RB500 & Atheros 802.11a

I have had this RB500 for about two months now and I have still not been able to get this unit into production. The unit has a pair of Athlos A/B/G cards at 65mw power.

When the cards are set for 802.11b they work great and have good range both indoor and on external antani.

However, one of these cards must be set for 802.11a because that is the back haul link. When set to 802.11a at 5130 the range is like 100 feet. I have tried omini’s and directions. And then I went very specific and purchaced two grid antani that specialize at the 5130 frequecny (well it’s in the midel range of the frequency range

Current setup is the older routerboards. One at the office roof one on a cell tower. 1/2 mile between these two units. The back haul is 802.11a with good signal (-78).

Testing from my office show room open glass I can connected rb500 to the 802.11b link at the tower with no problem with good signal. Switch to 802.11a and nothing. Move outside to the sidewalk and most of the time i get nothing but once in a while I’ll pickup the singal and loose it very quickly.

older rb on roof top has a directonal to the omni on the cell tower.

The rb500 is using a directional to the omni as well.

Both have same line of site.


What should I do next? I’m at a real loss. (haha no pun intended…) Can I put a ampliphier on the 802.11a? Should I?

I have six differnt antani’s and extra cables I have tested out. The existing 802.11A thats currently inuse has good signals.

i have similar problem with rb 500 and support wats to send them supout file
and i send it they answer that i have check config
i checked all seems to be good…
singal is -65 to -70
i think somrthing is wrong with rb 500
i thied cards 5212 and 13
many anthenas
and nothing

any one is operating athreos 802.11g or a and rb 500 ??
(then help us )

Sounds like you’ve got the wrong antenna port connected on your radio. Also, are you sure whatever pigtail you have connected is rated to operate at 5+ GHz? Have you tried a different one?

The pig tail is what mikrotik sent witht he cards and rb500 (already installed).

I have checked several times that the software is set to antinia A and the connector is as well. I have switched it via software and well as moving the plug several times as well.