Hi Guys i have a link of 50Km for point to point using 32.5 dbi grid antennas on both ends can anyone come with the best way to align the antennas. If anybody has long distance link says 30km and above how did you align your antennas
whats the beam width? I suggest to use gps or signal flare.
beamwidth of 5 degrees vertical and horizontal which is a bit tight when creating a link.
over 50km it’s normal beam width.
Might want to bring something with a wider beam width as a guide. What I’ve been doing lately is use a client unit to line up with the other tower’s 2.4GHz AP, then line the grid up with that. Of course, if you don’t have an AP on the other tower, this doesn’t help.
On that same note, a couple of 19dBi panels @ 2.4GHz would have a wider beam width and would be much more forgiving at that distance just for alignment purposes (I assume you are using 5GHz).
Use a compass for the first side and and the RouterOS align mode for the other side.
Also, as others suggested, it may be wise to start with a 24 dbi panel on the AP side.
use google earth to get the exact degrees of the direction and then using a magnetic compass align the antenna to the degree.
eyeball it : ) Ive done this with the last 3-4 links that were 30-40km. Just get a few landmarks you can see and familiarize yourself with the path in google earth. Once you get it linked, fine tune each side.
as a side note, radiomobile exporting the link to google earth is completely awesome! That allows you to see what you should be shooting over closer in so you know general direction.
use google earth to get the exact degrees of the direction and then using a magnetic compass align the antenna to the degree.
Magnetigo north is very different from geographic, if you use this system will have few degrees of error if not first find out the degree of correction
eyeball it : )
yes and try to pick out a landmark at each location and get a bearing to PTP from that landmark, if possible stop about 10km away and check for landmark then 30km, but before you start make sure all equipment is working ok even test at start location check gain at 10km and 30Km, it is most annoying to discover after many hours trying to get a good signal that there is a problem with gain on one antenna, I usually ping from one end to another to simulate traffic and this for fine adjustment to get max signal + CCQ
Google Earth uses true north. Compass uses magnetic north. True north and magnetic north varies from places. To check the variation go here. http://www.magnetic-declination.com/
I am curious has anyone seen a gps compass (Sat Nav) that will accept and give a accurate rather than approx bearing to co-ordinates?
I use etrex legend GPS and digital compass and the combination always give me very impressive result.The legend converges fast in fair weather and also helps you get the elevation.Where in doubt you can take repeated measurements, eliminate odd result and take average of the rest.Land marks are also indispensable in antenna alignment but where land mark tend to disagree with your measurements, it is always always better to rely on your measurements.
modern handheld GPS units will show you very accurate pointer to defined coordinates. they have 3axis compass built in, and can use either the true or magnetic north.
you could also use the alignment scripts in RouterOS. either with beeper or with LED.
Keep one of these in your toolbox: http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/Spyder_III_Pro_Arctic_Series-96-37.html
Perfect for determining line of sight 