Each of the scanning antennas in scanning antenna system 502 is positioned such that the azimuth heading (i.e. the direction of the main beam) is equally spaced from the azimuth heading of the other two antennas. Thus, for three scanning antennas or beams, the azimuth headings will be separated by 120 degrees. The scanning antennas are configured to receive data indicative of mobile communication signal and network parameters, which may comprise, for example, signal strength, available networks, coverage and capacity indicators, bandwidth, etc. The signals and networks data received are those from cellular tower transmitters and base station on the coastline or in nearby land.

The direction of the main beam of each of the donor antennas/lobes in donor antenna system 512 are also equally spaced. In an embodiment where the number of scanning antenna/beams equals the number of donor antenna/beams, the azimuth heading directions of, for example, the first, second and third scanning antennas/beams is the same as the azimuth heading directions of the first, second and third donor antennas/beam—i.e. the two antenna systems are ‘a(chǎn)ligned’ such that their respective antennas/beams are directed to the same azimuth value. This is shown in FIG. 6—scanning antenna system 602 is aligned with donor antenna system 604 on ship 600.