since a few months, we were feeding 3x120deg sectors with 2xR52 cards and 1xXR2 card individually (without signal splitters). Although signal levels were -60 – -65 dbm, we had the opportunity to work even in NLOS environment most of the time. Quality of the signal was so high, although on the same building there was another WISP operationg in the same freq band (2.4Ghz).
Now we had to replace the 10db sectors with a single 15 db omni antenna and feeded it with XR2.
Signal levels are now so high -50 -45 but the quality is so low that even when u have a LOS to the antenna from 5m distance it doesnt connect.. ping times are incredibly high. Registrered clients have -80 signal rate and it sucks currently.
I have put the RB532 in radar mode to detect the least noise channel but it still sucks…
Can it differ that much between sectors and omni ?
or im did something wrong ?
A 15db omni has a very flat radiation pattern, it’s hearing every noise source for a long distance away and every one of those sources can cause the radio to wait for a clear channel before transmitting a frame. In addition, because of that radiation pattern, close in sources are going to be underneath the pattern and will suffer for it, especially if your antenna is high up.
You were definitely better off with the sector antenna’s, which could be aimed for best coverage without affecting other directions.
thanks unikyrn
yes the antenna is high but even when Im in the same height, it resists to connect.. and you are right, close sources have more diffuculty connecting… nevertheless i wasnt expecting this much difference.
An amp will make things worse than they already are, and depending on where you are, would be illegal as well. Use the sectors and tilt them down so that the radiation pattern is aimed at your intended area of coverage. If you can, go with one radio per antenna. That allows for more customers and if you have interference problems, they’re likely isolated to just one direction so that other customers aren’t affected.
What are your signal levels to and from the clients.. In the same sentence you said -50 -45 and -80 in the same sentence so I’m not sure which you really have. If you have good signal at the clients and bad signal back to the AP, that usually means the AP is picking up interference.
And NO, don’t use an amp!
Omni’s can work well, but not everywhere. Some people say that you should never use an omni, but in the right situation, it’s just fine… but it sounds like this situation may not be one where it would be a good idea. If you needed more gain than the 10dbi antennas had, try some 16dbi sectors instead.
In all the CPE devices, I see a high level of signal.. more than -60 in some cases.. But mikrotik registration shows -85 -90 max is -70 with super high latency over 1000ms ..
and yes I have a 2W amp that I can set immidiaetly but lack of sectors now..
If the numbers are that skewed, there are 2 big reasons that come to mind that would cause that.
Interference. It’s just seeing so much more junk that it just can’t make out the signals… This could be the problem, but then again the numbers weren’t nearly as bad before and I wouldn’t think the difference would be quite that drastic.
Blown card. This really looks like it could be your issue. I’ve had it happen before and many other people on here have too. Very little static discharge is all it takes to blow the receiver of the card. Usually they can transmit just fine but not hear anything back very well. I had it happen once just while hooking the antenna to the card because I didn’t touch the pigtail to ground before connecting it to the card. Try swapping cards and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn’t, then back to #1.