Sharing is caring!
I wrote about Helium hot spot antenna repeatedly In the past. All of these are geared towards users installing them outdoors and as high as possible. This is by far the best way to increase Helium Hotspot’s revenue.
However, I appreciate that this is not always a practical solution. I recently came into contact with several new Helium hotspots, and it is not easy to convince the owner to drill holes in their outer walls. Similarly, people living in apartments may not be allowed to drill large holes in the exterior walls.
So, what is the best option Maximize your HNT uses simple technology that does not require drilling to make money?
External installation with through-window wiring
This is my preferred method for installing hotspots in my host family. You can eliminate the need for drilling.
You need to put it on your top floor, if possible, I will try to choose a window that you know faces many hot spots. For example, I live by the sea, and choosing a window facing the sea may not be an ideal location. Obviously, the antenna can work 360 degrees, but your house will prevent the signal from passing through the hotspot.
Usually, when you buy antennas, they pass through short cables, which I find are as effective as window cables. You can upgrade it using the options I further listed from McGill Microwave.
Since the cable is short, your hot spot needs to be on the window sill. You can use WiFi or POE, which I have introduced in the missing installation below.
I’m cheap, so I use it all the time These sticky antenna brackets Suitable for indoor and outdoor. I haven’t failed yet, but I did use some outdoor gorilla tables to enhance the adhesion of an exposed device.
The alternative option is the McGill Microwave window holder. It is expensive, and they still recommend backup protection.
For your antenna, most installation recommendations are almost the same.
The 5.8/6dbi antenna is usually the preferred option, providing excellent omni-directional performance and long range, while also capturing nearby hotspots.
If there are many hot spots nearby, you can use a 3dbi or 4.5dbi antenna. You will be able to use the included short cables with these with minimal signal loss, so in this case you will make the most of the antenna.
With this solution, I installed the antenna on the window, but you can always upgrade to the chimney to install the antenna in the future, and then connect the thick LMR-600 cable to the short window cable.
Indoor installation-windows and attic
Indoor installation always causes some problems, because the signal needs to pass through a physical barrier. The windows are likely to provide the least resistance, but the attic may be a better solution, perhaps even better than external windows.
Attic installation
If you live in an old house like mine, the roof is not insulated; mine is not even lined. Many users report that this situation allows them to obtain good results. Although the signal must pass through thick tiles, you will benefit from high 360-degree coverage.
If you have a warm room with an insulated roof, you may not succeed. This is especially true if foil-wrapped insulating materials are used.
If your attic does not have a power source, the simplest solution may be to use Power over Ethernet, you need one POE adapter For the router side, then POE splitter For the hot end.
There are a variety of thin Ethernet cables that allow you to route the cable to somewhere in the attic.
Window installation
Internal window installation is your last resort, but it is easy to do. It works exactly the same as the external window bracket, you just don’t connect anything through the window.
I use this cheap window bracket as an antenna, and it works for me no matter indoors or outdoors. McGill Microwave sells indoor suction cups. Alternatively, Nebra and some other websites provide a magnetic base into which you can screw the antenna.
Make your own outdoor helium hotspot
I haven’t done this yet. If you do, don’t blame me if something goes wrong. Some popular choices in the Helium community are to convert your indoor hotspots to outdoor hotspots. Technically speaking, this will be the best overall solution because it allows you to locate the hot spot as high as possible while also using short antenna cables.
It seems to be very popular in the United States, and their main concern is overheating hotspots. This is not so important in the UK, of course in the north where I live.
What we are worried about is the lower temperature. The rated temperature of the indoor unit is 0-60 degrees. Since it is winter, we may often have many nights below zero.
If you do explore any of the following ideas, I suggest you try to place the enclosure in a sheltered location. I am not entirely confident that an IP-rated enclosure will handle our horizontal rainwater indefinitely. Under your soffit may be a good idea, it will reduce exposure to the sun and rain.
The possible solutions are:
Nebra IP67 enclosure
- Nebra IP67 enclosures are available for purchase with temperature ratings from -60C to +230C. This is a heat sink. Under direct sunlight, it will add an additional +6.5 degrees Celsius, which may not be a problem in the UK. If you do use this kind of shell, you need to remove the internal structure of the hot pot and reinstall them into the shell.
- You also need a mounting board and POE switch HAT
- You can also buy a spare battery HAT
Random IP grade enclosure
You can find a large number of cheap external enclosures on Amazon to install your own outdoor systems, but these are not insulated, and I don’t have enough confidence in this solution, I run the risk that it is almost impossible to buy helium hotspots.
Things you need/should consider
- The IP-rated enclosure is large enough to fit your hot spot + hole to run the cable (or you have to drill your own
- POE adapter and POE splitter – the splitter enters the chassis to provide wired Ethernet, and then power
- A USB-C powered battery pack worth considering
- Outdoor POE Surge Protector-Lightning is not a big problem in the UK, but it can be disturbing to have your hot spot blown up by a surge.
- can buy Low power anti-condensation heater -How to power it is beyond my current understanding
One option I encountered while researching this, I don’t recommend it, but it may work.You can buy it very cheap IP grade foam pad equipment box On eBay and Amazon. I have no idea how you will install it, you also need to create holes for the antenna and Ethernet, but there is some potential here.
Antenna recommendation
This section is a copy and paste of what I have written, but only for clarification.
As far as I know, the antenna is recommended to remain unchanged indoors or outdoors.
I have used Paradar 868Mhz LoRa antenna 4.5dbi In my recent installation, this worked well for me.
The 5.8/6dbi antenna is usually the preferred option, providing excellent omni-directional performance and long range, while also capturing nearby hotspots.
If there are many hot spots nearby, you can use a 3dbi or 4.5dbi antenna. You will be able to use the included short cables with these with minimal signal loss, so in this case you will make the most of the antenna.
Cable recommendation
The LMR-600 cable has the least loss, but is very thick and expensive; this is suitable for roof installations where there may be a 10m cable.
LMR-400 cable is suitable for medium length cables. However, it is too thick to pass through the window and close it. For my house, I managed to squeeze through the Helium Hotspot SMA end of the antenna through an old coaxial hole for Sky TV.
The short cable that comes with most antennas almost fits under a window, just close it very carefully, preferably not too tight. I have used this cable to connect to LMR-600 or LMR-400.
McGill Microwave sells 1 million ultra-low-loss LMR-100, the price is very expensive, excluding VAT, is 29.49 pounds. I haven’t used it, so I can’t say whether it will provide a lot of benefits.
They also sell some ultra-thin and flat cables, but these use SMA connectors instead of N-Female/Male
Amazon sells quite a few LMR-240 cables. For short distances below 3m, these should be acceptable. However, I doubt whether you can close their windows.
Last updated on 2021-09-19 / Affiliate link / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API
