[HamWAN PSDR] Compatibility of AC hardware with HamWAN
Alan Dieringer [WX7L]
WX7L at westseattlearc.org
Sat Apr 22 10:04:58 PDT 2023
Back in Sept. 2021, I decided to connect with HamWAN's Puget Sound Data
Ring (PSDR) in order to have Winlink capability in an emergency.
Based on HamWAN's
PDF comparing various devices that shows the QRT 5 ac along with many
others
http://hamwan.org/Standards/Component%20Engineering/Client%20Hardware/antenas_mantbox.pdf
<
http://hamwan.org/Standards/Component%20Engineering/Client%20Hardware/antenas_mantbox.pdf
I
decided to investigate if the QRT 5ac would work on the PSDR. Flytec
Computers had it in stock and the salesperson assured me it would work or
they would take it back and refund my money.
So I purchased a MikroTik QRT 5ac flat panel antenna and had it operational
on HamWAN's Puget Sound Data Ring (PSDR) using the guidance on
http://hamwan.org/Standards/Network%20Engineering/Client%20Node%20Configuration.html
and
Dan K7MM Ransom's Feb. 2016 video
http://hamwan.org/Standards/Network%20Engineering/Client%20Node%20Configuration/Configure%20Radio%20Modem_1080%20dlr%20.mp4
demonstrating how
to use the guidance.
When I first turned it on, I found that within about 48 degrees of bearing
the antenna was picking up three HamWAN sites: Gold (19 miles); Buck (30
miles) and Blyn (42 miles). Cloud cover on the Buck Mt. site Line of Sight
(LOS) frequently reduces the signal strength to such a degree that it is
dropped from the "scan" list. Depending on the weather and clouds, the QRT
5ac picks the best signal at any particular moment which was generally
Gold. So Gold was the site which I kept the QRT 5ac pointed at. After
Gold and Blyn were decommissioned, I pointed the QRT 5ac at Buck and
Winlink messages would transmit within a few seconds even in bad weather.
I did not keep the QRT 5ac on continuously as my primary interest was
having emergency communications.
Be sure to order the "International" version and not the "US" version.
73
Alan WX7L
P.S. Below is an email to Nigel K7NVH on my Sept. 26, 2021 PSDR
experience. My thanks to Nigel for generously volunteering to Elmer me.
The email contains information from the QRT 5ac via the WinBox operating
software utilizing the "/interface wireless scan 0" and "/interface
wireless monitor 0" commands.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: <WX7L at winlink.org>
Date: Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 1:05 PM
Subject: QRT 5ac Signal Reports for radio-name: S2.Blyn/K7WAN;
Buck-S2/K7WAN; and, Gold-
To: <nigel at nigelvh.com>
Cc: <wx7l at westseattlearc.org>
Nigel,
The clouds rolled in over Gold Mt., so I thought I would see what sort of
connection I could get with Buck. While swinging the QRT 5ac further north
I found another signal and locked onto it. I then checked the signal in
WinBox and found I was connected to S2.Blyn/K7WAN and getting a much better
tx/rx rate than with Gold. Below is the information for Blyn, Buck, and
Gold. These were taken within the past half hour. If you have the
location and radio information for the Blyn site I would appreciate it.
73
Alan
admin at WX7L-Gold] > /interface wireless scan 0
Flags: A - active, P - privacy, R - routeros-network, N - nstreme, T -
tdma, W - wds, B - bridge
ADDRESS SSID CHANNEL
SIG NF SNR RADIO-NAME
ROUTEROS-VERSION
A RT B E4:8D:8C:F1:6D:22 HamWAN 5900/5/an
-82 -109 27 Gold-S2/K7WAN
A RT B C4:AD:34:D3:8D:8C HamWAN 5900/10/an
-80 -111 31 S2.Blyn/K7WAN
A RT B 64:D1:54:98:2F:21 HamWAN 5900/10/an
-86 -111 25 Buck-S2/K7WAN
*[admin at WX7L-Gold] > /interface wireless monitor 0
radio-name: S2.Blyn/K7WAN*
status: connected-to-ess
channel: 5900/10/an
wireless-protocol: nv2
tx-rate: 21.6Mbps-10MHz/2S/SGI
rx-rate: 13Mbps-10MHz/2S
ssid: HamWAN
bssid: C4:AD:34:D3:8D:8C
radio-name: *S2.Blyn/K7WAN*
signal-strength: -81dBm
signal-strength-ch0: -83dBm
signal-strength-ch1: -84dBm
tx-signal-strength: -78dBm
tx-signal-strength-ch0: -82dBm
tx-signal-strength-ch1: -80dBm
noise-floor: -111dBm
signal-to-noise: 30dB
tx-ccq: 48%
rx-ccq: 32%
authenticated-clients: 1
current-distance: 68
wds-link: no
bridge: no
routeros-version: 6.47
last-ip: 44.24.245.1
notify-external-fdb: no
radio-name:
S2.Blyn/K7WAN
[admin at WX7L-Gold] >
[admin at WX7L-Gold] > /interface wireless scan 0
Flags: A - active, P - privacy, R - routeros-network, N - nstreme, T -
tdma, W - wds, B - bridge
ADDRESS SSID CHANNEL
SIG NF SNR RADIO-NAME
ROUTEROS-VERSION
A RT B E4:8D:8C:F1:6D:22 HamWAN 5900/5/an
-86 -107 21 Gold-S2/K7WAN
A RT B 64:D1:54:98:2F:21 HamWAN 5900/10/an
-76 -112 36 Buck-S2/K7WAN
RT B C4:AD:34:D3:8D:8C HamWAN 5900/10/an
-90 -112 22 S2.Blyn/K7WAN
*[admin at WX7L-Gold] > /interface wireless monitor 0
