How to improve the outgoing signal of a 4G video camera in the mountains?

Question

Antenna

Good afternoon!
We recently installed a 4G video camera in the mountains. There is no electricity, there are many kilometers to the nearest base station (the operator does not give out the location of the BS, only the direction and frequency of 900 MHz). The video camera is powered by a solar panel, the connection keeps through a directional flatbed antennawith a gain of 16 dBi. The camera somehow works with this antenna: from the second or third time it is possible to connect to it from a mobile application, and if you're lucky, you can even get a real-time video stream, but in the worst quality and with friezes. At such moments, the application evaluates the signal quality at 4-5 "sticks" out of 5. It seems that the video camera "hears" the base station quite well (as much as 5 sticks!), but the base station "hears" the camera very badly. And outgoing traffic in this situation is predominant. Is there a way to somehow improve the outgoing signal? Would a parabolic antenna help? Or can't do without an amplifier? I would not want to fence the garden with the amplifier powered by a solar panel with batteries.

Answer 1

16 dBi is a very good gain, like a small cymbal. You may have communication problems like this (at first with less probability):
1. The station is very far away, and even beyond the edge of the horizon and the landscape falls into the Fresnel zone, increasing attenuation.
2. The station is not so far away, but in the Fresnel zone there are trees, rocks, chimneys, Gojira.
3. You installed the antenna incorrectly and your antenna polarization does not match the base station (MIMO two antennas at 90 degrees, each 45 to the horizon)
4. The feeder is longer than necessary or thin - all the gain remains in it, change the feeder, move the transceiver to the antenna. And pigtails should be directly connected qualitatively and be short.
5. And of course, what kind of camera is there? What kind of regular antennas does she have, are there two of them? (It must be, otherwise what for LTE?). Should I check another LTE device with this antenna, especially on short cables?

Answer 2

Usually, the operator allocates much less bandwidth for outgoing traffic than for incoming traffic. You first test the channel itself using a laptop, what are its capabilities. Maybe you need to unbuild the resolution and quality in the camera to match them.
Do you get the stream from the camera itself, or through the manufacturer's server?