[HamWAN PSDR] is -76dBm a strong enough signal?

[Edward Cukiernan]

thanks for the quick reply!

I think this may have done the trick, after the config setting and software
update, I now seem to have a much more reliable connection. I'll make my
wiring a little nicer, and try it out some more.

thanks again,
--Eddie

On Tue, Sep 4, 2018 at 7:20 AM Tom Hayward <tom at tomh.us> wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 4, 2018 at 1:51 AM Edward Cukiernan <ecukierman at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi all, I was hoping to ask a question on if I should expect to be able
>> to connect to hamwan. The short version is that I am using a Mikrotik
>> BaseBox 5 RB912UAG-5HPnD-OUT, and I can occasionally get a connection, but
>> it usually only lasts a couple of minutes and disconnects. When I am
>> connected my status looks like this:
>>
>>                   status: connected-to-ess
>>                  channel: 5880/5/an
>>        wireless-protocol: nv2
>>                  tx-rate: 10.8Mbps-5MHz/1S/SGI
>>                  rx-rate: 9.7Mbps-5MHz/1S
>>                     ssid: HamWAN
>>                    bssid: 4C:5E:0C:8B:0D:70
>>               radio-name: K7WAN/ETiger-S3
>>          signal-strength: -76dBm
>>      signal-strength-ch0: -76dBm
>>       tx-signal-strength: -75dBm
>>   tx-signal-strength-ch0: -90dBm
>>   tx-signal-strength-ch1: -75dBm
>>              noise-floor: -125dBm
>>          signal-to-noise: 49dB
>>                   tx-ccq: 49%
>>                   rx-ccq: 56%
>>    authenticated-clients: 1
>>         current-distance: 29
>>                 wds-link: no
>>                   bridge: no
>>         routeros-version: 6.41.3
>>
>> The things I was wondering about.
>>
>> 1) Any idea why I am seeing tx-signal-strength-ch0 being so much worse
>> that tx-signal-strength-ch1? doesthis mean I don't have my antenna in
>> the right orientation to match the polarization on tiger?
>>
>
> It could be that the second polarization is not enabled on your modem. Try
> this command and then take a look at the signal strengths again:
>
> /interface wireless set wlan1 rx-chains=0,1 tx-chains=0,1
>
>
>> 2) Is it a problem that I am running an old version of router os? I see I
>> am running 6.37.1, but the sector is running 6.41.3
>>
>
> That's a problem, but unrelated to signal strength. Older RouterOS
> versions have security bugs. You should upgrade. I would start by upgrading
> firmware, then RouterOS, then see if a new firmware is available with the
> new RouterOS version:
>
> Firmware upgrade:
> /system routerboard upgrade
> /system reboot
>
> RouterOS upgrade:
> /system package update install
>
> Firmware upgrade:
> /system routerboard upgrade
>
>
>> 3) Any idea why I see to signal strengths for tx, but just one for rx?
>>
>> 4) sometimes I see a noise floor of -105, which obviously lowers my snr.
>> Is this an indication that something is causing interference?
>>
>
> -105 dBm is still a decent noise floor. It shouldn't be a problem.
>
> -76 dBm should be plenty for a consistent signal. Once you take care of
> these little things, keep an eye on it to see if it continues to be
> intermittent. Maybe there is another problem somewhere.
>
> Tom
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