Connecting several WiFi antenna to existing hotspot

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi there. I’m new to configuring MikroTik devices.

I’m struggling with this for a few days now… The scenario:

I have 3 MikroTik antenna’s, and 1 MikroTik smart-switch. The switch is behind the 3 antenna’s.

The antenna’s should be able to connect to an existing WiFi network. There is not guarantee that the AP’s on the existing network are MikroTik devices as well. But it does have an DHCP server.

In the meantime the camera that is attached to the switch, behind the 3 antenna’s should be able to stream video over the existing network, towards a tablet.

See below:

Screenshot From 2025-11-26 10-31-20
Screenshot From 2025-11-26 10-31-201820×1010 18.7 KB

I was able to connect ‘wlo1’ of each antenna to the existing network with the use of WinBox… but other than that, I’m completely clueless…

The IP Camera , and actually also the PC should be accessible from the existing network. So they need to obtain an IP as well from that DHCP server. I’m open for workarounds as well.

Can you point me into the right direction? tutorials / video, or help me on the spot here ? what should I look for?

2

Start by listing the EXACT models of devices involved, including the Mikrotik "antennas", the camera and the switch, and - possibly - also those of the AP's and router.

Then - if you can - please explain the rationale behind the setup scheme you posted.

From that it seems that you want THREE connections between the same switch (and devices attached to it, IP camera and PC) and the SAME wireless network (SSID) with TWO connections to the same AP and a third one to another one.

Usually the switch (and devices connected to it) would be connected to ONLY ONE "antenna" connected to ONLY ONE AP (and ONLY ONE SSID), but of course there might be reasons to adopt a different scheme.

3

Thank you for the quick response!

The hardware details:

Antenna:

http://www.wandy.nl/?Producten:AP-Hotspots:Wandy_922w25n9

It runs RouterOS and you can connect it with WinBox
It has 1 eth. port which is connected to the switch.

Switch: (CRS112-8P-4S-IN)

https://mikrotik.com/product/crs112_8p_4s_in

Camera (Arges Marine GC-BN Bullet Camera): ( I cannot post a link as I am a new user… there is a limit of 2 links )

the AP's and the router and AP’s are unknown...
The PC is just a regular PC with Ubuntu. The PC matters a bit less… It is actually OK if that PC is not connected

The reason:

The camera is too far for a direct connection to reach. ( Say if the antenna's were set up as a hotspot ). so the camera footage needs to be going trough an existing network that spans accross a very wide area. The antenna's, switch, camera and the PC (all green boxes) are mounted on a Rover, and can more around. possibly get out of reach of AP’s it was connected to, and into reach or other AP’s. It needs to then at that point automatically connect with the other AP’s

It does not actually matter which antenna connects to which AP. The reason we want to use 3 antenna's is so that we want to make sure there are no blind spots. Note that these antenna's are not omni directional.
The drawing is just an example of how it could be connected to the AP's.

4

Hmmm.

On a mobile (in the sense of having wheels, tracks or legs) something it would make sense (to me) to put an omnidirectional antenna.

This "antenna" (actually antenna with integrated router) needs to be put in one of the available "station" (please read as "client") modes, since the AP (s) is/are not necessarily Mikrotik.

This means either station (L3, no L2) or station-pseudobridge (not really L2, someone calls it L2.5 as it is pseudo-L2).

With three "antennas", let's say for simplicity that each one is exactly 120° wide, and that they are called 1, 2 and 3 what will happen when the AP exits the coverage of antenna1 (because the rover turns/rotates clockwise)?
The AP will only be visible to antenna2 now, so how will the connection be transitioned from going through antenna1 to going through antenna2? (please read as going through router1 to going through router2)

Possibly a failover of some kind?
But it will take several seconds to pass from one antenna to the other, I believe.
If the rover turns alternately (say) 15° left and 15° right when on the border between two anntennas coverage it will fail to connect for minutes.

From the looks of that Wandy thingy, it is a routerboard of some kind coupled to a (directional) panel antenna, as I see it (but I well may be wrong) , it should be possible to mod one of those to use an omnidirectional antenna.

But really, what you want is either a Netmetal or a Groove (and an omnidirectional antenna).

5

As for switching from antenna 1 to antenna 2,

Probably 2/3 of the antenna’s are in reach of an AP. I know how to let the antenna’s connect to an existing WiFi network, so most of the antenna’s could basically be connected already.

I’m struggling to make a link from that (the connected wlo1 interface of each antenna) with the IP camera trough the switch though.

If possible, Best case scenario, I would like the smart-switch to monitor the best ‘already-connected’ antenna, which has the best quality. And toggle between them when necessary. I’m not sure if that is possible…

As for the tip to use an Omni directional antenna, I would gladly follow up that advice but there are some constraints that prevent us from easily switching them

6

Mind you not that I am an expert in this kind of setup, but bear with me.

Your "rover" for all it matters is (should be) a "client" to an existing wireless network, not much different from (say) your phone or tablet.

The mechanism is loosely the following:

  1. the client detects the wireless network
  2. then, it sends to the found SSID the credentials (WPAx password)
  3. the nearest/better signal (hopefully) AP that receives these credentials connects and sends back:
    a) a valid network address (through its DHCP server)
    b) some other needed information, namely gateway address and route, and DNS
  4. at this point the client is joined to the wireless network and can access its resources

BUT you have THREE of these clients on the rover, each one "covering" around 120°.
Calling them C1, C2, C3 you will have these possible situations, the first three are the "easy" ones

  1. C1 connected, C2 and C3 NOT connected
  2. C2 connected, C1 and C3 NOT connected
  3. C3 connected, C1 and C2 NOT connected
    then you have the more complex ones:
  4. C1 AND C2 connected, C3 NOT connected
  5. C2 AND C3 connected, C1 NOT connected
  6. C1 AND C3 connected, C2 NOT connected
    and the "final":
  7. C1, C2 and C3 ALL connected
  8. C1, C2 and C3 ALL NOT connected

The three clients will have three distinct IP addresses, for the sake of the example, let's say 192.168.1.10, 192.168.1.20, 192.168.1.30.

BUT the rover is not "static", it moves, so a packet originated from 192.168.1.10 will be acknowledged/replied to that same 192.168.1.10, if the "previous" condition is #1 and the rover moves and goes into condition #2, the address 192.168.1.10 simply does not exist anymore.

If you want to "detect" which antenna has:

  1. connection
  2. in case of more of one connection, which one is the best one
    you need somehow to check all three connections and switch between them according to the "current" situation.

But this - no matter the exact mechanism used - will take some time, and some more time will be needed to switch from one connection to the other.

And in any case the choice needs to be done on the device to which all three "antennas" are connected, i.e. the "switch" in your scheme.

Maybe it is possible to use a "bonding" interface on that device, thus "merging" the three wireless devices, or maybe load balancing could be (mis-) used, but really cannot say.

7

Why not to use CAPSMAN for roaming? No matter how many antennas would be installed, it should let Rover roam.

8

Hmmm.
And where would you put the CAPSMAN?
On the existing WIFI network using unknown (probably non-Mikrotik) devices or on the rover?
I thought that capsman allows roaming between several AP's, not several stations. :confused:

9

On a switch. These Wendys devices seem to be built on Mikrotik platforms. Producer www page shows Winbox in action.

10

Sure, but the three Wendy's will be in station or station-pseudobridge, not ap mode.

Capsman is usually set on AP's, no idea that it can do the same for stations.