Replacing Stock Antennas On AC68U

[RMerlin]

BTW, keep in mind there's a lot of plastic in those antennas used on the router (I forgot which of my router I accidentally dismantled one of the antennas, the wire that came out of it was definitely not the same length as the antenna itself).

Just in case you'd wanted to start doing some calculations.

I vaguely remember back when I was playing with Schmidt abacus (not sure how they are called in English) during my studies. That's something I promptly erased from my memory after completing that portion of my telecom classes...

 

[r00t4rd3d]

BTW, keep in mind there's a lot of plastic in those antennas used on the router (I forgot which of my router I accidentally dismantled one of the antennas, the wire that came out of it was definitely not the same length as the antenna itself).

You mean like this?

 

[jim769]

BTW, keep in mind there's a lot of plastic in those antennas used on the router (I forgot which of my router I accidentally dismantled one of the antennas, the wire that came out of it was definitely not the same length as the antenna itself).

Just in case you'd wanted to start doing some calculations.

I vaguely remember back when I was playing with Schmidt abacus (not sure how they are called in English) during my studies. That's something I promptly erased from my memory after completing that portion of my telecom classes...

Yes the stock antennas are all wire till the tip thats were the actual radiating element is. I picked up some antenna theory taking my amateur radio license exam years ago.

 

[BAyersGA]

duel band Ant

If it is not rated Duel Band and gives you the specifics (gain over band) for each band frequency then most likely it is not a true dB gain rating and not one you would want to buy and put on your box. Be real careful selecting Antennas, most Packs are not worth the money, and may really lessen your AP's power.

 

[vnangia]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but there's a half-dozen of these around, and I'd rather not litter the forum more.

Due to a recent unavoidable move of our AC68U, we've seen a sharp fall off in the data rate and ability of our devices to stay connected to the router. I suspect the stock antennas are okay, so I'd like to move one or two of the antennas out of the closet the router has gone into. I had initially thought of getting the Asus WL-ANT-191, but a) it appears to be 2.4GHz only, and b) quite a bit more pricey than I remember it being even a year ago.

As a consequence, I was thinking about getting an extension cable with a base, something like this or this. Would these work for the AC68U - both in terms of the connector and transmitting both signals to the stock antennas? Is there an alternative you'd recommend? Thank you in advance!

Edited to add: the alternative, as far as I can see, would be something like this.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

I suspect the stock antennas are okay, so I'd like to move one or two of the antennas out of the closet the router has gone into.

Best option is to move the router out of the closet. Using coax cables and antennas on a distance will not help you. Either accept bad performance or move the router to the previous place, really.

 

[vnangia]

Best option is to move the router out of the closet. Using coax cables and antennas on a distance will not help you. Either accept bad performance or move the router to the previous place, really.

Does the word "unavoidable" have some other meaning that's not in the dictionary?

Don't be a dick; if you have nothing to contribute, just go ahead to any of the other threads.

 

[vnangia]

As an FYI for anyone else who is contemplating a similar move, I went ahead and bought a set of these and connected them to the outer two antenna ports on my RT-AC68U with Merlin 380.57 and stock power levels. I have monitored the radio temperatures - particularly the 5GHz radios - and found the temperatures are within about 1C of the temperatures when the antennas were directly connected (on 2.4GHz 57C consistently; on 5GHz 61C before, 60C now).

Without being massively scientific about it, I have seen a significant increase in the signal strength - on the 5GHz channel RSSI has moved from about -80dBm and a PHY rate of 72Mbps to -47dBm and 867Mbps; on the 2.4GHz channel, RSSI has moved from -73dBm to -42dBm, though I don't have PHY rates for the 2.4GHz channels. Most importantly, with the single router, I can now consistently get a signal in the bedroom, which was a deadzone earlier. So far so good, and I'll keep an eye on the radio temperatures and experiment a bit with the antennae positioning, but so far so good.

Eventually, I suppose I'll try to replace the gear with "small iron" stuff like an Edgerouter and some Unifis, but I'm happy for now.

 

[L&LD]

vnangia, which antennae did you use? The original Asus antennae?

Could you attach a picture showing how you have the antennae (all three) situated? Thanks.

 

[vnangia]

vnangia, which antennae did you use? The original Asus antennae?

Could you attach a picture showing how you have the antennae (all three) situated? Thanks.

Yes, the stock antennae. Hard to take a photo, so here's an approximate diagram; the heights/widths of cabinets and speakers are correct, but the router, antennae and bases are not.

Please let me know if anything is unclear and needs clarification.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, the stock antennae. Hard to take a photo, so here's an approximate diagram; the heights/widths of cabinets and speakers are correct, but the router, antennae and bases are not.

Please let me know if anything is unclear and needs clarification.

Thank you, that is very helpful.

I have a few customers that may be able to use something like this in their environments too.

 

[vnangia]

Thank you, that is very helpful.

I have a few customers that may be able to use something like this in their environments too.

Welcome! Flying Dutchman above was being quite rude, but I decided I might as well try. I think it's worth the experimentation at the very least. Please do write back with your experiences.

After 48 hours or so of running it, temperatures are within the ballpark of where they were pre-routing (57-58C on 2.4GHz, 60-62C on 5GHz), even though ambient temperature has gone up by about 6-7C due to a heatwave here, which is showing up as +2C on the CPU.