Tag: RF240

5G external antennas for 5G access – some considerations

Written by EAD Admin on 29th September 2026. Posted in News.

5G external antennas are necessary when your 5G router does not receive sufficient signal where it is installed. If you are not able relocate your router to a position where it can receive sufficient signal, then you will probably need an external antenna.

An external antenna will typically attach via one, two or four coaxial cables to antenna connectors on your router. Most 5G routers* have connectors for attaching external antennas, the most common connector for this is SMA.

So, if the location where you want to install your 5G has insufficient signal for a stable connection, apart from the common parameters like gain and directionality, what are some key considerations for using an external antenna?

Distance from the router and cable selection – is there a location close to the 5G router with a better or good 5G signal? The word close is doing some heavy lifting as it will depend on what kind of low loss cable you can use to connect up the antenna. A 400 type cable like LMR400 or RF400 will typically facilitate the external antenna being installed up to 25 to 30 metres from the router. 400 type cable is approximately 10.3mm in diameter and some find it a little heavy and cumbersome, but it offers excellent RF performance. Using 240 type cable such as RF240 low loss coax will allow an antenna up to 15 metres from the router. 240 cable is 6.2mm diameter and is relatively light and flexible. Coaxial cables with a small diameter typically have inferior RF properties and cables runs with these may only achieve 5m before the attenuation/loss across the cable negates any benefit of using an external antenna. Choosing your low loss cable effectively can determine how far away from router you can install your antenna.
Mounting method – the type of antenna you choose often reflects the mounting method available to install the antenna. Wall-mount, pole-mount, magnetic mount, adhesive mount, through-hole permanent enclosure mount are some of the options. Each option can have some advantages and disadvantages. Wall and pole mount antennas are usually a little larger with better RF performance whereas through-hole mount antennas are typically lower profile and more discreet for environments where deliberate damage is possible. For 5G access, marrying a 5G external wall or pole mount antenna with a 10M RF240 or 20M RF400 cable is quite common as the antenna generally sits a good distance away from the router.
Waterproofing / Outdoor suitable antennas – If you are installing an external antenna outdoors and subject to the weather, it is worth considering whether the antenna you are selecting is truly built for long term outdoor deployment. Some budget antennas are clearly not built to handle a few months of continuous outdoor deployment. You can check specifications to see if the antenna specification states IP66 or IP67 ingress protection and if the antenna radome is UV resistant. Also, you can use common sense when looking at a potential antenna choices to assess the quality of the materials used and how the antenna is designed. Sometimes it is fairly obvious that an external antenna is not going to last long when the rain is hammering down.
Connector type and how many – before choosing a 5G external antenna and low loss cable(s), double check the antenna connectors on your router. Depending on the type of router, you might need to connect up to four antenna ports for maximum performance. A single port, 2 port MIMO or 4 port MIMO might be required to match the number of antenna ports to the router. In addition, the physical connector on the router needs to be confirmed. As mentioned previously, the most common option is SMA, but others such as TNC or N-type connectors are possible.

For more information or assistance with selecting the correct 5G external antennas for you application, talk to EAD. You can e-mail us at sales@ead-ltd.com.

*please note that some 5G routers do not have external antenna connectors

Using 5G antennas with low loss cables – how to minimize losses?

Written by EAD Admin on 8th September 2026. Posted in News.

When installing a 5G (or 4G) outdoor antenna often the antenna might have an integral 5M or 10M cable or alternatively you might need to use low loss coaxial cables in longer runs to connect the antenna to the router. Whichever option you are using, analysing the cable type and the length of the cable to ensure you are introducing too much loss into the system is important.

We often see that 5G and 4G outdoor antennas with integral 5M cables use lower quality coaxial cable that exhibit losses per metre far in excess of better quality cables. In some cases, the coaxial cable used on the antenna might almost negate what the antenna can deliver in gain. For example, an outdoor antenna with 3 dBi gain at 900 MHz that uses a typical 5M RG58 cable will have 2.1 dB to 2.6 dB loss across the cable run, leaving an effective gain of 0.4 to 0.9 dB. Using a 10M integral RG58 cable would mean that the cable losses would exceed the antenna gain in this instance.

At higher frequencies such as 1800 MHz, the losses across RG58 are much greater than at 900 MHz meaning that it is also good to know which exact bands your 5G / 4G system is running on so you can better calculate the effectiveness of your antenna installation.

Using a RF240 low loss cable over 5M, the loss across the cable is approximately 1.25 dB and over 10M 2.5 dB. RF240 is 1mm larger in diameter than RG58, but the electrical properties are far superior especially for longer cable runs or higher frequencies. Therefore, it might worth considering an antenna with a coaxial connector termination (check our FGO-Max as an example) and using a hjgher grade extension cable to maximise the effective gain in the system.

