Ok, so I'm real new to this, but wanted to know the best way to do this.  Wouldnt I want a directional antenna to get the best connection to other nodes, but an omni to connect to nodes that aren't in the direction of the directional antenna?  Maybe I got this all wrong.  If I was to do that wouldn't I need something with two connections?  Do any of the ubiquity models allow this?  Or do I need two units, one with the directional and one with an omni?  Or am I totally way off here??  Trying to get the best range, as my QTH is kind of low here.

73,

Ed

To be honest... There's more than one way to skin a cat... (my wife would cringe...)

The WRT54G's have two antennas and can be used separately. One going to a beam, one going to an omni – or any combo you can think of. Typically, the left antenna port (looking at it from the front) has a little less loss inside the box to the actual port because it uses cable instead of a printed circuit board strip line to feed it. But realistically, these routers aren't suitable for outdoor long range links. They just don't have that much power and the feed line losses at 2.4 GHz are absolutely horrendous!

In other words, try like hell NOT to use any coax anywhere in your mesh gear if you can help it!

Ubiquity makes “Rocket” modules (M2, M5) that have two ports, but they also have some pretty nifty antenna rigs that they hook right up to... (Right on the base of the antenna!) They are GREAT for outdoor long range links. They sell them on Amazon, with prime, it's free shipping!

If you want to go all out with a badass omni setup the Ubiquiti Rocket M2 paired with their 13db dual polarity omni antenna is a pretty nice setup – it's rugged commercial carrier grade gear! But it also aint cheap! But you DEFINITELY get what you pay for...

The cheaper option is the plain old Ubiquiti Bullet M2's and they are about 75 bucks a pop and a TP-Link 15 db vertical polarity omni is about 50 bucks. (Amazon and my UPS guy LOVE me!)  The bullet screws right onto the base N connector of the antenna – NO feed line loss at all! I have a bunch of these and they work VERY well and never seem to lock up.

High gain antennas, low (to none) feed line losses and height will get you more performance than anything else. Also, if you have other meshers in your area, OMNI may not be the way to go... Those 24db BBQ grill dishes work REAL well too!

Ubiquiti makes some M2 Nanostations that are basically a bullet integrated into a 8db directional "patch" antenna inside a little white box you strap on a vertical pole - that are nice, small, compact and rugged units for point to point links.  They work well too and I think I saw some online for LESS than 50 bucks!  It's about the size of a "tall boy" beer can.

After you have those in hand, find a WRT54GS v1-4 to setup for your “in the house” node and router and leave the little duckie antennas on it. It has to be a GS model v1-4 to hold the software. This will allow you to be able to “tunnel” outside your local area to widen your view of the mesh beyond your neighborhood.  (Using the newer releases of the 3.0.x firmware.)

Any other WRT54Gx v1-4 router you have will be fine running stuff around the house, but they can't tunnel and they are low power and short range. I use my NON-GS Linksys routers for hooking up resources off my local network and interfacing cams in remote buildings away from my shack – like out in the greenhouse, guest house, chicken coop and barn, etc.

If you want a peek at what a larger mesh with nodes from Hawaii to Paris and even Italy check this out.

http://n5mbm.endoftheinternet.org:8084/cgi-bin/mesh

You will see a lot of nodes and beside them, the resources you can visit. I have a lot of stuff hanging off of my nodes as I am trying to give people something to do and look at when they poke around the mesh! :) There's webservers, cams and live audio streams off of repeaters and scanners to listen to.

So, in a nutshell... Setup a WRT54GS router in the shack, a bullet or rocket up as high as you can get it outside and find someone to tunnel with to widen your scope... THEN, hit up the local ham club and get OTHER people interested! The more nodes, the more interesting stuff will eventually popup on the mesh!

Good luck and keep us posted on your newbie progress! :) It's always cool when you click it – and it works!

Bill – N5MBM

www.n5mbm.net

Great summary, Bill, thanks - I'm going to point our "mesh newbies" at this so they can hit the ground running.

73 - Orv - W6BI

Three quick follow ups to Bill's excellent summary.

1) While the Rocket does have two antenna connectors, they are intended for diversity (MIMO*) use, not for two independent antennas. MIMO improves your received signal by around 3db over single polarity. So, you could use a dual-polarity antenna like Bill mentioned, or something like two yagis, with a 90° difference in polarity. But, they would need to point in the same direction.

2) The NanoStation is an excellent radio and, unlike the Bullets, it supports MIMO. A major plus.

3) The are actually two different radios in the "Nano" line. The NanoStation, which sells for around $80 and the Nano Loco which can be found for around $50. However, the Loco has lower output power and less gain in the antenna. I don't recall the exact ERP difference between the NanoStation and the Nano Loco. But I think it was like 9db or more.

Finally, I cannot over emphasize the advantage of using MIMO radios. The difference over a single polarity antenna is almost magic. Note that the NanoStation has a 60° coverage angle so you might luck out and be able to see more than one distant node. * MIMO = Multiple Input Multiple Output

Richard - wb6tae

Wow, some good info here, thanks Bill (and others)..

I did get a WRT54-GS a while ago, updated it, and never really did much with it.  Good to learn that I can still use it, just not for the long haul.  I will use it locally, then pick up a Ubiquity unit.  I'll scope out the different models since my location isn't the best, I'll go for power and gain...  

Thanks again,  Ed

Ok, I know that this is a bad question to ask, but....

Like I mentioned, I'm not in the best of locations as far as elevation is concerned, but any suggestions on a good combination of radio and antenna?  Best power and gain?  I don't want to go crazy expensive, but I'm willing to spend a little extra for a better setup.

Thanks,  Ed

Actually, with the Ubiquiti radios, there is very little difference in price or power. The PicoStation and Bullet are single polarity, the Rocket and NanoStation and Loco are MIMO.  Other than the Loco, they all put out around 28dBm and, other than the Loco, which costs around $50, they cost between $75 and $80. The real cost difference is in the antennas. The NanoStation, Nano Loco and PicoStation all come with antennas (the Pico's is removable). If you buy the Bullet or Rocket you will need to buy an antenna.

As I noted in a previous post, I wouldn't consider anything except a MIMO system. So, that leaves a choice between the NanoStation and the Rocket.  

The benefit of the Rocket is the ability to use high-gain antennas. So, two rockets @ $85 ea. + two RocketDish antennas @ $160 ea. would pretty much be the high end system.

On the other hand, two NanoStations @ $85 ea. will provide excellent performance at 1/3 the price.

Personally, I'd give the nod to the NanoStations. If they under perform, you can always use them somewhere else later on as your mesh grows.

Richard - wb6tae

one more question..can you port model numbers or links for the rocket and the antenna? Since it's MIMO doesn't it need two antennas per rocket?

Thanks again!!!  --Ed

@WB6TAE – Good info to know! I wish the WRT54Gx's didn't have the Ethernet bug – I sure would like to KILL all the RF flying around my shack between 4 routers! Direct Ethernet linking isn't an option here. I tried it, and BRICKED all four routers...

Yeah, I aint doin' THAT again anytime soon!

Bill – N5MBM

@K3MEB – The rocket modules are designed to hook up to their 2 port diversity dual polarity antennas... So that answer to your question is NO, if you use THEIR antennas made for the units.

Bill – N5MBM