[HamWAN PSDR] Connected to HamWAN on Buck Mtn, slower than desired

[David C. Jenner]

I have finally made a reasonable connection to HamWAN using Buck Mtn.  I 
am using a MikroTik mANT30 MTAD-5G-30D3-PA dish and an 
RB912UAG-5HPnD-OUT radio.  The smaller MikroTik dish/radio can't connect 
reliably.

I followed the configuration instructions on the HamWAN Website, and did 
add the command "/interface wireless set 0 rx-chains=0,1 tx-chains=0,1" 
which doesn't appear (probably should) in the directions.  Pointing was 
done using "/interface wireless monitor 0" using the fine tuning 
adjustments of the mount.  The best signal obtained was about -71 dB.

Let me describe the situation a bit and see if anyone has ideas on how 
to improve the connection.  The radio name is "K7DCJ/Brinnon-Buck", and 
the system identity is "K7DCJ-Buck".

I am line of sight 2.69 miles from the transmitter on Buck at an azimuth 
of about 115 degrees from true North.  The problem is that I am 2 miles 
away but 3600 feet below it.  All the power is going over my head. 
Consulting the beam patterns of the transmitting antenna, I appear to be 
in the second side lobes, which is about 15-20 dB down from the maximum 
power of the main vertical and horizontal lobes.

Bandwidth tests produce the following:

/tool bandwidth-test 44.25.143.94 duration=30s direction=receive
                 status: running
               duration: 24s
             rx-current: 2.9Mbps
   rx-10-second-average: 3.5Mbps
       rx-total-average: 2.3Mbps
           lost-packets: 120
            random-data: no
              direction: receive
                rx-size: 1500
       connection-count: 20
         local-cpu-load: 3%
        remote-cpu-load: 5%

/tool bandwidth-test 44.25.143.94 duration=30s direction=transmit
                 status: running
               duration: 27s
             tx-current: 2.5Mbps
   tx-10-second-average: 2.3Mbps
       tx-total-average: 2.0Mbps
            random-data: no
              direction: transmit
                tx-size: 1500
       connection-count: 20
         local-cpu-load: 4%
        remote-cpu-load: 3%

The rates have gotten as high as 5 Mbps in other runnings of the tests.

Perhaps someone has an idea of how to improve this?

73,
Dave
K7DCJ