What does ePA mean? It was hard to Google, since a lot of the results I got were about the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency. With some advanced search, the most relevant sounding thing I found was “elliptical patch antenna.” Is that what you were talking about? If so, what does it mean?
ePA=External PA.
Many MTK chips have buildin PA/LNA inside, that’s iPA, but the power is not very high,
we can get higher power with an external PA.
Ok, so ePA = external power amplifier. Thanks.
How about a new case design? Something like this
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Is this an issue that needs to be resolved in-house first? I’m sure since the community would prefer the full setup, someone in the community could design a 3D-printable case and/or figure out appropriate heatsinks (or even simple active cooling) so long as the module itself is available on the market. So even if you don’t want to make an official chassis I’m sure someone would design one if you released a 14 or 10 antenna module 
A 10 antenna version with ePA/eLNA would be great.
if there is such big case for the 10/14-antenna version, why not put a 140mm fan @5v under it? should be absolutely silent and more than enough to get rid of the heat.
Please make the 10 Antenna version, i really want the 14 one but I’m happy to compromise. If i had of known a 6 was all that was being considered I’m not sure i would have brought an R4
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As far as I understand, the 10 antenna version is not a compromise, they will just add onboard diplexers to join 2.4 and 5 under same antennas
6 antennas solution with iPA limits the performance of the r4, heat dissipation or other problems i believe many diyers can figure out how to deal with them as this is a developer board. Beside many already expected adding more heat dissipation solution because sfp+ module is quite hot and also the 7988. Many of diyers expect better performance rather than exquisite look.
hi eelt,
We need to consider a preliminary draft solution first. If we don’t have an official solution, we should make it easier for the experts in the community to solve it themselves in the future, rather than thinking that it is impossible to do it because our design is too bad.
BTW, we are on vacation for the Chinese New Year and will seriously consider this when we return.
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Hi Halry，
Thank you for your suggestion, we will seriously consider it 
6 antenna version is 12v too (sw4 on)?
I voted for the version with 14 antennas.
I want to exploit the possibilities of each WiFi frequency band to the maximum. But I understand that designing a box with 14 antennas is not the easiest, so I am willing to accept a version with only 10 antennas.
In this case, I want to know the references of real antennas optimized for dual frequency…
14 all the way - why would I want something cr*ppier than the routers I can get for $10 off eBay?
I also want 14 or 10 antennas version. Why should I buy such a router and don’t use it with maximum performance?
Do not understand me wrong, but why do you thing you need the 14 or 10 Antenna Version? Do you have a big house, many devices or many neighbors?
What I want to say, I’m interested in your argumentation! I know 14 is better than 6 
!
Apart from this, what do you thing is how much lower will a WiFi 7 smartphone or tablet perform?
I’m really not sure about this topic! What I try, is to compare the price, power consumtion and benefit in a context of different usecases.
If you are a “citizen in the republic of gamers”, a network developer or … I would understand the point of view. So, lets talk about your usecase!
Because 6 antennas version feels… “crippled”. I know, it is just a perception, but it feels like worst version of previous good one.
Right now I have BPI-R3. I bought it, because it was best DIY router on the market, OpenWrt based with crazy good potential for optimization. I also have SSD drive in it and SFP module (returned ISP’s ONU to the ISP). How many routers can provide to you that many features?
BPI-R4 feels like downgrade in case of 2.4 and 5 Ghz Wi-Fi.
Nearly half a year ago, since this was discussed. Are there any new plans on a 10 or 14 antenna version? Or should we wait for the openwrt one release first, before we get our hopes up?
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