Im setting up a link from at top a building 300 ft above sea level downtown going 45 KM north into the mountains in a very rural area.

Environment surroundings

- Downtown link
18 dbi 25 Element yagi about 2 feet from a Bell Mobility sector
building roof is home to almost every wireless provider available - Rogers cellphone, Fido Cellphone, Bell cellphone, Mike PCS, Pager company a couple meter or so satellite dish's and I think a couple of NAV Canada beacons or ILS radio's.... lol

Noise is insane.

Best noise B
* 907 holds usually @ around -83/-85 but shoots up and down continuously anywhere from -44 to -70 then back for a short while to -83/-85. Usually seems to stay at the -83/-85 mark for like 20-40 secs, then does its thing again and come back..

Best noise G 20 Mhz
* 912 holds usually @ around -85/-88 but shoots up and down continuously anywhere from -60 to -70 then back for a short while to -85/-88. Usually seems to stay at the -83/-85 mark for like 20-40 secs, then does its thing again and come back..

10 Mhz
* forget it on all channels usually around -44 to -63

5 Mhz
* even worse, almost all around -24

----

Test Vehicle
* Expedition with 18 dbi yagi on the roof sitting along the roof rack with the last 12 or so elements not installed (comes in 2 sections) and the metal 10 by 10 inch grid thing that helps catch extra signal not installed..

building is along side main hwy which runs north to where I want to receive the link. Antenna almost aimed straight up the hwy..

I gain around 7-8 db in B mode in general no matter where im at. I get signal about half the time along the hwy running up north.

45 KM's in the genral area where I want to fixed link setup, finding a good spot with the truck around 850 ft above sea level up the mountains looking out towards the city, the best I have got so far is an RX signal of -77 / TX -83 and a throughput of 3MB/s TCP receive. Dont forget im backe up on a mountain with truck and antenna looking more towards the ground then straight out into the city.
My location is also surrounded with around 10 or 11 towers ranging from 100 ft to 700 ft high and probably all of the same providers I mentioned earlier plus I identified some minister of transportation sectors with look to be operating in the 1 ghz range. Noise was flip flopping around the whole damn scale when not connected to downtown link, but was kind of semi stable around -83 or so then it would connect.
I didnt bother tryingn out G mode from this distance since I knew it would be a weaker signal this far out and didnt want to be stuck having to go back downtown and up the 15 floors backup on the roof in the rain with laptop at night. lol Did it 4 times already in the day....

I have to say im actually pretty surprised as Im using a half put together yagi on the truck and it never really was lined up dead on.. I had anticipated using a repeater site around 20 KM's out from downtown to help make the link. I tested for fun from there to downtown and got a -65 signal with throughput at 5 MB/s TCP RX all these numbers are H duplex. I tried Nstreame from this location as I had a way stronger signal and only got MAYBE 1 MB more, more like .7 or .8 more...

If I can get a 6 MB stable link from 45 KM away once my receive antenna is fixed to the property up north. Ill be damn happy for now.. Afetr will be dual Nstreame or more if need be..

Good show MT and UB. I was expectining better noise numbers from the XR9 but in those shitty noise readings, I still get a link with throughput which I REALLY dont think I would have got with my SR9's. So hats of I guess. We will just have to see how stable this all is with traffic etc from all those providers in one spot.. Maybe a filter, matbe not.. Time will tell..

I guestimate that once setup properly, I should get around -69 / -73 or so with a throughput at around 4-5 MB's. This based on my experience with my SR9's with 50 or so customers in heavily wooded areas in the mountains.

Just thought I would post this to give general idea of what can be done in different situations as a reference..



Ohh, Why did I use 900 Mhz you ask? I dont know. I like the fact that there is less fade, easier to align and ifcourse the NLOS. I am also planning a complete city wide mesh to keep me busy in the winter.. I anticipate at all beaing completely 900 Mhz if I can get away with it, and I can get enough bandwidth thru the thing in turbo perhaps. Not sure about that one... Cheers...

M Wireless - Urban
POGO Wireless - Rural

Can you get it to connect at all in 5 or 10MHz channels?

I can't get anything. 2.9.46 on the 133c, upgraded to 3.0rc9. 333 is running rc4.

This is indoors, 12dBi Rootenna, signal is -50ish with the antennas not facing each other.

I didnt even try to connect at 5 or 10 mhz cause the noise was rediculous. Whats your noise level?

My noise level was high, but workable. -87 was about the worst, -97 on a 5Mhz channel at 2432 (912?)Mhz now on rb133c. 333 won't connect.

not sure whats going on now, noise on absolutly ALL channels and modulation have gone way up.. I now have a pretty much useless setup... Should the ubiquiti dilters help with the XR9's???

What you are trying to do with 900 MHz is a very bad idea. As you are finding out, the band is noisy, and even worse its unpredicatably noisy.

The only thing we can be sure of is its going to get much noisier over the next few years.

Plan ahead! Don't put 900 high in the air. Don't use if for backhauls.

Use 900 for micropops close to the ground. It now now cheap enough to build a 900 AP that there is absolutely no reason to try to build larger radius cells.

There are a good number of us on this forum that have been stung by Canopy 900 on our larger radius cells. I had 900 APs mounted at 240'. Now I mount at 30' and am much happier and less stressed.

Learn from those of us that already made expensive mistakes, or learn on your own later.

George

I appreciate the reply, i will order and try a filter on monday, if i dont get insane results, ill switch the backhaul freq. been looking at 2.65... Anyways, will post filter results. thx

I like the 900 thingy cause i wish to implement urban mesh network on my off time during the winter.. The penetrating characteristics off 900 mhz means less AP's needed. I do realize that I wont be able to use 900 for the mesh backhauls as Ill run out of bandwidth fast.. Guess im just testing the 900 mhz waters in urban area right now. Yeah i have been reading horror stories about that canopy stuff, hope i dont encounter on anytime soon.....

There are a good number of us on this forum that have been stung by Canopy 900 on our larger radius cells. I had 900 APs mounted at 240'. Now I mount at 30' and am much happier and less stressed.

Learn from those of us that already made expensive mistakes, or learn on your own later.

George

For clarity, you're mounting your 900MHz AP at 30 feet? What is the tree top height in relation?

I'm in heavy trees and I can't see being much below the tree tops, even with 900MHz.

There are a good number of us on this forum that have been stung by Canopy 900 on our larger radius cells. I had 900 APs mounted at 240'. Now I mount at 30' and am much happier and less stressed.

Learn from those of us that already made expensive mistakes, or learn on your own later.

George

For clarity, you're mounting your 900MHz AP at 30 feet? What is the tree top height in relation?

I'm in heavy trees and I can't see being much below the tree tops, even with 900MHz.

In my rural cell's I mount the AP's near tree top height, sometimes well below and CPE's are always preety much half to 3 quarters tree top.. My CPE's are never really any further than a mile out, so this works for me..

For clarity, you're mounting your 900MHz AP at 30 feet? What is the tree top height in relation?

I'm in heavy trees and I can't see being much below the tree tops, even with 900MHz.

We're mostly in lake country with very rugged terrain. I can get an entire bay/lake with a 900 AP on a boathouse. Gets me through the trees in front of the houses on the lake just fine!

Also keeps me low enough we can use the headlands to block signals and get frequency re-use, and certainly low enough we can't see most of the other 900 in the area. (There is a bunch, including Canopy)

Couldn't make the economics work before when APs were expensive, but now its a no-brainer.

George