Hi all
I have finale got an antenna up on a mast and transmitting in Mt Barker. Only an ssid at this point but it is a start. With an altitude of 495M by my gps and another 6 or 7 meters to the top of the mast I hope it can be seen over a large area. Next step setting it up to be a useful node. May need some help with that one, Never really done much networking. I have a Miko Router Board rb112 with a 600mw En Genius EMP-8602S radio in it. (Got a heap of extra cards in a bulk lot on EBay if anyone wants one), and a 2nd rb112 to add later. I have built up an itx gigabyte board with an 800 MHz via processor and 16g of compact flash for a hard drive and given it to another member to set up.
I will add some pictures from roof hight next time I get up there. I can see from Mt Lofty to the Mt Barker summit, Parts of Nairne, Blackiston, Mt Barker etc, etc, etc and even through to part of the lakes.
Darren
radio
Hi,
Im just starting and want to get some hardware together and interested if you have spare radio's and how much?
Heath
price
Hi
They cost me just over $35 ea + postage. So I guess $40 will cover it for the EnGenius emp-8602s mini pci card. I have some Atheros cards that are advertised to be 200mw and work in my routerboard. They came from china and can go for $20 ea.
Darren
sounds good!
Darren,
If the EnGenius is a better quality I would rather go with that unless there are any features the Atheros has.
Other than that I would be happy to have 2 x EnGenius
I work in Unley (post code 5061) they can be delivered there or if you are in the area or the city happy to pick them up.
Let me know of preferred delivery method, if postage add payment method (Paypal/Direct deposit/etc) and final price. I will supply you with my delivery and contact details.
Thanks
Heath
EIRP and Performance
When using high powered cards please take into account the EIRP.
The limit on 2.4ghz is 4watt or 36db.
You work it out by adding the wireless cards peak output power and your antennas gain, then subtract any cable loss.
eg. 600mw card connected to an 8db Omni with a short length of coax.
28db + 8db - 2db = 34db EIRP
On the topic of the EnGenius emp-8602s cards. I have tested them when they released, to see if they would make an excellent card for an AP. The main reason for looking at them was that they were cheaper than the competition.
I was quite disappointed with the testing as firstly we noticed squealing and hissing sounds when the card was transmitting. But most importantly they just couldnt keep up with the throughput of the emp-8602 400mw which was the card that was replaced with the newer 600mw.
We also had stability issues.
Currently on the network our standard AP card is an Ubiquiti XR2 600mw.
We use Mikrotik RouterBOARD RB433, RB433AH and RB600 as our standard router platform.
RE:EIRP and Performance
I defiantly want stability and think its best to use what has been proven also planning on purchasing a RB433 series board. According to the air-stream mapping I (Blair-Athol2) have LOS to Skye (9.6kms) and Walker (2.8kms) but that would need to be confirmed with stumbling.
Standard recommendations
1) The antenna should have at least 19dbi with good directivity and small side lopes.
2) Check polarisation most Air-Stream APs are in vertical polarisation. - http://www.air-stream.org.au/Polarization
3) LOS is everything - http://www.air-stream.org.au/los power doesn't change this fact.
4) Wireless equipment receive sensitivity is more important than transmitter power, recommended RX would be 11mbps at -85 dBm or better
5) Transmit power must be maintained within 4W EIRP (TX x Antenna gain) http://www.air-stream.org.au/eirp
6) Antenna positioning, a directional microwave antenna is around 5 to10 degrees vertical and horizontal so adjust slowly left to right and up and down. Be slow and patient.
7) Good signal software like Netstumbler certainly helps
RouterOS Book
Hi all just got a copy of Learn RouterOS by Dennis Burgess. Came from www.lulu.com and arrived about 2 weeks after I ordered it. As someone that is not overly familiar with networking I think it should be good. It makes sense so far and is easy to follow. After a lot of searching this is the 1st book I found on the subject and I thought I would see if any one else was had seen it or has any other guide starting from the basics
Darren