Nanostation M5 connection stability issues

[mhook]

I have a Nano M5 connecting into a sector that is close to 15KM away on top a mountain range at a height close to 800m

I've noticed that the negotiated rate moves up and down ALOT and when in this state VOIP quality is cutting in and out.

I'd like to be able to tie the connection rate down to stop it floating around so much. We've been able to do this with the old loco's but the interface is different in the nano. How do I do this in the M5? is it the MCS settings?

Speaking of MCS, there is not much help as to what this all means. I tried setting this to a couple of values but it doesn't connect. Putting it back to auto makes it work again.

Latest firmware is loaded by the way.

[Dave-D]

Locking the MCS value means if that
specific value can't be achieved by
the link even once, the link is dropped.

Then there's a nice delay for reassociation.

Auto solves that problem, but then you
appear to have speed shifts, with small
dropouts. Do you have any source of
interference, severe weather changes,
thermal inversions, moving objects? Dave

[mhook]

I have a direct line of sight and good signal. Interference should be minimal. Only a few roofs between us and the mountain and then nothing but hill all the way up to the AP.

I notice that transmit CCQ varies between 40 and 85%. It very rarely reaches 100%.
Actually, since the last firmware update the CCQ hasn't been as good but I noticed that the signal strength was a -8db improvement.

We do get thin clouds cover and sometimes thicker cloud clover but signal strength has always been good (-63db).

I would like to try locking the MCS but I don't know what value to set it to so that it will work. How can I tell what MCS setting will work. Is there a way of telling when set to auto what value of MCS is currently chosen?

[Dave-D]

If you did lock the MCS, you'd need to choose
a value that's the lowest that would ever be
negotiated. Not a great idea.....

You can see the MCS levels that have been
negotiated, and the most recent signal strength
for each by clicking on the station info monitor
section at the bottom of the Main page.

So that ping drop is still unexplained. What
frequency are you operating on? If you'd
care to post your .cfg files, perhaps we
could spot something. Dave

[WHT]

mhook...

I'm beginning to think 5.1.2, if that's what your running, has a bug.

If you set the MCS too low, you'll get terrible CCQ, around 35 to 40%

What worked for me was to set everyone to MCS7 and the ones that were at 80 to 90%, I dropped the MCS down one step.

[mhook]

Hi, I haven't found an MCS value that connects at all and the AP Information page doesn't seem to show that. Here is what I'm seeing in there.

Device Name:
Connection Time: 00:11:17
Signal Strength: -71 dBm
Noise Floor: -96 dBm
CCQ: 86%
TX/RX Rate: 48.0 Mbps / 54.0 Mbps
TX/RX Packets: 429 / 304
TX/RX Packet Rate, pps: 0 / 0
Bytes Transmitted: 81294 (79.39 kBytes)
Bytes Received: 110671 (108.08 kBytes)

Negotiated Rate Last Signal, dBm
6M -71
9M -70
12M -71
18M -71
24M -71
36M -72
48M -75
54M -77

Do these relate to a specific MCS value? I have tried a number of them (not all) and it doesn't connect. I enable "Automatic" and it works right away but CCQ is around 60% at the start. This drops off to 10% after downloading a file.

Here is my configuration (DNS and SSID changed as this is sensitive info):

