I just got a new car that likes to have a WiFi connection when parked. I have two parking spots, one on top of a parking garage and one inside the garage, just under the other spot. Both are about 10m outside of my house but my current WiFi setup is not that well tuned for that side of the house as I’ve only focused on having good coverage on our patio on the other side of the house (and inside ofc).

Any suggestions for MikroTik hardware to give good directional coverage on my parking spaces?

You have a clean line of sight to the cars?

How's the antenna in the cars.

You can put a really loud AP outside and blast it over a long distance... But if the antenna in the far device can reach back...

No connection.

For example, Tesla is "very picky" about Wi-Fi in the parking space.

I have a clean line of sight to the upper parking space from my office. Parking downstairs, there will be a thick concrete wall in the garage between my house and the car.

The car in question is a Tesla Model 3 and I’m a bit reluctant to floor the neighborhood with omnidirectional WiFi if I can avoid it since I live in connected houses and the neighbors might not appreciate another network…

really loud AP outside

Is of no help as said. (Wifi is always bi-directional communication)

What does help is a device with high antenna gain. (But! Antenna gain when properly configured will reduce the TX power , to again send within the legal limits, now only in a segment, nice for the neighbors, and your patio)

So no real gain ? Not for TX power, in transmitted signal, it is not louder and not better.
Being 'louder' in wifi makes not much sense. (Wifi is like a "polite" meeting, if anyone speaks, even whispers, you shut up).

But all the gain will be in the receiving of the cars wifi signal!
e.g. If you have a SXTsa5 or similar, the gain in receive sensitivity is 16dB. You will receive the car signal 14 dB stronger, than a standard 2dBi dipole antenna.

How to make a long distance connection? Well both sides of the link need high antenna gain.
No idea if the car has antenna options.


If you have "keyless entry" on your car, this a-symmetry is there. The key-fob signal is very strong (100's of meters of range) , the car signal is extremely weak (70 centimeters range). And that car signal is used to detect if you are near your car. If you are , the key-fob will send an authorisation, doors open and the car can start. Thieves amplify or repeat your cars signal, and are able to drive away, if their (repeated) signal reaches the key fob.
No breaking in, nothing taken, key fob still in your bedroom. Car gone.

bpwl

Always enjoy your posts.

The model 3 uses Bluetooth from your phone + the app + gps to enter and drive. There is also a NFC card as a backup. But you have to touch the B-piliar to open the door.

My model 3 is from 2018. It has a 2.4/5Ghz A/B/G/N/AC antenna mounted in the side mirror assembly.

i think SXTsq 5 High Power can be useful for this situation mostly because includes the L4 license to be able to use Access-Point mode

i think is small and discrete

has 16dbi antenna gain to improve your chances to success

in this case i think is better to use only 20mhz channel width to improve signal levels and probability to find a clean channel

i think you will not need to use full power, with 14dBm or less will be more than enough

product page link

https://mikrotik.com/product/sxtsq_5_high_power

Even though the manufacturer's page says L4 license, I wouldn't believe it, probably a typo. All SXTsq devices are licensed L3. It is better to check with technical support. (the description does not specify access point mode)
Of the ready-made devices L4 is SXT SA5, SXT SA5 ac, QRT 5, QRT 5 ac or use BaseBox, NetBox, NetMetal with a separate antenna

@gotsprings, you know I love brainstorming on those contra-intuitive wifi things. And there are so many!

For a remote AP, my setup is (low cost version) SXTsq-SXTsq for the link with LoS., and a 'hAP Lite' for the remote client AP.
(Requirements for the link and requirements for the client connects are SO different, that separate radio's, antenna, even MT AP, are justified.)
Eveything is bridged. SXTsq-SXTsq link is "bridge"-"station bridge" mode. No client access, that could interfere or reduce the performance. NV2/Nstreme or 802.11 as you tested for the best. "Station bridge" will just follow the "bridge" setting in this, so switching between modes is easy.
The local AP, only serves clients (perfect antenna characteristic for this, for passing walls it's even better than directioal)
Want more speed and/or 5GHz? Replace 'hAP Lite' with other AP, like 'hAP ac Lite' (or better), which can power the SXTsq on its PoE out port.

Enjoy perfect wifi connection values and full wifi speed.

Even though the manufacturer's page says L4 license, I wouldn't believe it, probably a typo. All SXTsq devices are licensed L3. It is better to check with technical support. (the description does not specify access point mode)
Of the ready-made devices L4 is SXT SA5, SXT SA5 ac, QRT 5, QRT 5 ac or use BaseBox, NetBox, NetMetal with a separate antenna

Would be a very very cheap L4 license upgrade indeed. ($3 instead of $38). And it is only wifi-4.
MAX EIRP in Europe is 27dBm in 5GHz, so TX Power is limited to 11dBm.
My pick is "SXTsq 5 ac" (L3, 1Gbps ethernet, wifi-5, 4-core ARM processor)

MT, @normis, please check your product overview. SXTsq high power "RBSXTsq5HPnD" is probably not a L4 product. Could be very misleading if that is the case.
If L4, then this a very interesting client-AP!

