[MVMA] New local AREDNite: Steve KD8MKG

[Chuck Gelm]

On 6/28/23 12:48, kd8mkg wrote:
> Hey Chuck,
>
> Thanks for this!  Do you have a ballpark idea of the receive threshold 
> performance for these radios?
>
> Online I'm reading indications that ~80dBm is the absolute floor of 
> something that's marginally reliable; but this source seems to 
> indicate it is referring to consumer devices. Assuming antennas with a 
> gain of 12dBi at both ends, and 500mW Tx power, my link study suggests 
> a total path loss of ~140dB, and receive at about -94dBm.  Rokland 
> sells a 2.4GHz panel with a claimed 19dBi gain and a 17˚ beam width, 
> which would hypothetically get me to around -86dBm.  If I paid for 
> dedicated hardware at both ends, and had a 19dBi panel at prestige, I 
> could get myself into the yellow at about ~79.86dBm.  It is possible, 
> though, that these commercial radios are more sensitive than I'm assuming.
>
> I have field experience with the 915MHz LoRa hardware, but I'm sort of 
> guessing with this stuff.  And perhaps more importantly, as my brother 
> says; /in theory, practice matches theory; in practice, it does not. 
> /Considering the low cost of entry, the best course of action might 
> just be to put up an antenna and see what happens.
>
> Cheers!
> Steve
>
> On Wed, Jun 28, 2023 at 5:38 AM Chuck Gelm <nc8q-aredn at gelm.net> wrote:
>
>     On 6/28/23 04:39, Chuck Gelm wrote:
>>     Here is Steve's profile toward Prestige Plaza:
>
Hi, Steve:

Your theory looks fine, but don't buy anything, yet.
1. We have equipment to loan.
2. Since 2018 we have been discouraging grid access via 2.4 GHz.
3. Rokland does not make devices compatible with AREDN firmware. See: 
http://downloads.arednmesh.org/firmware/html/SUPPORTED_DEVICES.md
Note that most of the compatible devices are packaged with a radio and 
its antenna in one enclosure.
There may be one radio used with 3 different antenna. Mikrotik RB SXTsq, 
LHG, LHG-XL.
I have a 'panel' (SXT 16dBi) and 2 'dish' (24.5, 27 dBi) radio/antenna 
devices to loan.
There already is a 60 degree beamwidth device at PP and it is aimed 
about 285 degrees. You are about 8 degrees.

73, Chuck
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/mvma/attachments/20230629/8f72c15c/attachment.html>