900 Mhz radios

Is anyone using 900 Mhz radios (Alvarion) to set up their WIS?

rlloyd [ 2006/10/05 19:24 ] :
> Is anyone using 900 Mhz radios (Alvarion) to set up their WIS?
>

The main advantage of the 900MHz band is the signal propagation compare
to higher frequencies like 2.4 and 5.8 GHz. Some manufacturers advertise
their product as NLOS (near/non line of sight) but you have to keep in
mind that in the field, the NLOS is not achievable in all situations.

For my project, I planned to use Airspan WiPLL 900.

Here is other suppliers of 900MHz products:

- Motorola Canopy
- Trango Broadband
- Osbridge



Maxim

Maxim Chartrand <maxim.chartrand@gmail.com> hath wroth:

>rlloyd [ 2006/10/05 19:24 ] :
>> Is anyone using 900 Mhz radios (Alvarion) to set up their WIS?
>>
>
>The main advantage of the 900MHz band is the signal propagation compare
>to higher frequencies like 2.4 and 5.8 GHz. Some manufacturers advertise
>their product as NLOS (near/non line of sight) but you have to keep in
>mind that in the field, the NLOS is not achievable in all situations.

Agreed. NLOS is (in my opinion) close to science fiction. At best,
it can be made to work, but will not stay working as things move
around. The big advantage of 900MHz is that it will penetrate a
forest. I've had quite a bit of experience with Metricom/Ricochet
900MHz radios in the distant past. Pure magic the way it goes through
the trees. The problem is that the 900MHz allocation is only 26MHz
wide, while the 2.4GHz allocation is 83.5MHz. The result is that the
maximum speeds on 900MHz are seriously limited. In addition, much of
the hardware are FHSS (frequency hopping spread spectrum) instead of
the more common DSSS (direct sequence spread spectrum). FHSS is
inherently slower than DSSS.

>For my project, I planned to use Airspan WiPLL 900.
>
>Here is other suppliers of 900MHz products:
>
>- Motorola Canopy
>- Trango Broadband
>- Osbridge

From my bookmark pile.

Trango:
http://www.trangobroadband.com/produ...0s.shtml?id=bb

Avalan:
http://www.avalanwireless.com/index.htm

Waverider:
http://www.waverider.com

Freewave:
http://www.freewave.com

Rotomola:
http://motorola.canopywireless.com

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> Maxim Chartrand <maxim.chartrand@gmail.com> hath wroth:
>
> >rlloyd [ 2006/10/05 19:24 ] :
> >> Is anyone using 900 Mhz radios (Alvarion) to set up their WIS?
> >>
> >
> >The main advantage of the 900MHz band is the signal propagation compare
> >to higher frequencies like 2.4 and 5.8 GHz. Some manufacturers advertise
> >their product as NLOS (near/non line of sight) but you have to keep in
> >mind that in the field, the NLOS is not achievable in all situations.
>
> Agreed. NLOS is (in my opinion) close to science fiction. At best,
> it can be made to work, but will not stay working as things move
> around. The big advantage of 900MHz is that it will penetrate a
> forest. I've had quite a bit of experience with Metricom/Ricochet
> 900MHz radios in the distant past. Pure magic the way it goes through
> the trees. The problem is that the 900MHz allocation is only 26MHz
> wide, while the 2.4GHz allocation is 83.5MHz. The result is that the
> maximum speeds on 900MHz are seriously limited. In addition, much of
> the hardware are FHSS (frequency hopping spread spectrum) instead of
> the more common DSSS (direct sequence spread spectrum). FHSS is
> inherently slower than DSSS.
>
> >For my project, I planned to use Airspan WiPLL 900.
> >
> >Here is other suppliers of 900MHz products:
> >
> >- Motorola Canopy
> >- Trango Broadband
> >- Osbridge
>
> From my bookmark pile.
>
> Trango:
> http://www.trangobroadband.com/produ...0s.shtml?id=bb
>
> Avalan:
> http://www.avalanwireless.com/index.htm
>
> Waverider:
> http://www.waverider.com
>
> Freewave:
> http://www.freewave.com
>
> Rotomola:
> http://motorola.canopywireless.com
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