aaa.1.status=disabled
aaa.status=disabled
bridge.1.devname=br0
bridge.1.fd=1
bridge.1.port.1.devname=eth0
bridge.1.port.1.status=enabled
bridge.1.port.2.devname=ath0
bridge.1.port.2.status=enabled
bridge.1.port.3.devname=eth1
bridge.1.port.3.status=enabled
bridge.status=disabled
dhcpc.1.devname=br0
dhcpc.1.status=disabled
dhcpc.status=disabled
dhcpd.1.devname=eth0
dhcpd.1.dnsproxy=enabled
dhcpd.1.end=192.168.1.20
dhcpd.1.lease_time=3600
dhcpd.1.netmask=255.255.255.0
dhcpd.1.start=192.168.1.10
dhcpd.1.status=enabled
dhcpd.status=enabled
dnsmasq.1.devname=eth0
dnsmasq.1.status=disabled
dnsmasq.status=disabled
ebtables.1.cmd=-t nat -A PREROUTING --in-interface ath0 -j arpnat --arpnat-target ACCEPT
ebtables.1.status=enabled
ebtables.2.cmd=-t nat -A POSTROUTING --out-interface ath0 -j arpnat --arpnat-target ACCEPT
ebtables.2.status=enabled
ebtables.3.cmd=-t broute -A BROUTING --protocol 0x888e --in-interface ath0 -j DROP
ebtables.3.status=disabled
ebtables.status=disabled
gpio.1.direction=1
gpio.1.line=8
gpio.1.status=enabled
gpio.1.value=disabled
gpio.status=enabled
gui.language=en_US
httpd.https.status=disabled
httpd.port.http=80
httpd.port=80
httpd.session.timeout=900
httpd.status=enabled
igmpproxy.status=disabled
iptables.1.cmd=-t nat -I POSTROUTING -o ath0 -j MASQUERADE
iptables.1.status=enabled
iptables.2.status=disabled
iptables.200.status=disabled
iptables.3.status=disabled
iptables.4.status=disabled
iptables.5.status=disabled
iptables.50.status=disabled
iptables.51.status=disabled
iptables.52.status=disabled
iptables.status=enabled
netconf.1.autoip.status=enabled
netconf.1.autoneg=enabled
netconf.1.devname=eth0
netconf.1.duplex=enabled
netconf.1.ip=192.168.1.100
netconf.1.netmask=255.255.255.0
netconf.1.promisc=enabled
netconf.1.speed=100
netconf.1.status=enabled
netconf.1.up=enabled
netconf.2.allmulti=enabled
netconf.2.autoip.status=enabled
netconf.2.devname=ath0
netconf.2.ip=10.1.1.3
netconf.2.netmask=255.255.255.0
netconf.2.promisc=enabled
netconf.2.status=enabled
netconf.2.up=enabled
netconf.3.alias.1.status=disabled
netconf.3.alias.2.status=disabled
netconf.3.alias.3.status=disabled
netconf.3.alias.4.status=disabled
netconf.3.alias.5.status=disabled
netconf.3.alias.6.status=disabled
netconf.3.alias.7.status=disabled
netconf.3.alias.8.status=disabled
netconf.3.devname=br0
netconf.3.ip=192.168.1.20
netconf.3.netmask=255.255.255.0
netconf.3.status=disabled
netconf.3.up=enabled
netconf.status=enabled
netmode=router
ntpclient.status=disabled
ppp.1.password=
ppp.1.status=disabled
ppp.status=disabled
pwdog.status=disabled
radio.1.ack.auto=disabled
radio.1.ackdistance=16950
radio.1.acktimeout=134
radio.1.ampdu.bytes=50000
radio.1.ampdu.frames=32
radio.1.ampdu.status=enabled
radio.1.chanshift=0
radio.1.clksel=1
radio.1.countrycode=276
radio.1.cwm.enable=0
radio.1.cwm.mode=0
radio.1.devname=ath0
radio.1.dfs.status=
radio.1.forbiasauto=0
radio.1.frag=off
radio.1.ieee_mode=11naht20
radio.1.mcastrate=15
radio.1.mode=managed
radio.1.obey=disabled
radio.1.polling=disabled
radio.1.pollingnoack=
radio.1.pollingpri=3
radio.1.rate.auto=enabled
radio.1.rate.mcs=5
radio.1.rts=off
radio.1.status=enabled
radio.1.subsystemid=0xe005
radio.1.thresh62a=
radio.1.thresh62b=
radio.1.thresh62g=
radio.1.txpower=27
radio.countrycode=276
radio.status=enabled
resolv.host.1.name=DWMH
resolv.host.1.status=enabled
resolv.nameserver.1.ip=10.2.2.2
resolv.nameserver.1.status=enabled
resolv.nameserver.2.ip=10.2.2.3
resolv.nameserver.2.status=enabled
resolv.status=enabled
route.1.devname=ath0
route.1.gateway=10.1.1.1
route.1.ip=0.0.0.0
route.1.netmask=0
route.1.status=enabled
route.status=enabled
snmp.status=disabled
sshd.auth.passwd=enabled
sshd.port=22
sshd.status=enabled
syslog.remote.status=
syslog.status=enabled
telnetd.status=disabled
tshaper.status=disabled
users.1.name=ubnt
users.1.password=DdQFS34shP.Nk
users.1.status=enabled
users.2.status=disabled
users.status=enabled
wireless.1.addmtikie=enabled
wireless.1.ap=
wireless.1.authmode=1
wireless.1.compression=0
wireless.1.devname=ath0
wireless.1.fastframes=0
wireless.1.frameburst=0
wireless.1.hide_ssid=disabled
wireless.1.l2_isolation=disabled
wireless.1.macclone=disabled
wireless.1.scan_list.channels=5520
wireless.1.scan_list.status=enabled
wireless.1.security=none
wireless.1.signal_led1=94
wireless.1.signal_led2=80
wireless.1.signal_led3=73
wireless.1.signal_led4=65
wireless.1.ssid=accesspoint
wireless.1.status=enabled
wireless.1.wds=disabled
wireless.1.wmm=enabled
wireless.1.wmmlevel=
wireless.status=enabled
wpasupplicant.device.1.status=disabled
wpasupplicant.status=disabled

[mhook]

Oh by the way, what I haven't mentioned is that the AP is a sector with router boards running Router OS. If that provides any clues.

[Dave-D]

To improve the link, you could lock
the channel width to 10Mhz, but
only in coordination with the AP.

Do you have any control over the AP? Dave