Hi all. Back again at last! Have been a bit side tracked for the last few weeks, but we’re starting to sort our way through it all again. http://bizzycomputers.2ya.com/ Here you will fine a few pictures of what we are wanting to achieve (Pic #3), and what we have (Pic # 4,5,6 "remote install). Hopefully we will have a few more up before the end of the week! If it stops raining that is :?
On the hilltop we have a 12V 40 WATT solar panel 36 cell with regulator, deep cycle 12V 100 amp hours at the C 100 Rate Battery, A "12v to 5V 2.4A" DC converter, AP900+ and a 180 Deg Slotted wave guide. Everything seems to be working great up there, but having a few problems with ping times and dropped packets. (pic 1,2) you will notice something funny going on. Our next move will be to add in our small windmill to the remote install. This is 12V 25 Watt and will run almost all the time on the hilltop. The main reason for adding this windmill is to eliminate any lack of power issues. But it will also be very useful if we upgrade and the new equipment needs more power.
At the home and Neighbors end we have a 24dbi Parabolic driven by a Dlink AP900+.
Well hope you all understand this. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And if you have any comments on the pics from netstumbler or any suggestions on how we could improve our setup, don't hesitate to let us know.
Cheers
Robin
What is the gain of the hill top antenna? I'm guessing it's vertical polarisation? I haven't used a wave guide, yet. Just trying to calculate what the E.I.R.P is from the front of the anntena at present. Also what's the connection speed at you house? Through-put will naturally be less.
The waveguide is 18dbi and Horizontally Polarized. I think it was connecting at 11mb. Ping times were mostly 3 sec, but every 6th or 7th it would be longer. somthing like 7 or 12.
Also, is anyone able to explain the info from netstumbler to me? i don't fully under stand what it al means.
Say the D-Link is running at full power, 15dBm (32mW) in to an 18dBi antenna (x63.1) is 2020mW. Give or take say 1500mW for cable loss and connector loss even though the cable is still short.
Using a booster to give you 27dBm transmit power (500mW) in to an 18dBi (x63.1) antenna would give you way over the 4000mW max E.I.R.P to around 30,000mW (30W). To stay under the 4,000mW you'd need to reduce the Dlink to something very very low, at which point the booster proberly wouldn't inject/boost the signal if it's to low.
You'd would need to use a different base antenna then. Proberly something more omni-directional with lower gain. If the transmit signal is to poor to start with, a gain antenna at the receive end will only amplify the noise and signal equally giving no better result in fringe areas. That's why boosters provide a much wider signal to noise floor, by increasing the signal heaps without having to amplify the noise as bad and doing away with real high gain antennas as much.
As for the netstumbler thing, getting a connection that speed says the link is quite good, as for the packet loss, hmmmmm is this the same at the neighbours place? Could be something locally causing problems? Microwave oven, 2.4GHz cordless phone? No electric fence is causing clicking in the mains earth in the house some how earthed to the antenna on the roof? The AP is getting enough current from the battery and capped to even out any spikes? Tried lowering the base transmit speed a little on the AP then do another long long ping?
Or more likely, multipath, the signal is arriving delayed at one end and confusing the receiver. In which case, moving the antenna away from reflective surfaces such as tin/iorn roofing higher up, or in front of more.
Hi Gavin
Thanks for all the info you have been Providing, it has been very helpful.
Im going to try some more charging on the hill top first, i suspect it could be that.
Whats the easiest way to get a good indacation of how much noies you have? I know netstumbler can do it but im not sure what cards suport it. I belive that is something else we need to look at.
It seems to be doing the same thing at the neighbours place aswell.
I've had a quick nosey from HW1 but I don't see the repeater anywhere, or I'm just blind. You guys must have it behind a hill from the road?
I've been passed there about hmm let me think, 1,2,3,4,5, 6 times since Saturday and another few to go this week. Stupid new car's at the shop in Dunedin getting fixed.
BTW, My misses thought u'r name was what it was on the private message today. She's had a yack with your wife I think, starts with "Sh" a while ago, she's the reporter at the Leader.
haha, you won't see it from the road unless you have a pair of extreamly strong glasses on, or a good set of binoculars! It's fairly hard to see.
Yeah, my wife has had a few ads in the leader, all to do with the pony stud.
If you have some spare time on your hands when you are going past, your most welcome to call in, got various projects on the go around here, you maybe interested in a few. We can take you for a quick look up the hill if you’re interested.
Robin
My install 
Linear Mode
