External GPRS antenna

[Elliot West]

Hello,

I have an application where I'd like to add an external antenna to a GPRS communications board on an alarm system so that I can get an improved signal.

The board in question is a (Pyronix DIGI-GPRS: https://www.pyronix.com/products-and-solutions/gprs-modems) has a tiny, push-click antenna connector but I don't know enough about this domain to identify the specific type. I'd like to mount the antenna about 6m from the board, and I'm guessing that something omni-directional and high gain would suit? The current antenna is a small rectangular circuit board with a 30cm cable.

Can anyone help me identify the connector and suggest a suitable antenna and possibly an extension cable?

Thanks in advance,

Elliot.

[Stephen Casey]

Hello,

You may not get the improvement for which you hope - the losses in 6m of cable may exceed the gain you get from the external antenna. If you can mount the unit near to the antenna that would be a much better solution.

Good luck with the connector hunt. I can't tell from the photo what it is, but hopefully someone here will know.

Stephen

[Mat Stace]

It's most likely to be an MMCX (micro-miniature co-axial), although from that photo it's tricky to be 100% certain - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMCX_connector

Also, I would be wary of a 6m cable at those frequencies, there are likely to be significant losses.

Cheers

Mat

[Elliot West]

Thanks for the replies. Might a better antenna in the current location be a possibility?

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[Elliot West]

Follow up:

I found an Adactus ADA-0169 3dBi gain antenna with 5m lead and MMCX connector on eBay for little money. I thought it was worth a try for the price.

The cable was just long enough to allow me to site it at a 6m elevation, and I now get an almost full strength signal (30 on a scale of 0-31, compared to an earlier 20). The documentation warns against extending the cable further, although the seller did unexpectedly include 2x 5m extension leads in the package.

Thanks all for helping me identify the connector.

Elliot.