Weak signal strength(?) with brand new wAP acs

lko · August 14, 2020, 5:53am

Hi,

I upgraded my home network completely and went for MikroTik for the first time ever.
Currently, I have:
2x MikroTik RB260GSP
2x MikroTik wAP ac
1x TP-Link Archer C7 flashed to OpenWRT

OpenWRT works as a main switch in house supporting VLANs and such. It also has WiFi but I’d like to disable that if I could get those wAPs working.
One set of 1x RB260GSP and 1x wAP ac is located in a separate building in a yard and other set of the same is located exactly the opposite of the yard in a terrace.
The switches are located indoors but both of the APs are mounted outdoors.
The RB260GSP in the separate building is powered directly with the supplied DC24V PSU. Other one in the terrace is powered by a DC24V PSU with MikroTik GB PoE injector (cable runs about 15-20 meters) which is connected to the TP-Link switch. For this, I had to enable “Port 1 long PoE cable” so that the switch started to power the AP too.
Both wAP ac devices are powered via RB260GSP PoE.

Cabling between all the components is CAT7 S/FTP, except the long PoE cable from the TP-Link → MikroTik GB PoE Injector → RB260GSP, which is Cat5 or Cat5e.

Both of the wAP ac units health page reports voltage between 22V - 24V and temperature is around 30 - 50 celsius.

This information is just for the background, so as far as I understand the basics should be okay.

However, the signal strength from wAP acs (both of them) is extremely low.
I can use it with my iPhone only if I am very close to the AP, I’d say about 1-3 meters. After that the SSID cannot be found (signal is lost). It doesn’t seem to depend on the client, I get the same results with my Dell laptop.
There is no machinery close by the APs, I live in rural countryside where I can only hear closest neighbors WiFi vaguely.

If I turn on the WiFi on the TP-Link, its 5GHz covers almost the whole house and 2GHz covers from one wAP ac to the other one. So that’s not an issue here. If I turn the WiFi off from the TP-Link, I basically have no WiFi except 1-3 meters range from the MikroTik APs.
For what I can see the TX gain is identical with wAPs and TP-Link; 20db for the 2GHz and 23db for the 5GHz. Which is correct for Finnish regulations.

Here’s the configuration I have inside the APs, they are both identical (note that security profile shared keys are masked :

> system routerboard print
       routerboard: yes
        board-name: wAP ac
             model: RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD
     firmware-type: qca9550L
  factory-firmware: 6.44
  current-firmware: 6.47.1
  upgrade-firmware: 6.47.1


> export hide-sensitive terse
# aug/14/2020 07:43:55 by RouterOS 6.47.1
#
# model = RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD
/interface bridge add comment=defconf name=bridge protocol-mode=none
/interface wireless set [ find default-name=wlan1 ] antenna-gain=20 band=2ghz-g/n channel-width=20/40mhz-XX country=finland disabled=no frequency=auto installation=outdoor mode=ap-bridge ssid="WiFi 2G" station-roaming=enabled wireless-protocol=802.11 wps-mode=disabled
/interface wireless set [ find default-name=wlan2 ] antenna-gain=23 band=5ghz-n/ac channel-width=20/40/80mhz-XXXX country=finland disabled=no frequency=auto installation=outdoor mode=ap-bridge ssid="WiFi 5G" station-roaming=enabled wireless-protocol=802.11 wps-mode=disabled
/interface list add comment=defconf name=WAN
/interface list add comment=defconf name=LAN
/interface wireless security-profiles set [ find default=yes ] authentication-types=wpa2-psk group-key-update=1h mode=dynamic-keys supplicant-identity=MikroTik
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=wlan1
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=wlan2
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge interface=ether1
/interface list member add interface=ether1 list=WAN
/interface list member add interface=wlan2 list=LAN
/interface list member add interface=wlan1 list=LAN


