<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px">Tom.<br><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452887802440_104800" dir="ltr">Here is a status update on my efforts at accessing the Gold Mountain HamWAN. I went out with my two MikroTik Metal 5SHPn transceiver modems, one of my dishes, and a sector antenna this morning. I tested from the corner of E Collins Road and Babydoll Rd, at 47.548349, -122.5939, here in east Port Orchard. From this location I can see the flashing white beacon on Gold Mountain. </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452887802440_103573"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452887802440_103574">I get a good signal on the mesh dish: -69 dBm. The vertically polarized sector antenna (SA58-90-17-WB) has 10 dB less signal, but the modem will "associate" with the network. Pointing is not critical--I've got about 15 degrees each way, a 30-degree sweep where I have reasonable signal (around -80 dBm). This is at ground level. It should work when I hoist it into the trees behind my house.</div><br>I have two modems; one has a broken back-cover latch and is on v6.12. It associates well, even on the sector antenna. Unfortunately, I can't seal the back connection because of the broken latch.<br><br>My other, water-resistant modem I updated from v6.12 to v6.32.3. I did not do a full reset when updating the client configuration from the HamWAN website. I could not get this one to acquire an IP address from the network, even on the dish antenna. I went back to my hamshack (I was wet and tired and water was fritzing my laptop keyboard!). I reset and reloaded this modem to try again tomorrow. Does RouterOS firmware matter?<br><br>When I put the sector antenna/modem into the tree I will use a rope on top from which to hang the combination antenna/modem, and two ropes at the bottom of the sector antenna (one on each left and right side) to steer the antenna. I have shielded, outdoor CAT6 cable (Ubiquity ToughCable Carrier) as a downlead.<br>We're hams, we experiment!<br><br>73 from Dan at K7MM<br>509 330 6398</div></body></html>