Antennas, FCC, Customs and More

5 min readApr 29, 2021

We’ve got a doozy of an update for you this week, covering everything from antenna connectors, to FCC, to customs.

Now we know that as much as we like talking to you, you’d rather we just cut to the chase… so let’s try something different this week. Headlines first, everything else, second.

Headlines And Nothing Else

CERTIFICATIONS AND DESIGNS

CM4 FCC/CE Testing — Passed, but requires one minor modification to check all the boxes. Expect 100% pass and certification in May.
Connectors — North American gateways now have an RPSMA Female port instead of SMA (EU gateways are unaffected). Updated Data Sheet
RK3328 Design — Design is complete and works perfectly. Sending it off to the FCC/CE Lab for an expected May certification.

SHIPPING PROJECTIONS — EU Orders

JAN-MAR 1st— Early May
MAR 2nd-APR 9th — Late May
APR 10th-APR 20th — Late June (Previously July)
APR 21st Onwards (New Orders) — September

SHIPPING PROJECTIONS — NA Orders

JAN-FEB 1st — Late May
FEB 2nd-APR 9th — Late May
APR 10th-APR 20th — Late June (Previously July)
APR 21st Onwards (New Orders) — September

MISCELLANEOUS

Customs — We cover all customs charges. At no point should you have to pay any kind of tax other than sales tax or VAT.
Manufacturing — Our manufacturing partners are hard at work ramping up to full speed, and everything is well on track.
PHOTOS! — We’ve got some great never-before-seen photos of completed units below, so get scrolling!

Getting Certified

FCC/CE are the 5 magic letters everyone’s always talking about, so let's not bury the lede: Lab testing has all but been completed on the CM4 based units. We’ve been told that the tests for both FCC & CE were passed, with one exception — for FCC the units need to have the SMA Antenna Connector swapped out for an RPSMA Connector. This is a very simple change, and we’ve already provided the lab with revised units.

We anticipate this means that we’ll have the finalized paperwork ready for submission in early May. Once we do, we’ll be sure to provide you with some over-complicated graphs and test results… just in case you’re into that sort of thing. This means that we can project late May for full approval.

Getting Certified V2

The design process for the RK3328 based units referenced in our last blog has been completed, and we couldn’t be happier. The team has tested them extensively, and we're confident enough in the design to move into the FCC application and manufacturing stage. We’ve already begun the FCC/CE application for the RK3328 based units, and expect confirmation of passing all the tests by mid May, or soon thereafter.

Because much of the gateway remains the same between the CM4 and RK3328 based units, only the bluetooth and wifi will need to be tested by the lab, resulting in a relatively speedy process. Much of the heavy lifting with regards to paperwork has also already been done for the CM4 based units, making the work and timelines for the RK3328 based units far more favourable. We are projecting similar timelines as that of the CM4 based units, with an expected FCC approval of Late May.

And in case you’re wondering what the difference is between the 2 versions, we’ve got an easy answer for you: NOTHING. Unless you open the gateway up and take a peak at the board, both versions will function exactly the same, and we’ll continue to manufacturer units with both in order to alleviate supply chain pressures, and ensure we can get these units to you as soon as possible.

EU Shipping Projections

January to February 1st orders — For the initial CM4-based EU units, we anticipate that we'll meet our projections of early May

MARCH 2nd to April 9th orders — No change to our projected start of shipping in late May

April 10th to April 20th — The previous shipment projection of July is being revised to late June

NA Shipping Projections

January orders — Due to the minor change of connectors required by the FCC, we are unfortunately revising our previous projection of early May, to late May

February 1st to April 9th orders — Projected to begin shipping in late May

April 10th to April 20th — Previous shipment projection of July is being revised to late June

New Orders — April 21st Onwards

Any orders placed on April 21st or later have a shipment projection of mid September.
While we want to keep making these gateways for you and keep the network expanding, unfortunately we are limited by the ongoing global chip shortage, and this is the soonest we anticipate being able to fulfill new orders.

Everything Else

Customs/Import TaxesWe've noticed some confusion about this, so for 100% clarity: at no time will you have to pay import taxes. We cover those for you, however you may still have to pay sales tax or VAT when purchasing.

Connector Change
As mentioned above, any units going to North America will now have RP-SMA connectors rather than SMA connectors in order to be FCC compliant.This means that all units will have the following:

US Units = RP-SMA Female Port
EU Units = SMA Female Port

If you have already purchased cables for your US units and are impacted by this change, please reach out to us at support@syncrob.it

The Dashboard has a name!
Thanks to our awesome community member, Alcide13, the SyncroB.it hotspot manage dashboard now has a name: DashB.it. With the gateways nearly ready to head out the door, the SyncroB.it team is working hard to get the dashboard ready to go by the time you have a hotspot in your hands. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for some sneak peaks at what you can expect.