FWIW, I see Metrocom 900Mhz radios at electronics flea markets from
time to time. Price around $25 to $40. I'm not sure if they can talk to
each other, or need the unit on the power pole.

miso@sushi.com hath wroth:

>FWIW, I see Metrocom 900Mhz radios at electronics flea markets from
>time to time. Price around $25 to $40. I'm not sure if they can talk to
>each other, or need the unit on the power pole.

Metricom/Ricochet modems come in a variety of packages and models. The
system is still in use in Denver and San Diego and owned by Aerie,
YDI, Terabeam, and I guess now Proxim. I still have a small pile of
radios. There's also the Utilicom(?) products, which were sold to
Shlumberger long ago.

Most (not all) models will talk to each other or you can build a
network using star mode (STRIP). Of course there are bugs. As I
recall, you have to set ATS340=00 (???) or the point to point
performance sucks. Some models (forgot which ones) insist on
connecting to the non-existing network. In general, the ones with
xxxx-xxxx serial numbers work. Longer serial numbers don't. The
Windoze dialer doesn't like the hyphen in the dialing string. Etc,
etc, etc. Should keep you entertained.
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricoche...net_service%29
| http://ricochet.wikispaces.com
| http://www.sbw.org/ricochet/
| http://homepages.nyu.edu/~gmp216/nrm6842/
| http://www.thtech.net/article/1
| http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~vino/vi...es/strip.4.txt

Phase II antenna adapter:
| http://www.LearnByDestroying.com/pics/metricom/

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> miso@sushi.com hath wroth:
>
> >FWIW, I see Metrocom 900Mhz radios at electronics flea markets from
> >time to time. Price around $25 to $40. I'm not sure if they can talk to
> >each other, or need the unit on the power pole.
>
> Metricom/Ricochet modems come in a variety of packages and models. The
> system is still in use in Denver and San Diego and owned by Aerie,
> YDI, Terabeam, and I guess now Proxim. I still have a small pile of
> radios. There's also the Utilicom(?) products, which were sold to
> Shlumberger long ago.
>
> Most (not all) models will talk to each other or you can build a
> network using star mode (STRIP). Of course there are bugs. As I
> recall, you have to set ATS340=00 (???) or the point to point
> performance sucks. Some models (forgot which ones) insist on
> connecting to the non-existing network. In general, the ones with
> xxxx-xxxx serial numbers work. Longer serial numbers don't. The
> Windoze dialer doesn't like the hyphen in the dialing string. Etc,
> etc, etc. Should keep you entertained.
> | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricoche...net_service%29
> | http://ricochet.wikispaces.com
> | http://www.sbw.org/ricochet/
> | http://homepages.nyu.edu/~gmp216/nrm6842/
> | http://www.thtech.net/article/1
> | http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~vino/vi...es/strip.4.txt
>
> Phase II antenna adapter:
> | http://www.LearnByDestroying.com/pics/metricom/
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

What I find surplus are the pole mounted units minus antennas. Either
the antennas have use in another system, or the units are duds and the
antennas pulled for spares.

miso@sushi.com hath wroth:

>What I find surplus are the pole mounted units minus antennas. Either
>the antennas have use in another system, or the units are duds and the
>antennas pulled for spares.

The pole top repeaters won't do you any good without the magic AT
incantations necessary to configure them. What you want are the older
Phase II client radios, or the Utilinet radios.
http://ricochet.wikispaces.com/Phase-II+modem
These will talk to each other quite nicely with about 25Kbits/sec IP
thruput using modem emulation, and about 50Kbits/sec in star mode.

Modem commands:
| http://mars.illtel.denver.co.us/~abe...ds%20ats300%22

Nothing useful on eBay at this time, but they appear erratically.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558