Hi! I’m looking to add one or two outdoor APs to my property. First for outdoor WiFi coverage and second I’d like to start using LoRa sensors.
I’ve looked at both omnidirectional and sectoral antennas and will most likely go for omnidirectional.
The area I’m looking to cover is around 10200 m² marked by pink in the map.
The main living house is the one with the yellow mark. I also have a 5 meter high pole that is used for outdoor lighting today that could be used to mount a antenna to. That is marked blue.
My initial thought has been to purchase a NetMetal ax with some good antennas. This way I would get 2.4 GHz (for IoT devices and deeper penetration into buildings), 5 GHz (for better speed) and LoRaWAN (for IoT sensors also outside the pink area in the map.
My fear is that mounting a AP on the roof of the living house (around 6 meter height) will create a sort of blind spot closest to the house given that most antennas seem to have a vertical beemwidth that is quite narrow. Mounting the antenna on top of the house is by far the easiest though, since I will be pulling Ethernet to the attic anyway.
The blue spot is probably the best mounting position given that it will cover the area close to the living house best and a narrow beamwidth is not a problem. The whole installation however is a big undertaking as I first will pull fiber to the barn and then put Ethernet up the pole.
Now, what antennas (available for purchase in the EU) would you recommend for this setup ? Both the 2X2 Mimo and also for LoRa. Preferably with a wide vertical beamwidth and relatively low gain.
Mikrotik has the 868 Omni antenna for LoRa that seem like a good fit. How far away from the WiFi antennas should this be mounted?
Mikrotiks LoRa R11e LR8G miniPCIe card in the NetMetal ax, does that work well without interference? Looks like it should be possible to mount an extra antenna connector.
Have I missed something or overlooked any products?