Furthermore, for even longer coaxial cable runs, you could deploy 400 type cable. This is typically 10.2mm in diameter, but the loss per metre specifications are very good. Particularly ideal for 15M, 20M and 25M cable runs, RF400 cables would exhibit approximately half the losses of RF240 at 900 MHz i.e. 0.66 dB for a 5M cable run. Therefore, at 15M you would need to factor in approximately a 2 dB loss at 900 MHz.

Another issue with integral cables on external antennas is what to do with excess cable? What do you do if you only need 3M or 7M cables, but the standard configurations for the antennas offer 5M or 10M cables? Excess cable in the installation means unnecessary loss (and also coiled excess cable looks very unsightly!). Using custom length low loss cables means using only the exact cable length you need thereby improving efficiency in the system.

Need further help with your 5G and 4G antenna installation and low loss coaxial cable selection? Talk to EAD. We will be happy to help you make the right selection.

Low Loss RF coaxial cable assemblies RF240 and RF400

Written by EAD Admin on 30th October 2018. Posted in News.

Low Loss RF coaxial cable assemblies based on RF240 and RF400 low loss cable products are available from EAD.

You can download our RF240 and RF400 overview brochures here:

RF240 Low Loss coaxial cables

RF400 Low Loss coaxial cables

These low loss RF cables can be customer specified with the parameters of length and connector type configurable. Both cable types complement LTE, IoT, GNSS and UHF outdoor antenna installations. Typical products that marry with these cables are the LMO7270, FGO, and HIGAIN-RTK antennas.

Popular RF400 part numbers include RF400-SF-SM-10M and RF400-NM-SM-10M

For more information on EAD’s low loss RF coaxial cable assemblies, please contact EAD or your local distributor.

Low Loss RF240 cables extend LTE installations

Written by EAD Admin on 26th September 2018. Posted in News.

Low Loss RF240 cables from EAD are ideal for longer cable runs from LTE antennas to routers, modems and radios. These cables have excellent RF properties whilst having an overall diameter of 6.1mm and being flexible enough to route easily during installation. Typical cable runs for RF240 measure up to 15M to 20M in length.

As an alternative to LMR240, low loss RF240 cables represent an excellent price performance offer. EAD builds RF240 cable assemblies to order in-house. With automated measuring, cutting, stripping and crimp tools, we can tailor the cable configuration to suit your application.

The most common connectors we fit to RF240 cables include SMA-Male, SMA-Female, TNC-Male, N-Male, RP-SMA. Many other connectors are possible.

Some example part numbers for reference are:

RF240-NM-SM-10M – 10M RF240 with N-Male / SMA-Male

RF240-SF-SM-15M – 15M RF240 with SMA-Female / SMA-Male

RF240-SM-TNM-5M – 5M RF240 with SMA-Male / TNC-Male

Please contact us for your RF240 requirements.

For longer cables again, RF400 cable from EAD is an excellent solution. Some RF400 cables can be purchased via our webshop.

RF240 – 6mm diameter low loss cable assemblies

Written by EAD Admin on 27th September 2017. Posted in RF240 Cables.

RF240 coaxial cable is a 6mm diameter low loss cable suitable to operate as a jumper cable for outdoor wireless antennas. With excellent RF properties in a small diameter sheath, RF240 cable lends itself well to cable runs up to 15-20M for cellular applications.

With an outer diameter of 6.10mm, it is still pretty flexible. It has excellent RF performance with good attentuation figures across the bands up to 3 GHz. The RF240 is an equivalent to LMR240 cable, but a more cost effective alternative. We can offer this cable pre-terminated with SMA, N-Type, TNC and other RF connectors as required. As we assemble these cables in-house we can quickly accommodate customer requests for specific lengths or connector types. RF240 complements EAD omni antennas such as the FGO and LMO antenna.

For small quantity requirements of pre-configured RF240 6mm diameter low loss cable purchases can be made via the Connex webshop. We offer 5M, 8M, 10M and 15M cables as standard with various connector options. The individual cables can be purchased via the links below:

Buy 5M RF240 pre-terminated cable
Buy 8M RF240 pre-terminated cable
Buy 10M RF240 pre-terminated cable
Buy 15M RF240 pre-terminated cable

For a slightly smaller diameter cable and cable runs up to 10M, take a look at RF195.

For very low loss cables, take a look at the RF400.

Please note we do NOT supply bulk cable or individual connectors.