cable lengths of 10 meters. However, you should always try to keep the cable as short as possible to minimize signal loss.
Best Regards,
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Thank you, it will be a challange to put the router within 10 meters. He wants to put the antenna’s as high as possible in the mast, so going gown to the deck with the cable will allready be 10 meters. He actually wants to buy the new router model RUTX50. Does it make a difference for the maximum distance? And could you advice any inline RF amplifiers to extend the antenna cable? And which brand/type of antenna cable do you recommend for best performance? And could you share the power budget figures of the mobile/WIFI transceiver of the RUTX model? So I can check an make the signal attenuation and power budget calculation myself.
Hello,
While the RUTX50 doesn’t specify a different maximum cable length compared to the RUT950, it’s generally advisable to keep cable lengths as short as possible to minimize signal loss.
Unfortunately, I don’t have specific recommendations for inline RF amplifiers.
We offer a wide selection of antenna cables on our website here. You can choose cables based on your specific requirements for length, performance, and environmental conditions.
You can find detailed information about the power consumption of the RUTX50 router on our wiki page here.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions or if there’s anything else I can assist you with.
Best Regards,
Thanks for your answer. I understand from your answer that the RF develepment department from your company did’t test or experiment with longer antenna cables, low loss antenna cables, external antenna’s and in line amplifiers.
The antenna’s that where bougth for the yacht are these:
They are suitable for 2G/3G/4G/5G and WIFI. They have an antenna gain of 9 dB.
The antenna’s have to come at the top of the mast, so the antenna cable will be around 26 meter / 85 feet. I I use a low loss antenna cable. For example this one:
I will have an attuation of the signal with 26 meter cable of (taken from the calculator on the website of the cable supllier):
900 MHz: 2,4 dB
2500 Mhz: 4,2 dB
3800 Mhz: 5.4 dB.
So if you add the antenna gain and substract the cable and connecter loss their should be enough signal power left for a propper connection. Even without adding an inline amplifier.
What your opnion on this calculation?
Your calculation is reasonable. But the original point stands, the longer the RF cable, the greater the losses will be.
I wouldn’t even bother with RF amplifiers. As soon as you get to a scenario where you think you need RF amplifiers, then you just need to mount the 4G router remotely, power it with PoE and use an AP local to where the users are in order to give them wifi connectivity. Much better solution over all. I have had great success with QuWireless outdoor enclosure + RUT950.
PoE, ethernet and APs are all straightforward commodity IT stuff.
RF amplifiers, long coax runs, terminating coax properly = mystical, scary dark arts.
Your choice!
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Thanks for your sugestion. Design and engineering is always about trade off’s.
In my opinion mounting the modem close to the antenna is not an ideal solution on a sailing vessel. With a mast of 25 meter it will be very difficult to reach the modem for maintance. Being hoisted up in a harness 25 meters to do maintance in the mast is not everyones hobby. And at a sea with a rough seastate it is impossible. So if you lose your connection during sailing caused by modem problems the chance you can reach it in top of the mast is very small. Off course there are other comminication terminals on board (VHF, inmmarsat), but it is the best solution to have the modem within reach.
So I am planning to place the modem below deck, under the mast. I will order the low loss antenna cable in a length of 26 meter and will make a test set up with the cable and antenna before it will be installed in the mast.
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