> interface wireless print advanced detail
Flags: X - disabled, R - running
 0    name="wlan1" mtu=1500 l2mtu=1600 mac-address=C4:AD:34:11:22:33 arp=enabled disable-running-check=no interface-type=Atheros AR9300 radio-name="C4AD34112233" mode=ap-bridge ssid="WiFi 2G" area="" frequency-mode=regulatory-domain
      country=finland installation=outdoor antenna-gain=20 frequency=auto band=2ghz-g/n channel-width=20/40mhz-XX secondary-channel="" scan-list=default wireless-protocol=802.11 rate-set=default
      supported-rates-b=1Mbps,2Mbps,5.5Mbps,11Mbps supported-rates-a/g=6Mbps,9Mbps,12Mbps,18Mbps,24Mbps,36Mbps,48Mbps,54Mbps basic-rates-b=1Mbps basic-rates-a/g=6Mbps max-station-count=2007 distance=dynamic tx-power-mode=default
      noise-floor-threshold=default nv2-noise-floor-offset=default vlan-mode=no-tag vlan-id=1 wds-mode=disabled wds-default-bridge=none wds-default-cost=100 wds-cost-range=50-150 wds-ignore-ssid=no update-stats-interval=disabled
      bridge-mode=enabled default-authentication=yes default-forwarding=yes default-ap-tx-limit=0 default-client-tx-limit=0 wmm-support=disabled hide-ssid=no security-profile=default wps-mode=disabled station-roaming=enabled
      disconnect-timeout=3s on-fail-retry-time=100ms preamble-mode=both compression=no allow-sharedkey=no station-bridge-clone-mac=00:00:00:00:00:00 ampdu-priorities=0 guard-interval=any
      ht-supported-mcs=mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-6,mcs-7,mcs-8,mcs-9,mcs-10,mcs-11,mcs-12,mcs-13,mcs-14,mcs-15,mcs-16,mcs-17,mcs-18,mcs-19,mcs-20,mcs-21,mcs-22,mcs-23
      ht-basic-mcs=mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-6,mcs-7 tx-chains=0,1 rx-chains=0,1 amsdu-limit=8192 amsdu-threshold=8192 tdma-period-size=2 nv2-queue-count=2 nv2-qos=default nv2-cell-radius=30 nv2-security=disabled
      nv2-preshared-key="" nv2-mode=dynamic-downlink nv2-downlink-ratio=50 nv2-sync-secret="" hw-retries=7 frame-lifetime=0 adaptive-noise-immunity=none hw-fragmentation-threshold=disabled hw-protection-mode=none
      hw-protection-threshold=0 frequency-offset=0 rate-selection=advanced multicast-helper=default multicast-buffering=enabled keepalive-frames=enabled skip-dfs-channels=disabled

 1    name="wlan2" mtu=1500 l2mtu=1600 mac-address=C4:AD:34:44:55:66 arp=enabled disable-running-check=no interface-type=Atheros AR9888 radio-name="C4AD34445566" mode=ap-bridge ssid="WiFi 5G" area="" frequency-mode=regulatory-domain
      country=finland installation=outdoor antenna-gain=23 frequency=auto band=5ghz-n/ac channel-width=20/40/80mhz-XXXX secondary-channel="" scan-list=default wireless-protocol=802.11 rate-set=default
      supported-rates-a/g=6Mbps,9Mbps,12Mbps,18Mbps,24Mbps,36Mbps,48Mbps,54Mbps basic-rates-a/g=6Mbps max-station-count=2007 distance=dynamic tx-power-mode=default vlan-mode=no-tag vlan-id=1 wds-mode=disabled wds-default-bridge=none
      wds-default-cost=100 wds-cost-range=50-150 wds-ignore-ssid=no update-stats-interval=disabled bridge-mode=enabled default-authentication=yes default-forwarding=yes default-ap-tx-limit=0 default-client-tx-limit=0
      wmm-support=disabled hide-ssid=no security-profile=default wps-mode=disabled station-roaming=enabled disconnect-timeout=3s on-fail-retry-time=100ms preamble-mode=both compression=no allow-sharedkey=no
      station-bridge-clone-mac=00:00:00:00:00:00 ampdu-priorities=0 guard-interval=any
      ht-supported-mcs=mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-6,mcs-7,mcs-8,mcs-9,mcs-10,mcs-11,mcs-12,mcs-13,mcs-14,mcs-15,mcs-16,mcs-17,mcs-18,mcs-19,mcs-20,mcs-21,mcs-22,mcs-23
      ht-basic-mcs=mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-6,mcs-7 vht-supported-mcs=mcs0-9,mcs0-9,mcs0-9 vht-basic-mcs=mcs0-7 tx-chains=0,1,2 rx-chains=0,1,2 amsdu-limit=8192 amsdu-threshold=8192 tdma-period-size=2 nv2-queue-count=2
      nv2-qos=default nv2-cell-radius=30 nv2-security=disabled nv2-preshared-key="" nv2-mode=dynamic-downlink nv2-downlink-ratio=50 nv2-sync-secret="" hw-retries=7 frame-lifetime=0 adaptive-noise-immunity=none
      hw-fragmentation-threshold=disabled hw-protection-mode=none hw-protection-threshold=0 frequency-offset=0 rate-selection=advanced multicast-helper=default multicast-buffering=enabled keepalive-frames=enabled
      skip-dfs-channels=disabled pci-info="00:00.0"