radio-name: Buck-S2/K7WAN*
status: connected-to-ess
channel: 5900/10/an
wireless-protocol: nv2
tx-rate: 21.6Mbps-10MHz/2S/SGI
rx-rate: 14.4Mbps-10MHz/2S/SGI
ssid: HamWAN
bssid: 64:D1:54:98:2F:21
radio-name: Buck-S2/K7WAN
signal-strength: -78dBm
signal-strength-ch0: -81dBm
signal-strength-ch1: -81dBm
tx-signal-strength: -78dBm
tx-signal-strength-ch0: -80dBm
tx-signal-strength-ch1: -82dBm
noise-floor: -111dBm
signal-to-noise: 33dB
tx-ccq: 38%
rx-ccq: 38%
authenticated-clients: 1
current-distance: 48
wds-link: no
bridge: no
routeros-version: 6.42.6
last-ip: 142.250.69.202
notify-external-fdb: no
radio-name:
Buck-S2/K7WAN
[admin at WX7L-Gold] >
[admin at WX7L-Gold] > /interface wireless scan 0
Flags: A - active, P - privacy, R - routeros-network, N - nstreme, T -
tdma, W - wds, B - bridge
ADDRESS SSID CHANNEL
SIG NF SNR RADIO-NAME
ROUTEROS-VERSION
A RT B E4:8D:8C:F1:6D:22 HamWAN 5900/5/an
-70 -109 39 Gold-S2/K7WAN
A RT B 64:D1:54:98:2F:21 HamWAN 5900/10/an
-80 -112 32 Buck-S2/K7WAN
*[admin at WX7L-Gold] > /interface wireless monitor 0
radio-name: Gold-S2/K7WAN*
status: connected-to-ess
channel: 5900/5/an
wireless-protocol: nv2
tx-rate: 7.2Mbps-5MHz/2S/SGI
rx-rate: 3.6Mbps-5MHz/1S/SGI
ssid: HamWAN
bssid: E4:8D:8C:F1:6D:22
radio-name: Gold-S2/K7WAN
signal-strength: -71dBm
signal-strength-ch0: -73dBm
signal-strength-ch1: -75dBm
tx-signal-strength: -71dBm
tx-signal-strength-ch0: -74dBm
tx-signal-strength-ch1: -74dBm
noise-floor: -108dBm
signal-to-noise: 37dB
tx-ccq: 38%
rx-ccq: 21%
authenticated-clients: 1
current-distance: 31
wds-link: no
bridge: no
routeros-version: 6.43.4
last-ip: 172.217.14.206
notify-external-fdb: no
radio-name: Gold-S2/K7WAN
[admin at WX7L-Gold] >
=========================================================================================
*P.P.S. Here is some additional information on the radio sites and from
where I purchased my QRT 5ac:*
*Google Maps for Blyn Radio Site: *
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Blyn+Radio+Site/@48.006345,-122.972436,231m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xdc9d4176b55add1a!8m2!3d48.0062919!4d-122.9729022?hl=en-US
*WX7L QTH to Blyn Radio Site *
Latitude: 48.00625 Longitude: -122.972917
Locator: *CN88MA31GM
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN88MA31GM&from=CN87TM38HV>* (map
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN88MA31GM&from=CN87TM38HV&t=n>, sat
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN88MA31GM&from=CN87TM38HV&t=s>, terrain
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN88MA31GM&from=CN87TM38HV&t=t>, hybrid
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN88MA31GM&from=CN87TM38HV&t=h>)
Distance from *CN87TM38HV* - *68.087 km* (42.31 mi)
Bearing ~ *320.32°* (reverse bearing ~ 140.32°)
Midpoint - lat: 47.772071 lon: -122.679586
* WX7L QTH to Gold Mt.*
Latitude: 47.547743 Longitude: -122.804514
Locator: *CN87ON31 <https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN87ON31&from=CN87TM38HV>*
(map <https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN87ON31&from=CN87TM38HV&t=n>, sat
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN87ON31&from=CN87TM38HV&t=s>, terrain
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN87ON31&from=CN87TM38HV&t=t>, hybrid
<https://k7fry.com/grid/?qth=CN87ON31&from=CN87TM38HV&t=h>)
Distance from *CN87TM38HV* - *31.217 km* (19.4 mi)
Bearing ~ *272.37°* (reverse bearing ~ 92.37°)
Midpoint - lat: 47.542679 lon: -122.596593
*Bearing Degrees from WX7L QTH to Gold Mt Less WX7L QTH to Blyn Radio Site
*
320.3 - 272.4 = 47.9
*Note: *I became interested in the flat panel antennas because Ian KE7MAP
Gallagher and Kevin KI7HRC Gow had brought in their HamWAN nodes to club
breakfasts several years ago, which were smaller than mine and very
portable. I also read the test results of WA7ONY using the predecessor QRT
model from various locations (see
http://www.stargazing.net/david/sdr/HamWAN.html) in Oregon and southern
Washington. It seemed like the newer model would be a good choice for both
portable operations and also for linking to Gold Mt. which is 19 miles from
my QTH. I was amazed when I linked 42 miles to Blyn.
Mikrotik QRT 5 ac dual chain 5GHz outdoor flat panel 24dBi antenna with
built in routerboard International Version
https://mikrotik.com/product/RB911G-5HPacD-QRT
https://flyteccomputers.com/mikrotik-rb911g-5hpacd-qrt currently out of
stock
I purchsed from FlyTec for $167.99 + $25.04 tax =
$193.03 and received it in about a week
https://www.streakwave.com/mikrotik-rb911g-5hpacd-qrt-5ghz-qrt-720mhz-24dbi-11ac-1xgb-od-row
$164 buy International version not the US version
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