Outdoor Ap: mounting height, model to choose

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Hi guys!
I want to replace my old outdoor fixed antenna AP (an old entry level 2.4 tplink device) with a new microtik one 5/2.4
I want to cover the entire property with a single one device, if possibile.
The actual ap location is on the blue point, and the area to cover is circled in red, near to 45mt x 45mt.

The main issue is the mounting height: it is placed on the antenna pole at 10mt height that cause (with actual AP and it’s antennas) a poor signal in the near perimeter around the home.

What’s the best AP model to choose? There’s a model with orientable antennas to let me to better reach the area I need to cover?
(I do not need to cover the back yard, the little stripe on the home bottom, that is covered by another indoor ap.

2

Your image did not attach.

But if you are looking at a pole in the center of 45 x 45 meters…

I would have gone XV2-2T.

3

Sorry, wrong image url. I edited.
Actually the pole is not in the property center, and it’s difficult to place the AP in another place because I’ve no easy way to place a cable outside the home.
I have a old digged passage to the top right corner but I need to pass 60mt cable. Will be a future enhancement, but at this time I prefer to avoid it.

4

It’s not like there are many devices with the requested features:

  1. Ax
  2. Dual band 2.4 and 5 GHz
  3. Omnidirectional or however neithet sector nor directional

In practice only the netmetal ax:

https://mikrotik.com/product/netmetal_ax
(+ HGO antennas)

5

Netmetal ax appear a good solution. A bit expensive for an home usage but not excessive.. But obviously I can’t get all at low price :slight_smile:

Don you think that HGO antenna’s will help to focus the signal in the way I need with a proper orientation (probably the classic 45°)?

6

That has to be seen.

The HGO cannot be oriented, it is “straight”.
You will need a similar antenna, but with the possibility to be set at some angles, or use an extension cable and some bracket, if you want to experiment that way.
I don’t think that “normal” external routers antennas (with the hinge at the base) are suitable for outdoor use, besides them being weatherproof or not, the first not-so-strong wind will move them.
Or maybe you can try tilting a little bit the whole AP with antennas.

In theory the HGO (and similar) is a (perfectly?) omnidirectional antenna, so the coverage pattern is a toroid (doughnut) of a given (unknown) diameter and a given (also unknown) thickness.
The actual diameter size should not be an issue, the “thickness” may.
Example:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-toroidal-antenna-pattern-for-an-omnidirectional-dipole-left-and-for-a-higher-gain_fig1_333665846
If it is too “thin”, it won’t cover near the base.

Additionally (there is no data I can find for the Mikrotik HGO) a similar antenna may have a different angle wideness (in the vertical direction, i.e. thickness of the toroid) for the two different frequencies, with the 2.4 GHz bigger and the 5 GHz much smaller.
Example 1 (good) 80°/55°:
https://www.planet.com.tw/en/product/ant-om5d-kit
Example 2 (not so good) 30°/15°:
https://www.zyxel.com/global/en/products/wireless/ant2105-antenna-and-cable/specifications

Maybe you could try mounting it lower than 10 mt?

It is not clear (to me) what kind of horizontal angle you need to cover, if I get it right 180° could be enough, in that case a pair of Mantbox Ax 15 s would probably serve you better (with more $$$).

Maybe you could wait some time (days/weeks) and have a look at the officially unofficially announced Wap Ax:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/missing-wap-ax-successor-to-wap-ac-what-are-outdoor-ax-wifi-alternatives/178037/1
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/missing-wap-ax-successor-to-wap-ac-what-are-outdoor-ax-wifi-alternatives/178037/10

If - as it is expected to be - it is a Wap Ac:
https://mikrotik.com/product/wap_ac
but with Ax capabilities, it could be the perfect device for your use case.

7

Jaclaz,

Never base designs on vaporware.

And always expect the first gen of anything to be buggy.

Mikrotik has taught me to expect several months between release and stability.

8

“Having a look” does not mean “base design on” nor “here, Mikrotik, take my money and give me one of those”.

The OP has seemingly not the need to replace his currently working (even if not optimally) setup, and since that device does not exist (yet) and there isn’t even an official announcement with exact characteristics/features but it is something promising, as said worth having a look at.

I don’t think that anyone is expecting that a first release is free from all errors/problems, but you are definitely right in saying that Mikrotik is particularly good at releasing hardware and software - let’s say - in early stages of development.

9

jaclaz,

Once I “got over it”… it being all the time and money I flushed on Mikrotik wireless… It made me a lot less trusting of manufactures.

I really miss just hitting the wireless tab in winbox and seeing updates every second.
But what I really don’t miss… the constant bitching. Things not connecting. Things dropping on and off. Radios transmitting but not allowing any clients to connect. ETC ETC ETC

I had caps-man down to a really fast routine. Field techs need only press and hold reset… then I would have central control of all radios right there in the router. A dozen radios could be quickly configured to channels with a simple… “Hey what’s closer to what?”

Being able to see those instant roams.

Grabing a mac address and just changing the VLAN tag and Boom… jumped to the right subnet.

But before I get to ahead of myself about everything I LOVED… I pull up that old email…
Where support told me that they had finally identified the issue I had been having for months. And that they would get back to me when they had a fix. 6 years later… we got the new drivers.