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Outdoor AP as a Long Range Client - External Antennas

Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:04 am

I'm looking at a solution for a boat to pickup / connect to on sure AP's.
Obvious solution is single Omni on something like Mikrotik or Ubiquiti.
But - those are single band.

Better would be a dual band solution.

Even better would be using directional antenna's (180 or 120)

So here is where it get's interesting.

If you have a 3x3 device, can you run 3 x 120 antenna's to get 360 coverage with improved range, rather than a single Omni.

And secondly - there doesn't seem to be much explanation on the newer AC and AX about 2.4 chains. Much of the longer range is on 2.4, but I'm not clear if there are dual or triple chain on both 5.8 and 2.4. It seems most of the triple chain stuff is 5.8.

Any clarity on this? Have I missed something?
 
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pukkita
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Re: Outdoor AP as a Long Range Client - External Antennas

Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:45 pm

You are right, is it better to have three or four sector antennas, than a single omni one.

But instead of looking for a routerboard that can be fitted three dual radios, I would go for a better solution: three standalone sector antennas + built in radio, and a router to act as CAPs manager; the sectors will appear, and be managed as if the router had those wireless interfaces already built in.

Three (they're 120) mANTBox 52 15s would fit the bill for sectors nicely.

As main router/CAPs manager there's plenty to choose from; a PowerBox Pro Outdoor router + PoE will fit nicely an all in-mast installation.
 
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w32pamela
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Re: Outdoor AP as a Long Range Client - External Antennas

Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:39 pm

I think you are overthinking the problem. I would simply buy a GrooveA 52HPn; the one with the L4 license that comes with the dual band omni and start using it. If you find you are missing many opportunities to connect to wifi then you can upgrade. You will find that most if not all public wifi is using only the 20MHz band width without any extension channels whether on 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz.

You can set your Groove up to scan both 2.4 and 5ghz channels simultaneously by creating a Scan List in Wireless>Channels.
 
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pukkita
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Re: Outdoor AP as a Long Range Client - External Antennas

Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:34 pm

Sorry, I thought you meant a setup for the harbor to serve the boats! w32pamela is right, this would be overkill for a boat.

For a boat inside a harbor, an omni is fine.

If you want to connect also while out of the harbor, I'd go with a directional antenna, mounting it so that you can point it (manually or by e.g. using a satellite dish rotor) towards the shore, LHG2 comes to mind.
 
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Re: Outdoor AP as a Long Range Client - External Antennas

Wed Feb 17, 2021 9:16 pm

Sorry, I thought you meant a setup for the harbor to serve the boats! w32pamela is right, this would be overkill for a boat.

For a boat inside a harbor, an omni is fine.

If you want to connect also while out of the harbor, I'd go with a directional antenna, mounting it so that you can point it (manually or by e.g. using a satellite dish rotor) towards the shore, LHG2 comes to mind.
Okay but you do know that unlike the harbour, once past the breakwater, there is something called ocean swells and waves...........Aiming is for the birds LOL.

As for the omni solution, for me it depends on what most harbours are providing for wifi.
IF they are using directional sector antennas, with their additional gain, then there could be some advantage to have a rotatable sector antenna on the mast. One cannot always control parking at the jetty (orientation). In this way you will maximize connectivity (S/N, range). So I would say a single sector that you can aim for best signal. In a general sense you can only do as well as the weakest link, be it your piddly little omni antenna or the stupid Omni used by the harbour.

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