Updated my cellular/Starlink setup, moved the router up the mast

Submariner

Submariner

Channel Surfing
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
Messages
1,723
Location
Everett, WA
Website
www.letsgochannelsurfing.com
Fluid Motion Model
R-27 (Outboard)
Hull Identification Number
FMLT2702C021
Non-Fluid Motion Model
https://tinyurl.com/yrv84xdm
Vessel Name
Channel Surfing
MMSI Number
368187810
Just finished upgrading our boat internet to the Peplink AntennaMAX, which puts the router inside the antenna at the top of the mast.

The reason matters more than the gear: every foot of coax between an antenna and a 5G modem costs you signal. Eliminating that cable run was the upgrade. I bought the AntennaMax almost a year ago, waiting to do the install as it required me re-running two ethernet cables, about 35 ft, through the boat (patience...). Cellular handles 90% of what we need. Starlink handles the rest. The two work together as a system to control power consumption on the boat while also controlling monthly costs. Costwise, the router and antenns were about $1800 in parts. Mast shrouds are required due to the extra weight added to the mast. That's another $400 in pats, plus install. I often see well over 100mbs of Internet speeds on cellular. When I venture away from the marina and my phone shows "no service", I will have service through the boat Internet via Cellular. When I get to off-grid, then I pull out Starlink that works through the Internet router as well.

Once I get the boat cleaned up (tools put away) and spring cleaning done, I'll publish a walk-through video of the install/setup.

I published additional details and photos of the install on our website.

Internet-Cellular | LetsGoChannelSurfing

www.letsgochannelsurfing.com www.letsgochannelsurfing.com

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Great post, I’m definitely interested in what you find in terms of performance between the AntennaMax and the Peplink Mobility 42G. I would think the heat problems with the router being located in the AntennaMax would be minimal here in the PNW. It’s not that hot but curious what you see in terms of performance. I’m definitely thinking of purchasing this setup for Wayfinder this year. I’ve done all the researcher, at this point, just need to pull the trigger.

Most curious though, do you still use the GXM 54 XM receiver for weather with both cellular and starlink? I have researched the GXM but not yet installed it to see how effective it is. I saw your video but thought it would still be worth trying even though it seems super expensive. Curious your thoughts after your progress.

Best
Jeremy
 
JeremyT said:
Most curious though, do you still use the GXM 54 XM receiver for weather with both cellular and starlink? I have researched the GXM but not yet installed it to see how effective it is. I saw your video but thought it would still be worth trying even though it seems super expensive. Curious your thoughts after your progress.
Click to expand...

I shut service off for the Garmin GXM Weather antenna after our SE Alaska trip. It worked only marginal up in SE Alaska. The mountains are too tall all around for decent coverage. The monthly weather subscription was expensive too (about $36/mo). Having cell service and Starlink as the backup provided me the best weather report, better than what the GXM antenna delivered.

What I did like about the GXM was it would put wind direction on my chartplotter. But for the monthly cost, It wasn't worth it. I will eventually get a Garmin wind transducer to get me wind direction on the chartplotter for $0/mo.
 
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JeremyT said:
Great post, I’m definitely interested in what you find in terms of performance between the AntennaMax and the Peplink Mobility 42G. I would think the heat problems with the router being located in the AntennaMax would be minimal here in the PNW. It’s not that hot but curious what you see in terms of performance. I’m definitely thinking of purchasing this setup for Wayfinder this year. I’ve done all the researcher, at this point, just need to pull the trigger.
Click to expand...

I took the boat out today, Everett to Kingston. Short trip across Puget Sound. Trying out my AntennaMax.
364mbs down, 25mbs upload, half way between Edmonds and Kingston at 32mph.

The Mobility 42G is a great antenna. The AntennaMax is better. Enough of an improvement that justifies the upgrade. I run Starlink through the Peplink router as well. I don't use the Starlink router. I also run everything at 12 volts (no inverter needed).

Peplink router, AntennaMax, and Starlink Gen2, 3 or 4 dish... best set up all around for connectivity. I've been comparing what I'm seeing today with what I saw on the 42G in SE Alaska (I took screenshots of cell service performance, such as RSRQ, SINR, etc..). The AntennaMax is the best. For testing today, i shut cellular data off on my phone so all it had was WIFI connectivity to the Peplink router. The SIM card in the router is T-Mobile, and so is my phone.

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Thanks for sharing your experience with the GXM. I agree, it is expensive. The interference is unfortunate but makes sense to me. It actually happens quite a bit in my truck ( I have a music subscription) with the mountains and trees here in Issaquah. The reason to get it IMO would be for a trip to Alaska and if that isn’t reliable, then cellular + Starlink may be a better solution all around.

The speed test of the AntennaMax is impressive.

Thanks for staring.
 
