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 Subject :DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-08- 08:13:16 
KD7CAO
Member
Joined: 2014-03-18- 14:49:02
Posts: 13
Location: North Texas, USA

DCARA Members,

Many of you have been asking for information as to which antennas and equipment I've purchased to go along with my Ubiquiti Rocket M2. For the sake of simplicity I am compiling the list here:

Rocket M2

Ubiquiti Rocket M2 (many vendors available, purchase through club and we will have connectors and cable available soon.)

25dBi Yagi for 2.4GHz

2.4 GHz 25dBi Yagi: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RP-SMA-2-4GHz-25-DBi-Wireless-WLAN-WiFi-Antenna-For-Yagi-Modem-PCI-Card-Router-/111329400253?pt=US_Directional_Network_Antennas&hash=item19ebbfd5bd

TP-Link 2.4GHz 12dBi Vertical

2.4GHz 12dBi Omni Directional: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TP-Link-2-4GHz-12dBi-Omni-Directional-Outdoor-Wireless-Vertical-Antenna-WIFI-/230933790877?pt=US_Directional_Network_Antennas&hash=item35c4ba009d

Sorry image link is not cooperating.

N-Maile to RP-SMA 24" Cable LMR-400 Ultraflex: http://www.l-com.com/coaxial-n-male-to-rp-sma-plug-400-ultra-flex-series-assembly-20-ft

All said and done with a little hunting I've only spent around $200 on the complete package. 

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Eric Gildersleeve KD7CAO
President Denton County Amateur Radio Association
Emergency Management Professional
 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-08- 08:51:25 
K6AH
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Joined: 2012-03-05- 10:47:45
Posts: 181
Location: San Diego, CA
I've heard mixed reviews on the 25dBi yagi... logic tells me the boom is much too wide for the length of the elements. You would do well to at least consider the NanoBridge as an alternative. It also gives you both vertical and horizontal radiation patterns which you may find real useful in high-noise environments. Andre, K6AH
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 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-08- 09:01:20 
KD7CAO
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Joined: 2014-03-18- 14:49:02
Posts: 13
Location: North Texas, USA
K6AH> We actually have one ham that has ordered a NanoBridge. I just received my connectors in the mail for the adaptation of RP-SMA to N and will be connecting to our Anritsu SiteMaster. I am curious about how well this antenna works as well. I will say this, in actual use I have noticed a significant improvement in directionality and receive signal indicators. For the price it was well worth purchasing one to try out.
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Eric Gildersleeve KD7CAO
President Denton County Amateur Radio Association
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 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-08- 09:39:44 
KD7CAO
Member
Joined: 2014-03-18- 14:49:02
Posts: 13
Location: North Texas, USA

Here are the images I just took for screen captures off our Anritsu SiteMaster S332E. This is using the antenna that is labelled 25dBi for 2.4GHz purchased from eBay. (NOTE I AM NOT AN EXPERT WITH THE SITEMASTER.) I did not have the software installed to make actual images from the screen so these are just iPhone shots.

VSWR


Return Loss


Smith Chart






I am in no way an expert with the SiteMaster, so these images may be useless. However, here they are for reference. My initial impression with the plots is that it is not 25 dBi gain like the claim, however the coax is pretty small and it does not have designators to reference so it could be very lossy there. 

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Last Edited On: 2014-07-08- 10:02:48 By KD7CAO for the Reason Better picture links for full resolution images.
Eric Gildersleeve KD7CAO
President Denton County Amateur Radio Association
Emergency Management Professional
 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-08- 09:40:33 
K6AH
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Joined: 2012-03-05- 10:47:45
Posts: 181
Location: San Diego, CA
I'll be interested in hearing your take on them. Please post your results. Thanks, Eric. Andre, K6AH
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 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-08- 09:55:17 
KD7CAO
Member
Joined: 2014-03-18- 14:49:02
Posts: 13
Location: North Texas, USA
Well those images did not come up very well. Guess I need to find a different host for the images so that they will appear in full scale resolution.
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Eric Gildersleeve KD7CAO
President Denton County Amateur Radio Association
Emergency Management Professional
 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-08- 10:04:15 
KD7CAO
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Joined: 2014-03-18- 14:49:02
Posts: 13
Location: North Texas, USA
Guess there are forum limitations since the webpage does not take up the full use of my browser window either.
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Eric Gildersleeve KD7CAO
President Denton County Amateur Radio Association
Emergency Management Professional
 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-07-16- 16:55:16 
k5wxr
Member
Joined: 2014-07-13- 12:56:54
Posts: 3
Location: North Texas
I received the 25 dBi Yaagi from China in only 12 days @ $10.80 including shipping... put it up today.. wola^ . Got my one and only contact, Bob af5rs, but he is only about 1000 feet away. However I could not reach him on either my omnidirectional 16 dBi Omni ($3.68), or my $12 Airlink 9 dBi Omni. So, even though I think the gain on all of these is grossly over stated, the bargain yagi does at least work... somewhat...
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 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-08-09- 05:24:40 
WX5WTF
Member
Joined: 2014-07-04- 06:48:17
Posts: 2
Location: Denton, TX

Dont forget that with the Ubiquiti equipment they only have one RJ45 port. This means you'll need a managed switch that supports 802.1q VLAN tagging if you wish to connect it to your existing home network.

The cheapest one I've been able to find is around $50, here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127450

I'm new to VLAN stuff so this is definitely a learning experience.

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Last Edited On: 2014-08-09- 05:26:35 By WX5WTF for the Reason WYSIWYG Editors and I don't get along.
WX5WTF
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 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-08-15- 22:41:37 
WX5WTF
Member
Joined: 2014-07-04- 06:48:17
Posts: 2
Location: Denton, TX

I finally got the VLAN stuff setup and working properly using the D-Link switch I linked in my previous post.

For anyone that's having issues or wishes to duplicate my settings, once I assigned the switch a static IP address to use the management console from, I setup the 802.1q VLAN settings as follows.  Port 1 on the switch is the uplink port to my Internet gateway.  Port 2 on the switch goes to the Rocket.  Ports 3-8 are not currently used but will pull an IP address from the Rocket via DHCP (so they're effectively on the HSMM node's LAN) when connected.

In the management console, I created a new VLAN with an ID number of 10 since 1 is reserved for BBHN-WAN. I also created a VLAN with ID 2 but I am not currently using it since I do not have more than one node.

The VLANs are assigned as follows:

  • VID 1 (BBHN-WAN)
    • Untagged: port 1
    • Tagged: port 2
  • VID 2 (BBHN-D2D)
    • Not used in my implementation
  • VID 10 (BBHN-LAN)
    • Untagged: ports 2-8

Here's a screenshot of the switch's VLAN management settings. Click here for the full-size version.

Managed Switch Console Screenshot

I set the node up to have NAT on the LAN side (with DHCP enabled) and a static IP on the WAN side.  The LAN side of the node is on a different subnet from the rest of my network. It's also separated by a firewall from the main portion of my network (the 254 subnet).


Here's my network topology:

Network Topology Map

Now all I need is a node within range to connect to and I'll be good to go.

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WX5WTF
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 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-08-16- 06:11:27 
AE5CA
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Joined: 2012-05-19- 21:52:33
Posts: 81
Location

Glad to see you got it to work!  Other switches I have had good luck with is the Netgear GS108E (8 port) or the GS105E (5 port)

Clint, AE5CA

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 Subject :Re:DCARA Recommended Equipment.. 2014-09-24- 17:28:00 
KG5DPV
Member
Joined: 2014-09-03- 09:17:56
Posts: 6
Location: Coppell, TX
 
Can we still get the M2 through the club?
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