Hello, and first of all I’d like to thank you for all your replies, which have helped me fine-tune my setup. You pointed out that the RUTX50 doesn’t have an internal Wi-Fi antenna, which made me question my router’s connections, as the small black antenna visible in the photos—the brand of which I don’t know—was, as far as I was concerned, solely a 2.4GHz antenna. However, I managed to activate the 5 GHz band as well… but where did it come from???
I spent a good part of last night testing various things. Whilst I couldn’t connect to the campsite’s Wi-Fi network (trying to connect displayed an error) via the router’s 192.168.1.1 interface (which, according to your messages, was to be expected as I only had a single Wi-Fi antenna connected), I managed to connect to the campsite’s Wi-Fi network via the Teltonika RutOS iOS app!!
After much searching and several long minutes, I was able to prioritise the campsite’s Wi-Fi network over my SIM card and enable Failover.
Everything was fine yesterday when I went to bed, but this morning I realised that the router was no longer connected to the campsite’s Wi-Fi. As the campsite’s Wi-Fi hotspot was far away, I wasn’t too worried. However, I realised that the 2.4 GHz SSID was no longer available on my devices even though it was enabled; only the 5 GHz band was accessible.
With all these doubts, I decided to roll up my sleeves and check the hard-to-reach connections on the router; it was a real struggle given the lack of space, but… I was wrong… A thousand apologies!!
What I can say now is that my router is indeed connected to two antennas, contrary to what I had thought.
So it’s connected like this:
- One Wi-Fi port on the router → to the small black antenna inside the motorhome. Is it a single 2.4 GHz band? I’d say so, as I found a similar antenna online that only operates at 2.4 GHz.
On the roof of my motorhome I have an antenna whose model number I don’t know, but I’ll try to find it as soon as I can get up onto the roof.
- 4 mobile ports are connected to it
- 1 GPS port is connected
- 1 Wi-Fi port is connected (what I initially mistook for an extension cable with nothing at the end is actually the second socket for the external antenna, which isn’t connected.
So both Wi-Fi ports on the router are connected: one to the external antenna and the other to the small black antenna inside.
- So I understand why I eventually managed to get both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands working.
- Although my setup was ultimately fine with two Wi-Fi antennas connected (internal + external), I don’t understand why I couldn’t activate the scan via 192.168.1.1 due to an error, whereas it worked on the iOS app, and why this morning the 2.4 GHz band and my connection to the campsite’s Wi-Fi were no longer accessible.
- I can’t understand where the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals are being broadcast from? I went outside and I don’t feel that the two signals are any stronger with the external antenna – quite the opposite, in fact.
- I think the previous owner installed this small black antenna indoors because the signal from the external antenna must have been too weak indoors?
Now I have some new questions and concerns:
As you know, I’ve since ordered a Teltonika PR1KRD30 antenna, which should arrive in a few days – I hope it will be of use to me!
What would you advise me to do? Replace the small black antenna with the new PR1KRD30, which I’m sure is dual-band, and keep one port on the external antenna? Connect both to the external antenna? Or keep the small black antenna plus the new PR1KRD30 indoors?
As a reminder, my initial requirement is:
Two separate Wi-Fi access point bands:
- 2.4 GHz for small devices inside my motorhome
- 5 GHz for smartphones, tablets and computers both inside and outside my motorhome
- Connect to a campsite Wi-Fi network whenever available as a priority, and if the signal is too weak, switch to the SIM card.
I have attached screenshots of my configuration.
Thank you in advance.