JeremyT said:
Thanks for sharing your experience with the GXM. I agree, it is expensive. The interference is unfortunate but makes sense to me. It actually happens quite a bit in my truck ( I have a music subscription) with the mountains and trees here in Issaquah. The reason to get it IMO would be for a trip to Alaska and if that isn’t reliable, then cellular + Starlink may be a better solution all around.

The speed test of the AntennaMax is impressive.

Thanks for staring.
Click to expand...

I've spent the past several days tuning the T-Mobile cellular connectivity, based on SA 5G, NSA 5G, and LTE bands (band locking), then testing performance to see what works best. I finally have some pretty significant evidence that I shouldn't rely entirely on speed. Often times, at the dock at home, my phone (iPhone 17 Pro), will outperform the AntennaMax. I would see this all the time with the 42G antenna as well. The cell tower knows the difference between a router hotspot and a phone. Phones get priority As their tower gets congested with cellular devices connected, they will prioritize phones over hot spots. The difference being, maybe my phone will speed test 200mbs and my router will speed test 100mbs. The tell-tale give-away is the delta in performance is too great, and it's not consistent. Time of day when I do the testing matters.

I work from the boat a lot. Teams calls, etc... I really only need about 20mbs for functional internet.

The easiest way to tune this, and to recognize what's going on based on data and stat's.... use ChatGPT. just take a screenshot on your phone of the cellular connectivity stats as illustrated here. Upload the photo into ChatGPT and simply say "Rate my cellular connection on my boat". It can read the data in the photo.

Here's a snippit what ChatGPT returned based on the photo of my cellular connectivity below while I was crossing Puget Sound yesterday.
Channel Surfing is once again, ready for SE Alaska, leaving in May 2027. We're going to stretch that cell signal even farther, past 19 miles.

ChatGPT Answer​

8.5/10 for real-world marine cellular
Absolutely high-quality usable RF.
MetricValueAssessment
Mode5G SAExcellent
Bandn41Excellent
RSSI-47 dBmExtremely strong
RSRP-77 dBmStrong
SINR10 dBGood
RSRQ-11 dBModerate/noisy
IP uptime1d 17hVery good stability

Your setup is now limited more by:
  • tower scheduling
  • carrier policy
  • network loading
than:
  • antenna system
  • signal acquisition
That’s actually where you WANT to be.

You are NOT likely to get:
500+ Mbps benchmark hero numbers consistently

Because:
  • X62 modem
  • T-Mobile scheduler policy
  • router-class provisioning
  • SA implementation realities
Your actual usability is excellent.

Marine-specific assessment
Over water: this is VERY respectable.
Especially on:
  • n41
  • SA
  • with external antennas
You’ve successfully built:

a high-performance marine WAN.​

Operational expectations from this signal​

You should expect:
✅ stable Teams/Zoom
✅ strong streaming
✅ excellent browsing
✅ reliable uploads
✅ good VPN behavior
✅ solid SpeedFusion performance

This is no longer: “consumer hotspot performance.”
This is now: properly engineered cellular infrastructure for a boat.

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Photo of the AntennaMax installed up on the mast on Channel Surfing.

I would also like to add, shrouds are required. If you're installing extra antennas, a FLIR, anything of weight, shrouds are required. Else you risk the mast welds breaking and the mast collapsing.

The owner of this boat below had a FLIR camera mounted on his R27 in the same spot I have the AntennaMax mounted. It took 3 years before the welds finally gave way. Broke an atrium window on it's way down. I'm working with him to fix the damage, get the mast back up, and add shrouds.

The added bonus, once shrouds are added, the mast is rock solid, no shaking. zilch. It's quiet up top.

If you want to know what's involved with adding shrouds, I have it published on our website.

Shrouds | LetsGoChannelSurfing

www.letsgochannelsurfing.com www.letsgochannelsurfing.com

IMG_7505.jpeg


Shrouds are needed if you add additional weight to the mast so this doesn't happen to your boat.
IMG_7235.jpeg
 
Submariner said:
Just finished upgrading our boat internet to the Peplink AntennaMAX, which puts the router inside the antenna at the top of the mast.

The reason matters more than the gear: every foot of coax between an antenna and a 5G modem costs you signal. Eliminating that cable run was the upgrade. I bought the AntennaMax almost a year ago, waiting to do the install as it required me re-running two ethernet cables, about 35 ft, through the boat (patience...). Cellular handles 90% of what we need. Starlink handles the rest. The two work together as a system to control power consumption on the boat while also controlling monthly costs. Costwise, the router and antenns were about $1800 in parts. Mast shrouds are required due to the extra weight added to the mast. That's another $400 in pats, plus install. I often see well over 100mbs of Internet speeds on cellular. When I venture away from the marina and my phone shows "no service", I will have service through the boat Internet via Cellular. When I get to off-grid, then I pull out Starlink that works through the Internet router as well.

