[HamWAN PSDR] The 3rd time is not charmed [was: 8dB drop/rise!]

[Bart Kus]

Yes, that does mean you're on a 5MHz link.  The monitor will also tell 
you modulation rates.  They're not the same for RX and TX.  And neither 
are the signal strengths.

You re-gained 5dB?  Was there some slow-moving angular creep in your 
mast setup?

--Bart


On 07/23/2014 07:44 PM, Dean Gibson AE7Q wrote:
>
> On 2014-07-21 16:06, Dean Gibson AE7Q wrote:
>> On 2014-07-21 11:26, Tom Hayward wrote:
>>> This is a great deal for anyone who needs a HamWAN client.  
>>> Resurrecting the modem is probably a 10 minutes job, and these 
>>> Poynting antennas are sold out everywhere.
>>>
>>> Tom KD7LXL
>>
>> Thanks for the info about NetInstall, but when I hold the reset 
>> button on the 5SHPn, it stops flashing after about 15 seconds, which 
>> according to the documentation is the supposed acknowledgment that it 
>> is going to search for NetInstall for a PXE boot.
>>
>> NetInstall has the PXE server enabled, but never sees the 5SHPn.
>>
>> Yes, $120 is a good deal for the package.
>
> Having not received any offers for my "great deal", I began to wonder 
> why the 5SHPn clearly is decoding pressing the reset button (by its 
> flashing pattern), but then not interrogating "NetInstall" for the PXE 
> boot.  So, I decided to read up on PXE boot (NOT on the MicroTik site).
>
> I discovered that the "normal" PXE protocol starts out using DHCP, but 
> I was never seeing the result of a DHCP-assigned IP address (and of 
> course no response to access via the MAC address).  So, I decided to 
> go look in my DHCP server logs.  I saw (and expected) DHCPDISCOVER / 
> DHCPOFFER sequences prior to the failure, but after the failure, I was 
> surprised to see BOOTREQUEST / BOOTREPLY sequences (with the 
> appropriate IP address!) when trying to PXE boot.  BOOTREQUEST / 
> BOOTREPLY sequences are part of the old BOOTP protocol (before DHCP 
> was invented).
>
> According to Wikipedia, *PXE normally uses DHCP, but the 5SHPn is 
> using the old BOOTP protocol for PXE*.  Since DHCP servers normally 
> respond (for compatibility purposes) to BOOTP requests as well as DHCP 
> requests, it appeared that my DHCP server was responding to the 5SHPn 
> before the MikroTik "NetInstall" could, and since the former was not 
> configured to send the 5SHPn a boot file, nothing happened.
>
> So, I temporarily disabled my DHCP servers, and voila!  NetInstall 
> laboriously (meaning very slowly) installed a new copy of the 
> firmware.  I did my usual reconfiguration script, and I was up and 
> running, albeit with the 8dB loss.
>
> The first two instances of the 8dB drop were rather sudden, but the 
> latest drop occurred over a period of about two weeks, which made me 
> suspect vegetation growth as well as a problem with the 5SHP.  So, I 
> decided to engage in another antenna aiming session, and that seems to 
> have recovered about 5dB of the drop.
>
> Bart: "/interface wireless monitor 0" shows "band: 5ghz-n-5mhz".  I 
> presume that means I'm using a 5MHz link?
>
>
>
>
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