@iamrbf wrote:
Funny you should ask! I have 4ea. Cambium 2.4 Mars, I believe is makes them, up on one tower and 4ea. KP Performance Secotrs up on another one. KP KICKS ASS HANDS DOWN! In fact I just sent screen shoots to Shane at KP today. I do use the Cambium 5.8 new Secotors with the Smart BF antenna on my EPMP2000 AP's. Those Secotrs rock. But I can tell you on the 2.4 side the KP is by far the better sector on my network.
I pulled one of the 4ea. Cambium Sectors down TODAY around NOON. And had a new 2.4 AP radio configed and mounted on a new KP Sector and swapped them for Min. down time. I got anywhere from 2-5 DBI better on the KP Mostly on the Customer Side which is “UHUGE” (As Donald says). If you look at the specs on the KP to the Cambium the 2 specs I like to compare are these:
VSWR < 1.3:1
Port to port isolation 31 dB
I’m not 100% sure but I think the Cambium is like 1.7/8:1 on VSWR (LOWER BETTER) and the Port to Port Isolation again, I think, is around 20 dB (HIGHER THE BETTER)
Other issues I don’t like with the Cambium but those are the deal breakers for me. I’m not big on their 11 degree beam… way big for me. I like the 7+ KP has with the EDT. Hits the SM’s harder with signal. I think if you do soom looking around you will get excellent feedback on the KP Antennas. This is the company that Mimosa and Baicells partnered with on their antennas that tells me something.
The Antennas are going to be the next "Big Thing" that we all use to improve our networks. The Cell Carriers have been on this path for a couple of years now and there is some GOOD reasearch out there going on now for Antennas. GOOD things ahead!
you've got a number of things wrong with this comment, VSWR is a measurement of return loss, yes the lower the better, but KPs are 1:5, with the exception of 1 model that is at 1:3. they have several that are 2:1 cambium sectors are 1.7 the difference less than 1 db on the rssi level. the 1:3 sector which i assume your siting given its the closest to your claims of 3 to 5 db higher is actually 17db gain, so yes it should show as 3db higher front gain, it however is only 27 DB front to back. you need 28, but more is better in a reuse situation. cambiums sector is 32 db.
the 11 db vertical beam is very useful if you have clients near the tower. tilting the sector to 6 degrees, while being 300" above the targets yields good range while keeping the beam undercontrol and away from horizon and still giving great penetration to near by subs. the KPs do not perform the best with very tight subs, i've fought that issue a few times with ours. at a mile or 2 out, the KPs are like performance, and some of them slightly better. in tight, and a very sharp angle with path obstructions, the cambium sector will do much better.
next port isolation on the cambium is 25, as is the KPs. 31, but heres the hitch, the epmp radios don't need to pol separation to be high for pull speed, if you put 2 vertical antennas on a connectorized you'll still get dual stream performance without a hitch (we have omnis on the roofs of our trucks to make trouble shooting a breeze and for us to use when we don't have cell service). you run the risk of loosing your phase and then loosing a lot of signal because your not listening on both pols. since they are both cross pol antennas, strong discrimination isn't important as they will hear noise and signal in all phases. in cellular world, yes very good discrimination is very important.
the KPs are better antennas, but when a forum member is asking which antenna to use, its important to correctly site facts so they can make informed decisions.
https://www.streakwave.com/mmSWAVE1/Video/epmp1000SectorAntenna-July2014.pdf
https://www.kpperformance.ca/sector-antennas/without-ubnt-case
my sector of choice are the KP dual freq panels,
https://www.kpperformance.ca/product_documents/get/document/id/221/
when it comes to the best performance, these KPs are not it, but they perform very similar to the cambium sectors, and allow 2 APs in one sector saving a good amount on tower rent. i just ordered 8 of these sectors and it was just over $5,000 with shipping.