Once I get the boat cleaned up (tools put away) and spring cleaning done, I'll publish a walk-through video of the install/setup.

I published additional details and photos of the install on our website.

Internet-Cellular | LetsGoChannelSurfing

www.letsgochannelsurfing.com www.letsgochannelsurfing.com

View attachment 27415

View attachment 27416

View attachment 27417
Click to expand...
 
I'm curious why you went with the external router. In my setup I have Starlink-Peplink MAX BR1 Mini 5G Mobile Router-Peplink Cellular & WiFi Antenna Maritime 10 | 5G/LTE Connectivity- The router is installed in the ceiling under the teak strip strip that runs fore and after. I am on Long Island Sound and the service from the wifi antenna is great, I almost never have to switch to Starlink. (I also set Starlink up on its own power source so it can be turned off when not in use).
 
RickDB said:
I'm curious why you went with the external router. In my setup I have Starlink-Peplink MAX BR1 Mini 5G Mobile Router-Peplink Cellular & WiFi Antenna Maritime 10 | 5G/LTE Connectivity- The router is installed in the ceiling under the teak strip strip that runs fore and after. I am on Long Island Sound and the service from the wifi antenna is great, I almost never have to switch to Starlink. (I also set Starlink up on its own power source so it can be turned off when not in use).
Click to expand...

I don't understand your question. I went with an external router (The Peplink MAX BR1 Pro 5G) router to run cell and Starlink.
I used to have my router installed on the center teak in the cabin illustrated here. The AntennaMax eliminates 6 feet of LTE/WIFI antenna cables which results in less signal loss due to antenna cable length. The net effect is more power to transmit.

The Maritime 10 antenna you cite, is a single cellular antenna, and no WIFI. The Mobility 42G and AntennaMAX are 4xLTE, 2xWIFI and 1xGPS antenna which results in higher throughout. Having WI-FI up on the mast also lets me share cell and starlink with folks I'm traveling with. Lemondrop was anchored 525 ft (as measured by RADAR) in Lowe Inlet, BC... and her phone connected via WIFI and we were able to talk at anchor, on FB message, off-grid.

It's also important to install these antennas above the RADAR dome. Radar is an RF reflector. It'll act as a shield and create a large shadow/dead spot behind it.

The waters up north, into SE Alaska, are very spread out between cell towers. In 2023, I had plenty of times where my phone was "no service" but had connectivity via the Peplink and Mobility 42G antenna. I also had times where the boat cell had no service and I needed Starlink, completely off-grid.

What the AntennaMax does is to shorten the antenna cables to as short as they could possibly be (about 8 inches). Then power the router va PoE and run a network cable to Starlink for data. These are normal Cat6 network cables. They can be ran up to 100 meters (328 feet) without losing signal or comprising data. Extending cell and wifi antenna cables adds a significant amount of signal loss. The main reason I put my router here with the Mobility 42G, was this was the end of the 2meter cables, with about a foot to spare. I was chasing performance, so extending the cables wasn't an option.

The new setup with the Antenna Max beats my old setup, without question. I measured cell service inside Glacier Bay, I was 19 miles in before I lost coverage in 2023 on the Mobility 42G antenna. I suspect I'll pick up a few more miles with my upgraded setup.

And now I have a window fan instead, power off 12volts DC.

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Martin: I listed the wrong wife antenna. I should have listed the LTE/5G marine/coastal omni antenna, 2×2 MIMO. I recall watching your build, in fact, I got the combo Starlink/Wifi idea from it (your extensive videos are also what determined my purchase of my R27 over other choices). My router is where yours was, but I managed to fit it the celing. I don't think I have as many cables connecting to it so I had the room. On LIS the wifi reception is strong until you get to the furtherest eastern end and out into Block Island straight. I also work from the boat and need a strong video conference signal, so the Starlink works out well for that. The other use for Starlink here is that the marinas can become so crowded that the wifi signal becomes degrade from the volume of simultaneous users at peek times.
 
Is the AntennaMax that much heavier than the stock TV antenna up on the mast? It must be, if you said the shrouds are a must-have.

(I was gonna pull the TV and antenna anyways since we don't use them)
 
gregc said:
Is the AntennaMax that much heavier than the stock TV antenna up on the mast? It must be, if you said the shrouds are a must-have.

(I was gonna pull the TV and antenna anyways since we don't use them)
Click to expand...

The TV antenna weighs: 300g.

The AntennaMax: 300g.
Peplink BR1 Max Pro 5g router: 680g.
The AntennaMax requires the router be mounted inside it to function. 980grams total.

The Peplink BR1 Mini 5g router (which is also a great choice) is 420g. Paired with the AntennaMax = 720g.

So twice to three times the weight, high up top, for maximum amount of leverage.
 
Oh, wow. Good to know. I can see how that might end in tears if you don't anchor it.
 
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