Enjoy perfect wifi connection values and full wifi speed.

Not on Mikrotik WiFi. Not even with my Audience sitting in the garage next to my car.
Its WAY BETTER with the WAVE2 Driver. But then caps-man is gone. Access Control Lists rules don't work properly. And a few other things I tripped over and just went...
"STILL MIKROTIK WIFI. STILL INCOMPLETE."

My hAP ac3 finally arrived, so I can start comparing wifiwave2 with standard drivers. This will take some time, I want to know all differences before I switch.

I have no disturbing issues with the standard drivers today. I know the small A-MSDU / A-MPDU and buffers (queue type?) is limiting throughput to 360Mbps.
But roaming/connect/disconnect/interface rate ... is all under control. DUDE is the central monitoring tool for this L2 bridged network. (34 AP, 21 PtP links, 40 users, 200 BYOD devices ...millions of real-life syslog records over 2 years of testing)

I do not need or even want CAPsMAN.
I do need 4-address mode (bridge) for PtP/PtMP.
I do need dynamic VLAN assignment (RADIUS, or even Access control List based)

Wifiwave2 will have to pass some tests here before I'll even try it there on the client APs. (Which today cannot even run wifiwave2.)

Have an Audience and wAP AC3. The 4 chain radio in the Audience gave the best results. With multiple clients loaded up I got the best results I have ever gotten out of Mikrotik wireless. Then unit rebooted for no good reason. Support thought it was related to a virtual AP. (They never figured it out). There was also a problem with the power draw so my CRS328 rebooted for over current.

Then I remembered... "You are applying a battery of tests to a device that doesn't have Wifi ACv2 complete. You have 6 other manufactures here with WiFi6-WiFi6E... I can't even use caps-man that I built all that stuff for. Get back on track with the other manufactures!"

Even though the manufacturer's page says L4 license, I wouldn't believe it, probably a typo. All SXTsq devices are licensed L3. It is better to check with technical support. (the description does not specify access point mode)
Of the ready-made devices L4 is SXT SA5, SXT SA5 ac, QRT 5, QRT 5 ac or use BaseBox, NetBox, NetMetal with a separate antenna

Would be a very very cheap L4 license upgrade indeed. ($3 instead of $38). And it is only wifi-4.
MAX EIRP in Europe is 27dBm in 5GHz, so TX Power is limited to 11dBm.
My pick is "SXTsq 5 ac" (L3, 1Gbps ethernet, wifi-5, 4-core ARM processor)

MT, @normis, please check your product overview. SXTsq high power "RBSXTsq5HPnD" is probably not a L4 product. Could be very misleading if that is the case.
If L4, then this a very interesting client-AP!

SXTsq high power is the latest member of a known saga of MikroTik Wireless Products i think designed to be able to work as a affordable and simple AP, because of that include the L4 License

previous members of that saga:
SXT 5 ac RBSXTG-5HPacD L4 License
SXT HG5 ac RBSXTG-5HPacD-HG L4 License
SXT HG5 RBSXTG-5HPnD-HGr2 L4 License

SXTsq high power has lost some of the features of previous devices like beeper, temp and voltage monitor, but is cheaper

The absence of a SXTsq high power AC version suggest this kind of product is slowly dying

Txs for the L4 confirmation.

Just ordered one SXT sq 5 high power before it disappears (to cover my 40m garden for a weak smartphone client / very good price/performance ratio !)

Txs for the L4 confirmation.

Just ordered one SXT sq 5 high power before it disappears (to cover my 40m garden for a weak smartphone client / very good price/performance ratio !)

A wAP AC wouldn't have done it?

the main benefit of using an SXT for Wi-Fi is to take advantage of 16dbi directional/sectorial antenna gain

i frequently use SXTsq Lite2 adding a L4 license to enable it as a 2.4ghz AP

i am very curious to test mANTBox 52 15s RBD22UGS-5HPacD2HnD-15S

this device in theory provides concurrent dual band supporting AC with directional/sectorial high gain, has quad core arm ipq4019 CPU and 256 ram, unfortunately only has 16mb of storage which prevent it form supporting wave2 package

also includes sfp port, usp port, temp and voltage sensors

bundle includes quickMOUNT pro support for easy mounting and aiming, 48 V 0.95A power supply and Gigabit Poe Injector

supports 12-57 V power supply

off course the price tag goes up to 159 USD and is a bigger less discrete device

Txs for the L4 confirmation.

Just ordered one SXT sq 5 high power before it disappears (to cover my 40m garden for a weak smartphone client / very good price/performance ratio !)

A wAP AC wouldn't have done it?

Smartphone signal comes in at -86dBm on wAP ac. Just a bit too weak to be stable.
wAP ac is received at -73dBm by smartphone.
Already selected the 5GHz channel with highest allowed EIRP in ETSI region.

Hope to receive smartphone better.

(smartphone is moved around, and can be shielded by body or hand).

Fluctuates strongly, even both measurements on the screenshot out of sync, but that's the way to look at it. (Mikrotik client (station) would have given all information in the MT AP)

Remote AP (SXT PtP link + Client AP) would be much better , but requires power at the remote AP).