We have an important node at our Red cross Hq. Until recently it has been able to connect to another of our key nodes without problem.
However this summer we get only a weak, unusable signal. We have replaced the antenna with a different node, tried a different cable and POE, all of which
made no difference. So we are attributing the signal loss to the growth of big trees in the signal path. The other node is only 1 mile away.
The other node has a Rocket M2 with a 13 dBi omni H/V antenna, 180 feet high. Red Cross now has a Mikroitk LHG XL2, 21 dBi node, 50 feet high.
One possible solution is to use 900 MHz. But we would have to buy lots of expensive equipment and antennas and tower climber just to find out
if it would work. And the list of supported equipment lists the preferred Rocket M9 as being supported only for XM, and the ones likely available are
XW now.
Comments and suggestions please?
Bob W8ERD
However this summer we get only a weak, unusable signal. We have replaced the antenna with a different node, tried a different cable and POE, all of which
made no difference. So we are attributing the signal loss to the growth of big trees in the signal path. The other node is only 1 mile away.
The other node has a Rocket M2 with a 13 dBi omni H/V antenna, 180 feet high. Red Cross now has a Mikroitk LHG XL2, 21 dBi node, 50 feet high.
One possible solution is to use 900 MHz. But we would have to buy lots of expensive equipment and antennas and tower climber just to find out
if it would work. And the list of supported equipment lists the preferred Rocket M9 as being supported only for XM, and the ones likely available are
XW now.
Comments and suggestions please?
Bob W8ERD
Your Mikrotik LHG XL 2 has a power output of 25 dBm (max) and a gain of 21dBi
A Rocket M2 has a power output of 28 dBM (max) and a Rocket dish for 2 GHz would be 24 dBi gain.
Swapping the LHG XL2 out for the Rocket dish and Rocket M2 would theoretically give you 6 dB more link margin. But the trees keep growing... You'd have to decide if that's worth the effort and expense or not. (on the other hand, it's probably more accessible than the Rocket + omni at 180 feet...)
Hope that helps
Orv W6BI
Why don't you try a 5 GHz link with W2JC using the Mikrotik dish transceivers? $80 for each end. See above posts for specific models.
do anything to change that. The tower is owned by the county, and they have to approve any changes we make, and we are required to hire a licensed
tower climber, which adds $500 to the equipment cost of any change. And then we could not be sure it would actually work. We can change
most anything we wish at the Red Cross end. It seems to be a hopeless situation at present.
Bob W8ERD
I would like to compare the /mesh page of your
2397 MHz Omni at 180 feet with our
2397 MHz Omni at 175 feet.
Please share your mesh page.
Chuck
Bob W8ERD
Are there other nodes that link with the Rocket M2 with a 13 dBi omni H/V antenna, 180 feet high?
Did they also suffer similar signal loss?
If the other linked neighbors were dual stream, was the attenuation in both streams or only one?
We had a Rocket M2 with omni H/V antenna at 220' elevation that only worked in one polarity.
We assumed it was the vertical polarity that was working.
This node is 'dead' now and still at 220' a.g.l. :-|
Chuck
The other nodes do not have this problem as they arr higher than the trees. All are dual stream.
Bob W8ERD
Hi, Bob:
Here is a way around the attachment limitations:
Add ".tgz" to the end of the filename and add as a file.
Address an email to me at arrl dot net with the file attached.
Once I receive your file I will delete this forum message number
so not to leave instructions on how to defeat the forum limitation.
Chuck
Bob W8ERD
I sent you an email to your address shown at qrz.com from my active ham radio email address.
Chuck
Outside of the traditional 802.11 arena these options might be of interest:
Beyond Line-of-Sight UHF Digital Communications with the LoRa Spread Spectrum Waveform - KG5VBY (Youtube DCC Video)
Hamnet over 70cm : NPR (New Packet Radio) - IP over 430MHz Ham Radio, up to 500kbps, 20W RF by F4HDK
Other options include:
CalAmp Viper SC+
4RF Aprisa SR+
Icom ID-1