[HamWAN PSDR] 5.8 GHz patch antenna info?

[Bill Vodall]

On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 11:59 AM, Tom Hayward <esarfl at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 11:25 AM, Bill Vodall <wa7nwp at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm in need of some gain antennas for my (HamWAN inspired) High speed
>> 5.8 GHz backbone experiment.   While I'm sure there's one in my
>> future; the 30 db, $100 BBQ dish recommended is too big, too much gain
>> and too many dollars.   So - that brought me to the 20 dBi, $50 panels
>> at Fab-Corp:
>
> How did you come to the 20 dBi figure?

Seems like a reasonable price-size-performance ballpark.

> Have you considered using the
> 30 dBi antennas and minimum power necessary?

Way too big physically - I'd like something that's portable and fits
in a Home Depot orange tool box.

> What is your beamwidth requirement?

Over there - that-a-way....

My first thoughts are to stage experiments at Valley Camp.   One node
at the Kitchen, one at the lodge and the third at the house or bat
barn..   That should make for point it and go alignment with the panel
devices.

> If small form factor is your primary requirement, I'd be inclined to get something from the SXT series:
> http://routerboard.com/RBSXT5HPnD

Those look excellent and I want a couple.  I need six devices total
for this experiment so there's lots of room to try different devices.
The lack of RAM, only 32 MB in the SXT, wouldn't allow running MESH
and Linux guest OS's but I have the 132 MB Groove to play with for
that.

> Tom KD7LXL

Thanks for the link Tom - good info as always.

Bill