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I didn't go, nor would I trust HamWAN money to sketchy antennas.<br>
<br>
I purchased the 3 modems recently approved (1 replacement 5GHz and
the 2 900MHz modems) and saved money by combining shipping. There
is $118.12 left in approved funds to get a 900MHz antenna solution.
Baltic is asking for <b>$204.59 to make the OD9-8 antenna happen</b>
(shipping included). Laird's lower gain antennas also have crazy
high shipping costs, and they quickly approach isotropic gain. I
don't think it's a good idea to spend $125 on shipping for what was
supposed to be a low cost / low performance test antenna.
Longer-term, we would very likely employ a cross polarized MIMO
system since bandwidth @ 900MHz is very limited and it's therefore
important to maximize bit/Hz. There is only one antenna on the
market that I'm aware of that fits the bill: Ubiquiti AM-9M13. It's
a 13dBi 120 degree dual polarity sector. I'm pretty sure they add
the dBi from H+V polarizations to arrive at 13dBi, so it's probably
10dBi / polarization. Still, 2dB better than the 8dBi OD9-8. This
antenna is physically smaller, so the shipping is much cheaper. <b>It
costs $278.36 shipped</b>. We'll also need a pigtail cable to
adapt from the RP-SMA terminals on the antenna to the N-male on the
modem.<br>
<br>
Now, there are a couple advantages to going this route:<br>
<br>
1) We can re-use this antenna if we do deploy a 900MHz service since
it's the only one I'm aware of that fits the bill.<br>
2) The experimental phase can test both vertical and horizontal
polarity performance independently by simply switching a cable.<br>
<br>
So here's the modification:<br>
<br>
1x Credit from removing OD9-8 = ($118.12)<br>
1x Ubiquiti AM-9M13 @ $252.00/ea = $252.00<br>
1x RP-SMA to N patch cable (1m) @ $9.95/ea = $9.95<br>
1x NF-NF barrel adapter @ $4.25/ea = $4.25<br>
1x Shipping @ $36.60 = $36.60<br>
<br>
<b>Total additional funds requested: </b><b>$184.68</b><br>
<br>
If we don't end up doing a 900MHz service, or it doesn't use these
components, we'll return or eBay the parts and credit the HamWAN
balance.<br>
<br>
--Bart<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/6/2015 7:59 PM, Tom Hayward wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAFXO5Z1vNi3HNhcjt-5WRUudHHsrttspXpvjTW0HhNCxxF3vgg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<p dir="ltr">Try the swap meet tomorrow? </p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 6, 2015 7:55 PM, "Bart Kus" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:me@bartk.us">me@bartk.us</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Turns out the shipping
on that 8dBi vertical is $125.<br>
<br>
I'm open to suggestions at this point.<br>
<br>
--Bart<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>On 3/6/2015 11:23 AM, Bart Kus wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"> I just sent you all the relevant
invoices.<br>
<br>
Thanks, board! I guess I'm placing all the orders now.<br>
<br>
--Bart<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>On 3/6/2015 11:19 AM, Cory (NQ1E) wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Bart,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I also vote YAY on the contingency that you get
caught up on the paperwork. I still don't have the
invoices on file from your last two purchases. ;)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>That makes it unanimous, so I guess the voting is
complete.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-Cory</div>
<div>NQ1E</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 10:49
AM, Ryan Elliott Turner <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:ryan.e.t@gmail.com" target="_blank">ryan.e.t@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Thanks, Bart. I vote yay.<br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at
12:47 PM, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:gary.k7ek@yahoo.com"
target="_blank">gary.k7ek@yahoo.com</a> <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:gary.k7ek@yahoo.com"
target="_blank">gary.k7ek@yahoo.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px
#ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">
<div>I'd be interested in experimenting
with 900 mhz gear at my Spanaway
residence, and possibly at my Graham
Hill repeater site. I believe 900 mhz
would provide better overall results
than 5 Ghz, which proved to be
marginal to barely usable during our
recent site survey.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best regards,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Gary, K7EK</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G
LTE Smartphone</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div><br>
<div>----- Reply message -----<br>
From: "Bart Kus" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:me@bartk.us"
target="_blank">me@bartk.us</a>><br>
To: "Puget Sound Data Ring"
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:psdr@hamwan.org" target="_blank">psdr@hamwan.org</a>><br>
Subject: [HamWAN PSDR] VOTE:
900MHz service experiment<br>
Date: Fri, Mar 6, 2015 10:38</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div><br>
<pre style="word-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap">Hello,
5.9GHz is awesome when it works. The speeds are great, and it carries
as far as the eye can see with very low ambient noise floor. It does
however have problems when it needs to penetrate trees and buildings.
To alleviate this, I'd like HamWAN to offer a slower but deeper
penetrating 900MHz service. 900MHz is the lowest frequency ham band
without bandwidth or modulation rate restrictions. Before we deploy a
full cell site, I'd like to get some real-world experience with 900MHz
penetration, propagation and ambient noise conditions. Here's the
cheapest appropriate hardware we can use for this:
1x Vpol omni antenna @ $79.50/ea = $79.50
(<a moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.balticnetworks.com/laird-antenna-omni-8dbi-900mhz-n-female-integrated.html</a>)
2x 9HPn modem @ $108.00/ea = $216.00
(<a moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.balticnetworks.com/mikrotik-metal-9hpn.html</a>)
1x Shipping @ $UNKNOWN (quote not showing?! Need to call them.) =
$40.00 ???
Total: $335.50
I already have a 900MHz high gain Yagi-Uda in my inventory and can use
that to do various field tests. These can be directly compared against
5.9GHz performance since the gear will be deployed to one of our
existing 5.9GHz cell sites. The results of such comparisons will give
us a good idea of how well 900MHz might do for HamWAN.
Disclaimer: These may not be the right modems or antennas for us
long-term. A real deployment might use Ubiquiti Rocket M900 with their
sector antennas. These Ubiquiti items are far more expensive though,
and their software doesn't integrate as easily into our network, so for
the purposes of the test I believe the set of hardware I proposed will
do well at deploying fast and keeping costs down.
NOTE: If both the votes are approved, I will combine shipping from
Baltic to save money.
--Bart
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<a moz-do-not-send="true">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
PSDR mailing list<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org"
target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr"
target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span><font color="#888888"><br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div>
<p><font face="arial, helvetica,
sans-serif">Ryan Turner</font></p>
</div>
</font></span></div>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
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<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr"
target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
<pre>_______________________________________________
PSDR mailing list
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
<pre>_______________________________________________
PSDR mailing list
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
PSDR mailing list<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr"
target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
PSDR mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org">PSDR@hamwan.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
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