Old La Fontenna still useful w/ N network?

[kamaaina]

Hi there,

I have an old La Fontenna external wireless Fon antenna from my fonero days. The cable says 50 ohm and 7dbi gain w/o cable loss, it's a 3m/10f cable. Back in the days it was used for B/G extension in the fonero router. I am wondering if I could use it on my Asus N66U AP or the R7000 to extend the range a bit for wireless N at 2.4 ghz or if it's recycling material at this point. I have B/G networks turned off.

I read somewhere there might be differences among antenna for 2.4 or 5Ghz and B/G/N or even AC. I have no clue other than that it a directional antenna. Regarding the three antennas on the N66U I would assume it does not matter which one to replace if it could indeed be used today.

Is it possible? Would this make sense?
Thanks!

 

[thiggins]

If it's a 2.4 or 5 GHz antenna, you can use it. But you'll need to replace all three antennas to see significant performance improvement.

But go ahead and give it a try before you recycle it.

 

[azazel1024]

You will want to replace all three as mentioned. One thing to keep in mind is that if you have it on a wire it'll reduce signal strength. 3m on a very high quality cable you are going to lose something like 3-4dB of signal strength on 2.4GHz and roughly 50-100% more on 5GHz. Cables drop strength fast.

A 1m cable is going to be roughly 1/3rd that loss (1-2dB on 2.4GHz and 2-3dB on 5GHz). You always want to use the shortest cable possible.

 

[kamaaina]

Thanks, I guess I will give it a try and see if it makes any differences. I only have one though. If it does not move the needle at least a little bit it will have to go. It sounds like I should not expect much though given its 3m long. But at least I know now I could play with it and not attach a dead toy that would not work in the first place. ;-) Thanks.

 

[azazel1024]

"wires" on antennas are really just for locating the antenna somewhere where the signal is better. They attenuate the signal by a large margin because of the high frequency of wifi (higher the frequency, the faster it attenuates in a wire).

A 1m wire on a 3dBi antenna might result in 3dB of attenuation...but if it gets it sitting on your desk instead of behind the metal case of your desktop, it might mean an effective 10dB even though the cable length "negates" the gain from the antenna itself.

Another example, I have my 5dBi antennas on my garage router on 1m pigtails, which probably means I am losing a good 2dB or so of signal...not ideal. However, they are on 1m pigtails so that the antennas can be run through my garage wall to the outside to get coverage in my backyard. That boosts the signal, despite wire loss, from -68dBm to -25dBm standing 3ft from the antennas behind the garage...because the aluminum siding and wall KILL signal like no other. If I placed the router outside in the same location, the signal strength would probably be a couple of dB higher...then again the router would then be exposed to the elements and it is NOT an outdoor unit (surving fine in the garage though. Admittedly I turn the thing off from November till April...because who the heck needs outdoor coverage during the winter? So it isn't ever exposed and OPERATING when it is, say, 0F outside and maybe 15F in the garage)