cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/33672853

So I live in a small city of around 50,000 people and we have a router that’s 200 feet up on a tower with a 5.8 DBI antenna.

There’s a guy 17.5 miles away who wants to get into the mesh and his node is on a 30-foot flagpole and also has a 5.8 DBI antenna.

There is no major elevation change between the two nodes and according to a distance calculator, the line of sight between both antennas should be about 24 miles, which would cover the distance with no problem.

With that said, the nodes are not connecting together. And I’m wondering if that’s because of the 5.8 DBI antenna gain on both sides, or if there’s something else I might be missing.

Edit: On a side note, I live 3.7 miles from the router, and it has trouble hearing me, but I do not have trouble hearing it with my T1000E. And I’m also wondering if that’s because of the antenna gain on the router side.

  • linuxguy@lemmy.gregw.us
    0·
    4 days ago

    If it has trouble hearing you then it’s likely there’s something near by producing lots of noise. Maybe cellular antenna. Look up cavity filters and maybe install one on it.

    • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zipOP
      0·
      3 days ago

      I found out they were using a 3 foot jumper of RG-316 cable and I’m betting on 900 megahertz that the antenna is not really getting any other power and that the cable is acting as the antenna.

        • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zipOP
          1·
          2 days ago

          Well, that’s just what it came with. Once I found that out and mentioned it, they are ordering a low-loss cable so that should no longer occur.

          • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            2 days ago

            I had a similar experience with RG58 and UHF. I guess the good old tech support wisdom is true: when in doubt, check the cable…

            • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zipOP
              1·
              2 days ago

              According to something I saw on the internet, RG-316 has 47 dB worth of loss at 3 GHz. So even if it’s a third of that at 1 GHz, that’s still 15.6 dB per foot, which considering the transmission is only 30 dB or 1 watt, that means that the entire power would be lost after 2 feet of cable.