> interface wireless security-profiles print detail
Flags: * - default
 0 * name="default" mode=dynamic-keys authentication-types=wpa2-psk unicast-ciphers=aes-ccm group-ciphers=aes-ccm wpa-pre-shared-key="hunter2" wpa2-pre-shared-key="00000000" supplicant-identity="MikroTik"
     eap-methods=passthrough tls-mode=no-certificates tls-certificate=none mschapv2-username="" mschapv2-password="" disable-pmkid=no static-algo-0=none static-key-0="" static-algo-1=none static-key-1="" static-algo-2=none
     static-key-2="" static-algo-3=none static-key-3="" static-transmit-key=key-0 static-sta-private-algo=none static-sta-private-key="" radius-mac-authentication=no radius-mac-accounting=no radius-eap-accounting=no interim-update=0s
     radius-mac-format=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX radius-mac-mode=as-username radius-called-format=mac:ssid radius-mac-caching=disabled group-key-update=1h management-protection=disabled management-protection-key=""


> interface wireless frequency-monitor 0
         FREQ          USE         NF
      2412MHz         2.8%       -106
      2417MHz         1.3%       -107
      2422MHz         0.6%       -107
      2427MHz           0%       -107
      2432MHz           0%       -104
      2437MHz           0%        -95
      2442MHz           0%       -100
      2447MHz        21.8%       -105
      2452MHz           0%       -108
      2457MHz           0%       -105
      2462MHz           0%       -105
      2467MHz           0%       -105
      2472MHz           0%       -105


> interface wireless frequency-monitor 1
         FREQ          USE         NF
      5500MHz           0%       -103
      5520MHz           0%       -101
      5540MHz           0%       -102
      5560MHz        25.6%        -98
      5580MHz           0%       -102
      5600MHz           0%       -102
      5620MHz           0%       -103
      5640MHz           0%       -101
      5660MHz           0%       -102
      5680MHz           0%        -60
      5700MHz           0%       -102


> interface wireless spectral-scan show-interference=yes 0
FREQ INTERFERENCE            DBM GRAPH
2381 none                    -97 :::::::::::.....................................
2383 none                    -95 :::::::::::::::::...........................
2385 none                    -93 ::::::::::::::::::::::::........................
2387 none                    -94 :::::::::::::::::::::..............................
2390 none                    -93 ::::::::::::::::::::::::...........................
2392 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.............
2394 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.................
2396 none                    -91 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::........................
2399 none                    -87 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::...........
2401 none                    -86 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.......
2403 none                    -84 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::...
2406 none                    -83 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2408 none                    -85 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2410 none                    -86 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::...
2413 none                    -86 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2415 none                    -86 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2417 none                    -86 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2419 none                    -87 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2422 none                    -87 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::....
2424 none                    -87 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2426 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..........
2429 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......
2431 none                    -93 ::::::::::::::::::::::::....................
2433 none                    -93 ::::::::::::::::::::::::..............
2436 none                    -91 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.............
2438 none                    -82 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::....
2440 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::....
2442 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......
2445 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......
2447 none                    -87 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2449 none                    -89 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2452 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......
2454 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..............
2456 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..........
2458 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..........
2461 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......
2463 none                    -84 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2465 none                    -87 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2468 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::....
2470 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::....
2472 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..........
2474 none                    -89 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......
2477 none                    -90 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::....
2479 none                    -76 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2481 none                    -75 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2484 none                    -74 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2486 none                    -75 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2488 none                    -75 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2491 none                    -75 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2493 none                    -75 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2495 none                    -74 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2498 none                    -71 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2500 none                    -67 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2502 none                    -72 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.......................................................................
2504 none                    -53 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2507 none                    -71 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2509 none                    -77 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2511 none                    -75 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.
2514 none                    -83 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..............................
2516 none                    -84 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.................................................................................
2518 none                    -86 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::...........................................................................................

