Cel-Fi Go installation ideas.

[GILow]

Hi all,

Looking at the Cel-Fi Go for our travels. Mainly East Coast Australia. We have both Telstra and Optus plans but I’m assuming the smart move will be to buy the Telstra compatible version. (My early reading suggests you have to choose one or the other, I’d be interested to know if this is not the case.)

Anyway, looking at the full installation kits, they seem to ship with everything you need, what they call the donor antenna (talks to the phone tower) and the server antenna (talks to your phones).

But I also note the donor antenna cable is only 5 meters long. Not great if I want to put the donor antenna well up the mast on, say, the top spreaders.

The manual also recommends the donor antenna cable be as short as possible (makes sense, minimises signal attenuation).

So, how are people setting up their systems?

Maybe put the booster up the mast somewhere too?

User supplied donor antennas?

Any suggestions to improve the setup are welcome. We like to be away from the busy spots as much as possible, but we do love our Internet connectivity.

Matt

Edit: Just stumbled over what looks to be a new version, called the Roam R41, not sure if it is actually available yet.

[OldGreyB]

Installed a Cell Fi Go kit in July 2020 on our Lagoon 400. Installed supplied antenna at the top of our 20 metre mast. Shortened the supplied antenna cable and connected to a LL400 CPAX cable. Ran that down the mast to minimize dB loss. Then converted back at the bottom to SMA cable to provide flexibility to the Cel Fi Go unit located in the navigation area.

Have used a cellular 4G modem to provide Wi FI around the vessel. Has worked well, even when Telstra signals are weak or speeds are down, we have been able to use as far out as the Percy Islands. People have WFH on board and we have watch all our sports and movie channels etc.

See LL400 CPAX datasheet attached. Ensure you use quality connectors.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by OldGreyB

Installed a Cell Fi Go kit in July 2020 on our Lagoon 400. Installed supplied antenna at the top of our 20 metre mast. Shortened the supplied antenna cable and connected to a LL400 CPAX cable. Ran that down the mast to minimize dB loss. Then converted back at the bottom to SMA cable to provide flexibility to the Cel Fi Go unit located in the navigation area.



Have used a cellular 4G modem to provide Wi FI around the vessel. Has worked well, even when Telstra signals are weak or speeds are down, we have been able to use as far out as the Percy Islands. People have WFH on board and we have watch all our sports and movie channels etc.



See LL400 CPAX datasheet attached. Ensure you use quality connectors.

Thank you, I’ll look up those components you mentioned.