Weather Interference

We are using a 2.4Ghz variable sector antenna on our main site. We have two clients with 21db Grid antennas connecting to us. All three sites have Mikrotik 230 router boards with v2.8.11 software, and Atheros 5212 mini PCI cards. The sector has a Prism PCMCIA card. The problem we have been having is when there is bad weather ( heavy cloud coverage and rain) both our clients sites drop the network, reconnect for about an hour then disconnect again, and this goes on the entire day. Is there anything we can do to improve this?

It sounds like you need to check your weather protection on the cables and connectors. You need to have a kind of rubber tape that does not let any water in to the connector. You should replace the cables if there is water in there now.

John

Hi thanks. I will recheck my connections. I have insulated them with a type of vulcanising ruber tape that bonds to itself.

How far away are the clients? 2.4 should not be affected by rain fading. Are these LOS links or are you going through trees? Even if you are skimming the tops of trees your could still see some problems. When the leaves get wet, they will scatter the signal much more than when dry. Diffraction links may also go away depending on the angle you are hitting the diffracting object at and how wet it is.