[MLB-WIRELESS] Senao "all in one" high power outdoor units

[Robert Hart]

Certainly the most cost effective solution is running a MiniPCI cradles 
in your server, and freeBSD is the best OS in my option as it has good 
support. Recently we moved all our work servers over from Gentoo to FreeBSD

At Air-Stream (my wireless club in Adealide) we have a number of core 
routers in the network which are just old surplus P3 which support up to 
five PCI wireless cards without any issues the oldest has been running 
for 657days and only because we added some new cards.

About 5 metres of LMR400 Coax seems to be the maximum and works quite ok 
but with Heliax you add a little more. As for antennas for APs I would 
go for a Superpass 8dbi or if you want sector coverage a 4 slot 
waveguide as these has proven them selfs  to be the best performers over 
the years.  Recently we installed some 15dbi Omni at a site with good 
LOS, but the beam width was such that it over shot most local users, but 
seen out as far as 20kms, so these are not recommended in high locations.

Robert

Rowan 2006 wrote:
> Whoops - forgot to send to the list. Apologies Robert.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 10:34:05 +1000 (EST)
> From: Rowan 2006 <rowan2006 at sensation.net.au>
> To: Robert Hart <robert at air-stream.org>
> Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] Senao "all in one" high power outdoor units
>
> On Thu, 7 Sep 2006, Robert Hart wrote:
>
>   
>>  I would suggest a WRAP2 with a Senao 400mw MiniPCI and 8dbi Superpas
>> Omni, this would allow for expansion at a latter stage as you can  add
>> an extra  CM9 with a 29dbi Grid Dish when you find others who also have
>> similar setups it will allow you then to propagate your network services
>> further afield.
>>     
>
> Hi Robert,
>
> I have been looking at the WRAP2 as an option. I was particularly
> interested because it's x86 based which means it can run FreeBSD, which is
> seemingly quite rare in the embedded wireless world. :) On the minus side,
> just the board and miniPCI card alone will cost more than the self
> contained Senao AP; then it will still need weatherproofing, POE
> injection, custom FreeBSD compile, and an antenna.
>
> I haven't mentioned that I already have a FreeBSD PC as a dedicated
> wireless server (more a firewall with a dedicated crossover ether so it's
> effectively isolated from my own wired network) which means that future
> expansion could be as simple as connecting another AP to it.
>
> It's a tossup really... convenience now versus long term expansion
> possibilities. I just have to decide whether adding extra APs is a
> flexible enough solution, or whether I should just do it your way from the
> start. :)
>
> Another thing that just popped into my head is to use a Senao 400mW card
> with a miniPCI-PCI adaptor and install that into the existing FreeBSD
> server (assuming the ath driver supports AP mode). This brings other
> issues such as antenna cable losses into the equation though.
>
> Cheers.
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>   
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