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Guadalupe mtn near Quartzsite, AZ

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k0tan
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Guadalupe mtn near Quartzsite, AZ

I am in the beginning stage of planning a future deployment to Guadalupe mtn, 10 miles east of Quartzsite, AZ @ I-10.  The site owner requires some technical rigor, but the cost ongoing to local AREDN members will be cost recovery for electricity, probably <$50/mo. All installation - and equipment cost - is the responsibility of local AREDN members under supervision of sight owner. The site has only 12VDC and -48VDC power.  Guadalupe is 2400' elevation and a nearby peak may occlude path to Crossman Peak near LHC - Lake Havasu City, AZ. 

Equipment:

  • One  13dB Omni or 120° Sector facing Quartzsite with 5.8 GHz Rocket 
  • Four 5.8 GHz dishes facing roughly N (Lake Havasu City, AZ), S (Yuma, AZ), E (Phoenix, AZ), W (California). First thought is RocketDish 5G-30 Light Weight 30dBi airMAX Antenna + 5.8 GHz Rocket.
  • One Netgear 8-port managed switch (12 VDC supplied)
  • Six WiFi Texas 12VPE or other 12VDC PoE adapters (Four Port are 120VAC).
  • Raspberry Pi 3B+, PiCamera, PoE accessory, 64GB SSD, case
  • Five Ubuquiti PoE surge suppressors.
  • ToughCable, connectors

Concerns:

  1. Guadalupe site and tower will be upgraded, timeframe unknown, and AREDN installation depends on completion.
  2. 5.8GHz may be best band over desert, but dropout from inversions is a concern, as is 60 mile path to LHC.
  3. No AC power. Unknown wire length to nodes on tower, so 12VDC PoE adapters may be expensive.
  4. Is this correct equipment choice?
  5. Need remote reboot capability
  6. Initial install: link to west (Chuckwalla?), link to north (LHC / Crossman), coverage of Quartzsite & QuartzFest. Link to Yuma follows, link toward Phoenix is last
  7. Costs: $1000+ Guadalupe, plus up to $600/year must be funded.
  8. Path to LHC may be occluded, requiring another link, possibly Black Metal above Parker. (Black Mtn @ Parker is completely occupied.)
  9.  Costs $350 node @ Crossman Peak will be covered by myself and London Bridge Amateur Radio Association (LBARA). If a relay @ Black Metal, that's easily another $500. 
  10. Currently a microwave link to Chuckwalla exists, and a BLM Cactus City link is coming.
k0tan
k0tan's picture
Comments please!
This is a blank slate. I hope for comments and criticism.  AI6BX and K6AH, we'll talk.
KG6JEI
"but the cost ongoing to
"but the cost ongoing to AREDN will be cost recovery...the responsibility of AREDN under supervision of sight owner."
A note this isn't an AREDN project. AREDN doesn't build networks it just creates the firmware that local groups use to create networks so it might be best to make that more clear in your post and the same to make sure your making that clear to site owners when you speak to them.

"No AC power. Unknown wire length to nodes on tower, so 12VDC PoE adapters may be expensive."
If the length is over 50 feet you need to move up in voltage.  I use 12-24v converters to bring the voltage up to a useable long run length.  You should probably plan on needing something like an SD-100A-24 (9-18v in 23-30v out run them at 23v)   coupled with passive injectors (I use a surge suppressor injector combo unit.) The other option is go from the -48v rail and bring it down to +24 with a isolated switching supply.

"Is this correct equipment choice?"  You list an Omni on 5.8Ghz and several rockets.  If your going to use the 5.8Ghz for your backbone you wouldn't want user gear on the same band is my suggestion.  It can work, but I guarantee long run its going to be more painful. I really like Andre's 3 tiered system of 2Ghz for user access, 5.8Ghz for "mid mile to high level"   and 3.4GHz for  "backone hilltop to hilltop"   With 5 transmitters on the same site on the same band your going to have no choice but to put a very large number of them in the Part 15 space to reduce frontend interference (I seem to recall one test on the forum said 50-100mhz separation for best performance)

I also don't see any mention of RF Armor, if the site has any other microwave gear or even if its just high up this may be a key item to reduce overall RF noise and increase link quality.

"Need remote reboot capability"
Relays work wonderful for that, there are a number of cheap Ethernet based relay boards available on eaby, or you can build your own.

General I belive the more money you put in to the node at the high level the less that will be needed at the low levels  Higher gains, cleaner signals etc all make it easier for the end user to connect with something as simple as a NanoStation where if there is no filtering,  lots of desense, etc than a rull rocket+dish combo could become necessary for an end user.





 
k0tan
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Guadalupe

Thanks, John. I want all the help I can get.  Appreciate the correction re: responsibility. I will change to show local ownership vs. AREDN.
Re: all equipment on 5.8GHz - I wondered how that would work out.  I don't care for doubling the equipment costs with 3GHz over 120°F desert, which could really cause some problems.  Good chance the P2P dishes will go on the building roof structure, while the local 120° sector or Omni can go on the tower.  If that has to be 2.4GHz, so be it.

I'll investigate RF Armor.

Yes, I have a few thoughts on bouncing the site.  I'd prefer to use the ToughSwitch 8 port, with its watchdog timers and adjustable PoE, but it needs 120VAC, and I'd like to avoid an inverter.

You mention "surge suppressor injector combo unit" - can you point me to one?

73, Charlie KØTAN
Home: 928 302 1821
Mesh: 928 3001

 

KG6JEI
In that case I would suggest

In that case I would suggest  the ToughSwitch 5 port. It uses an external brick which also allows you to inject 24v from a 12-24v converter.  You may need 2 if you plan to add the pi’s and other devices. I think it’s only shortfall is no support for 48v passive POE but no current supported hardware uses 48v.

My injectors/suppressor choice is  documented in this thread: https://www.aredn.org/comment/667#comment-667 alone with implantation information.

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