First of all happy holidays and greetings from Switzerland. My name is Andrew and I just registered here. I am helping a friend to get connected to the Internet on his boat. The boat is made of metal and the existing Wifi on the docks barely passes through the hull for obvious reasons. I got him a SXTsq 5 ax that I would like to use in station-mode and mount it on a pole which has a free sight of line to the existing access points. The distance is around 50 feet.
I spent hours of configuring the device, with help of Chat GPT, bits and pieces from this forum and reddit, however I cant get it working. I would say that I have an intermediate knowledge of networking however didn’t have touch-points with Mikrotik so far Generally I use Zyxel-Hardware and probably under-estimated the Mikrotik-universe.
status quo
existing 5Ghz Wifi in line of sight at the docks
SXTsq 5 ax in station-mode
bridge1 created with wifi1 and ethernet1
Fritzbox as a router inside the boat
goal
Receive Wifi from the docks and pass it in station-mode from the SXTsq via cable to the router (Fritzbox)
issue
I cannot see my 5Ghz SSID called test with a simple password when I perform a scan. However I can see the neighbours SSIDs. The SXTsq is around 3 feet away from the Access-Point. Testwise I used another Fritzbox to generate a 5Ghz SSID and even this one I could not see. I have a fixed channel 48 and set the country code to Switzerland. I just configured it minimally like SSID, password, country, Band.
Please find attached the configuration so far in Winbox and attached the export.
Would appreciate any help to sort the issue out, I cannot understand why it doesn’t see my 5Ghz networks and would like to avoid any issues when I install it on the boat.
Unless the dock wifi also uses Mikrotik as AP (improbable), the only mode you can use is station-pseudobridge (if you want to use it as a switch-like-device), and for this to work you need to set the bridge protocol mode to none, something like: /interface bridge set [find where name=bridge1] protocol-mode=none
Check:
Or - if you want to use it as station the connection will need to be routed and your configuration misses 1/2 to 3/4 of the needed settings (DHCP client/server, IP addresses, firewall if wanted, etc.).
The (actually very minimal) configuration you posted on Onedrive as code:
# 2025-12-24 13:39:04 by RouterOS 7.20.6
# software id = 9SJT-QQFZ
#
# model = SXTsq-5axD
# serial number = HKB0AVHVZZJ
/interface bridge
add name=bridge1
/interface wifi
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] channel.band=5ghz-ac configuration.country=\
Switzerland .mode=station .ssid=test disabled=no \
security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk .encryption=""
/interface bridge port
add bridge=bridge1 interface=ether1
add bridge=bridge1 interface=wifi1
/ip neighbor discovery-settings
set discover-interface-list=!dynamic
/system clock
set time-zone-autodetect=no time-zone-name=GMT+0
/system ntp client
set enabled=yes
/system ntp client servers
add address=0.ch.pool.ntp.org
but it misses a lot of settings.
So you have to decide, what is sometimes called "extender" or "repeater" is usually the (partially wirelesss) equivalent of a switch, and you won't have "real" L2 connectivity (some people call this L2.5 connectivity with station-pseudobridge) as you would have if you could use station-bridge (4 address mode, only possible if the AP is a Mikrotik of the same generation), otherwise (introducing a double NAT) you can set it up as a router.
BTW, all this is unrelated to the "cannot see my test wifi isssue", but once that will be solved it will become important.
@holvoetn yes, the SSID is not hidden, I can see it from all my other devices like smartphone, notebooks, tablets.
@safelogj great input, I see that the surrounding networks are on DFS channels. I have changed mine to channel 124 as one of the networks I can see within the scan. However I still cannot see my test-SSID.
@mkx thanks, I have enabled all encryption types, however still cannot see my test-SSID.
What I dont understand: I can see all the surrounding networks, why shouldn’t I see mine? The surrounding networks. I tried to config as little as possible to see all networks and then
good point, I am not sure but I dont think it has an impact as I can choose the radio mode with the settings. I also tried a Fritzbox 4040 and established a 5Ghz network and could not see it.
anyway, lets say I am at the docks and hope that I can see the network there. Do I understand correctly that I could use station mode and the SXTsq could act as a router and then passes the signal to a switch etc? I read that I need to configure the DHCP settings, firewall and bridge.
In my understanding pseudo-bridge would not create a own LAN-subnet and therefore would get the IP from the docks network and thats what I want to avoid and have an own LAN inside the boat.
I would give it a try and would be happy if you could have a look at my config before I install it.
BIG Thank you for your warm welcome and very quick support, highly appreciated
yes, if you use the SXT as a Router you’d need to configure this.
Im not sure if the SXT comes default as “router”.
But you can get a default config from tangent here:
Thats also true but i thought you want to use another router on the boat?
Then you’d theoretically just need 1 firewall rule on the SXT (deny input from non-”lan” interface)
yeah initially I wanted the Fritzbox to be the router, however (at least as per Chat GPT) its not a good idea.
reasoning from Chat GPT:
Why use the MikroTik as the router and not the Fritz!Box?
When connecting to marina / public Wi-Fi, the MikroTik should act as the router (station mode with NAT) and the Fritz!Box should be used only as an access point.
Reasons:
Public Wi-Fi networks often use client isolation, MAC limits, and captive portals. Routing hides all onboard devices behind one single client, which is far more reliable.
NAT on the MikroTik is more robust and predictable than pseudo-bridging or routing on the Fritz!Box.
All onboard devices stay in a private, controlled subnet, so AirPlay, Bonjour, and local services work reliably.
Troubleshooting is simpler: upstream Wi-Fi issues are handled by the MikroTik, local Wi-Fi by the Fritz!Box.
I have never configured a bridge and therefore no real experience. I am happy to use the Mikrotik as a router and then the Fritzbox as an IP-Client to distribute Wifi inside the boat and plug in devices like Apple TV.
I give it a try and would be happy if you guys could review the config I will post these days.
But if your SXT doesnt come with default config check out tangents explanation of the default config. Its pretty good!
It should guide you on how to setup and even give you commands to run
thats my config so far that I created with the help of Chat GPT. Mikrotik acts as a router and the Fritzbox would then be an IP-client.
mode set to station under wifi
DHCP range is: 192.168.10.1
country for Wifi set to Germany as the boat is there
5Ghz AC set, maybe I need to change it to another standard when I am there and can check it
CCMP as Encryption type
would be glad on your feedback, as mentioned this is my first Mikrotik device and I have never dealt with this type of device/environment, mostly cloud-based stuff from Zyxel Nebula.
let me also add these 2 are not necessary on station mode. skip-dfs you can just ignore
In Germany, there’s only outdoor DFS 5ghz channels
Channel width you can change if you want to force a width. Otherwise it will follow the AP it connects to.
(Maybe if theres lots of noise force it to 20mhz)
thanks a lot, I will give it a try and let you know (it may take some weeks until I am there again) I have deleted the 5Ghz AC band as well as Skip-DFS and the Channel width. I really hope it works and I can still not understand why I cant see my two Wifi-networks that I wanted to try, well it remains an unsolved mystery
You have installation=outdoor. That is fine, but you won’t see any AP that is on an indoor channel.
Maybe that is the reason it does not work. In most countries, outdoor is 5500 and above, and indoor is 5180-5300 as well as the 5500 and above channels. So when your test AP is configured as indoor, they may not be able to see each other.
Generally I use Zyxel-Hardware and probably under-estimated the Mikrotik-universe.
