Are the following bands “allowed” in the US with Mikrotik devices?
NO / YES - UNII-1 5.15-5.25
NO / YES - UNII-2 5.25-5.35
YES - UNII-3 5.725 to 5.825
I’m currently using RB911G-5HPnD with UBNT 5Ghz Sectors and I have stayed out of band 1 & 2 even though their in my drop down list, for fear of Big Brother slapping me around. When I look at this http://i.mt.lv/routerboard/files/RB912UAG-5HPnD_and_RB911G-5HPnD_FCC_Grant_1376484516.pdf
it just says 5740-5830, really? Did I just answer my own question? If so is Mikrotik in the process of getting UNII-2 ? Or do I have to use UBNT to take advantages of those channels?
This Routerboard is capable to works from 4.8GHz to 6.1GHz on step of 5MHz
Is only you responsibility to work on right range on accordance with the law on your country.
Thank you for the reply, but it is Mikrotiks responsibility to get the device approved with the FCC so I can use it in the allowed frequencys? Which is what I’m wondering if they have done that with UNII-2 since I have access to it in my drop down list. BUT not have it listed on the pdf mentioned earlier.
I have not seen any U-NII (15.407) approvals for MikroTik devices. They do seem to have DFS with radar detection, but they haven’t gotten the FCC approval. Thus it is only legal to use them on the ISM frequencies 5725-5850 under 15.249.
See my note from yesterday as to why U-NII approval will be so hard to get, under current rules, for U-NII-1 (5150-5250) and U-NII-3 (5725-5850). They don’t require DFS but the rules cap out of band emissions based on EIRP, so anything with more than +30 EIRP (the U-NII-II DFS-band limit) is unlikely to meet the current rules. Petitions are pending at the FCC (ET docket 13-49) to fix it.
MikroTik RouterBoards do operate in the U-NII-1/2/3 bands, but under the ISM rules.
I have used all three bands successfully. Keep in mind that US regulatory rules limit power in the different bands. Band 1 is limited to 50 mW, Band 2 is limited to 200 or 250 mW (can’t remember which), and Band 3 is limited to 1000 mW. If you use the regulatory compliance domain set to United States these power limits will be automatically enforced.
So as long as the compliance domain is set, I’m allowed to use the bands?
I’m going to have to read http://www.afar.net/tutorials/fcc-rules/ to understand this ISM more.
Yea I read that and like an airplane it went over my head, But I sorta followed it, pretty much trying to find a cut and dry answer.
To me it seems like we have two conflicting rules, we need approval under 15.407 but we are allowed to use them in 1 & 2 under ISM rules?
Just trying to break it down in layman’s terms in my head, plus help anyone else that might not have a great amount of knowledge about this.
No, you are NOT allowed to use MikroTik radios (approved only under 15.247) in the US on the lower U-NII bands. Period. If you set the country to US, it will only offer channels in the ISM-band 5745-5825 range (if 20 MHz wide). If you have “no country set”, then sure, it’ll go down to 5180. I just checked this on some SXTs. But you will be operating outside of FCC rules, and are subject to whatever they want to do to you. The fact that you are within allowable power levels doesn’t matter; the radio needs to be type approved for the frequency you’re using it on. As a “professional installer”, you’re responsible for keeping the system within the rules.
Of course I have seen lots of radios installed by “professional installers” in the 5180-5340 range, but they were in violation. When I find them, and have any say over it, I fix them.
The new rules (impacting any type approval after ~June 1, 2015, or anything sold after June 1, 2016) require units sold in the US to be locked to US rules, basically needing a separate SKU. If a radio gets that type approval (which seems to require a rules fix, as I noted earlier), then the power limit on U-NII-1 (5150-5250) is +30 dBm output and +53 dBm EIRP. Under the un-fixed rules, EIRP above +30 or so seems unlikely to pass type approval.
With the pending rules it looks like the ISM is going away. What are MIkrotik’s plans in North America? Looks if this clears by 2015 or 16 Mikrotik will not be allowed in the US if they don’t start certifying under the UNII rules.
With the difficultly our FCC is giving everyone I wonder if Mikrotik is even going to try to get DFS certified. I’m hoping for the minimum of at least having the 5.1-5.2GHz and 5.7-5.8GHz bands, but I’m not too confident we will. Mikrotik has not replied to any questions so far, which I have to say doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy.
It doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy either, I have been looking at replacing around some 200 devices with Mikrotik BUT since it seems they want to ignore this subject not even acknowledge a future plan it’s making me think I should start looking else where so I don’t buy a whole bunch of equipment I’ll never get to fully utilize OR may not be able to even buy in the USA frequencys!
Should we keep bumping this thread till we get a response?
I almost wonder if the response will be “we make router boards”?
Forget about U-NII-2 with its difficult DFS rules for the moment. MikroTik seems to be behind on FCC approval on a lot more than that. Several of the recently-announced products, like NetMetal, don’t even have FCC ISM-band (15.247) approval. That’s usually pretty quick; the testing is done by a third-party test lab and the FCC blesses the results with a certificate. I suppose MT has the right to pre-announce products regardless of their US availability, but I’m a bit surprised in this case.
And MT has zero products with 15.407 (U-NII) approvals. While DFS (U-NII-2) is hard to get through (the FCC itself tests DFS, and takes roughly forever), non-DFS U-NII-3 can be done by a test lab, same as ISM-band. The rules are stricter, to be sure, and in the past there was no need to bother, as 15.247 offered more for less. But now, if a device goes for U-NII-3 approval, it can also get U-NII-1 approval (5150-5250) at the same time, even if it doesn’t have DFS. And if it gets U-NII-3 approval first, adding U-NII-1 is treated as a “Class II permissive change”, which is a relatively easy filing.
The 15.247 test results for the SXT-AC, with the new QCA9882 chip, are pretty impressive; it looks clean enough to get at least some kind of reasonable power (nobody gets anywhere near 1 watt with a directional antenna) on U-NII-1. Some older chips, well, would have had a problem. Of course that does require them to ship a US-specific country-locked SKU. But it would make the units a lot more desirable here, especially seeing how crowded the 5725-5850 band has gotten.
So I hope somebody at MT is looking into this. Or their US disties should bang them on the tush with a not-legal-for-sale-in-the-US QRT until they do.
(BTW, “QRT” is a really bad name for a radio. In ham radio Q-codes, QRT means “off the air”.)
Honestly I think this is something that’s never going to get answered on here until they make a public statement to everybody in some sort of announcement. Cost vs benefit? I’ve literally stopped installing anything mikrotik in a wireless format and I’ve gone to other brands because of this.