erlinden · August 14, 2020, 6:49am

Don’t set antenna gain manually, by setting the country antenna gain is set (implicitly and correct). If you want to lower transmission power you should set power settings.

In addition, I prefer to set channel manually and set extension channel to Ceee.

lko · August 14, 2020, 7:26am

Don’t set antenna gain manually, by setting the country antenna gain is set (implicitly and correct). If you want to lower transmission power you should set power settings.

I haven’t set antenna gain manually, tx-power-mode is default. So it reads the country settings from eeprom which is correct.

In addition, I prefer to set channel manually and set extension channel to Ceee.

I changed the channel for 2GHz to 20/40MHz Ce and for 5GHz to 20/40/80Mhz Ceee. The situation is the same, I can connect to 5GHz within 1 meter and to 5GHz within 3 meters.

erlinden · August 14, 2020, 7:37am

My mistake…I thought you set it manually. Still, antenna-gain should be 2 or 3 (depending on interface), so something is messed up.
Also, never use 40MHz bandwidth for 2.4GHz radio, unless you there is absolutely no interference in that band.

lko · August 14, 2020, 7:50am

My mistake…I thought you set it manually. Still, antenna-gain should be 2 or 3 (depending on interface), so something is messed up.

Right, any idea what it could be?

Also, never use 40MHz bandwidth for 2.4GHz radio, unless you there is absolutely no interference in that band.

Thanks for the info, I’ll change it.

LSan83 · August 14, 2020, 8:10am

With 6.47.1 antenna gain should be set to default (for WAP AC should be 2 dbi for both 2.4 and 5 Ghz). With antenna gain set to 20/23 dbi the signal is underpowered by 18/21 db!!
You have only 2 db of transmitting power at the moment… you are lucky to have 1 meter of signal.
You should correct the antenna gain value or, if you can’t, reset the WAP AC to default configuration.

lko · August 14, 2020, 8:27am

Well thank you!

I went to CLI and entered:

> /interface wireless edit wlan1
antenna-gain
value: 2

> /interface wireless edit wlan2
antenna-gain
value: 2

After a few tries (CLI interface editing seems to be a bit buggy) it stored the values and the signal is increased by a lot.

Anyway, I’ll mark this solved after letting it run for some time

bpwl · August 14, 2020, 9:03am

Don’t test too long. Everything is perfectly normal.

Radio power is set to =" regulated EIRP - set antenna gain in config - 3dB for 2 antenna’s"
Emitted EIRP = “radio power + real physical antenna gain + 3 dB for 2 antenna”

Real antenna gain for wAp ac is 2dBi (dB gain versus isotropic radiation). 2.4GHz has 2 antenna (+3dB) , 5 GHz has 3 antenna (+5dB)

Set antenna gain on 20 or 23 … is reducing the radio power with 18 tp 21 dBm below max allowed EIRP. But radio power goes not lower than 2dBm, so EIRP power is 2dBm+2dBi+3dB= 7dBm

lko · August 14, 2020, 9:51am

Thank you for very informative reply. Really appreciate the clear explanation!

anav · August 14, 2020, 4:30pm

We know who should be writing the MT manuals for WIFI!!! Wake up Normis…