Hello,

We have installed an OmniTik onto a top of a 40meter radio tower.
Sadly, we cannot connect to it with our standard client device (19dB antenna, R52, RB411) from the next village (few kilometers).
The installers tried to connect from a visibles distance from the road (~1-1.5km) and they found a -75dB signal.
After replacing the OmniTik with a 433+R52+10dB Omni antenna they made at least 10dB better signal.
Keep in mind, the antenna (in the OmniTik's spec) is 7.5dBi comparing to our 10dBi it's 2.5dBi better gain, but OmniTik has much powerful radio inside than R52.

I'm interested if we found a badly functioning OmniTik, or it is really a bad design? Should we connectorise the OmniTik and use it with external antenna?

Thanks for the experiences and ideas!

Of course 2.5dBi increase in antenna gain will increase the signal, you can't compare them.
Just radio power difference will not make them equal. You can use wireless calculator to see how far you can go with specific devices: http://www.mikrotik.com/test_link.php

Thanks, i'm going to test with the page.

By the way, may i ask for some templates (of Mikrotik own devices) to be selected in this page? It would be really useful!