Portable AirView(5)

[fawkes]

I currently have an USB AirView2 which is working great, but since I want to analyze the 5Ghz spectrum also I need to use one of the AirMax products.


Unfortunately I can not seem to find one that is small enough to be used on the road with a netbook and that can be powered by USB, it's either one or the other. The AirGrid products can be powered by USB and even come with a USB+POE adapter, but they look very large and therefore not suitable for portable use in addition to not being omnidirectional. The Bullet M5 on the other hand is small and omnidirectional, but requires more power then can be provided by USB alone. Which AirMax product would come closes to an USB AirView5 product?


Lastly to avoid having to hold the AirMax product in one hand and operating the netbook with the other hand, is there any solution which can be used to fix an AirMax product to a netbook?

[Dave-D]

Sure: Bullet M5 would work fine, using an omni

antenna. With a gel-cell 12V battery (or a

booster battery pack if you insist), it will

run for many hours. You can easily make

up a PoE jackbox to link this in. Or, you

could use a very small 12V to 120V inverter

and a Ubiquiti PoE device if you prefer.


I'm not sure how you define a 'netbook',

but assuming a laptop, I would not

expect you would ever get good even

coverage inside a vehicle or attached to

a laptop. A Bullet M5 in the air on a short

pole would assure an even pickup pattern. Dave

[WHT]

Lastly to avoid having to hold the AirMax product in one hand and operating the netbook with the other hand, is there any solution which can be used to fix an AirMax product to a netbook?

Duct tape radio to laptop or Velcro (tm) an omni antenna to a propeller beenie cap.


Anyway, are you looking for a mobile application or walk-about?


If mobile, then power is a moot point. run the radio off your 12 volt lighter plug. Use a Bullet M2 with a magnetic mount 6 dBi antenna.


If walk-about...Hmmm, some people use a light weight push cart. Or you could enlist the mail room boi and sit him in the front of a shopping cart to hold the antenna. Warn him not to yell out "I'm the king of the world!" as you push him along.

[fawkes]

Thank you for both your answers, I must say there is no lack of creativity on this forum which is certainly nice to see :) Now let me first start to explain the situation a bit better since I see I was a bit confusing in my first post. I am using a netbook which essentially is a small, lightweight, and inexpensive laptop with a 9 inch screen. The reason for using a netbook is because I can move from room to room easily using the AirView2 and can easily find a place to leave the netbook because of its size. Also seeing as how my AirView2 with internal antenna has good enough coverage for my use I do not believe coverage will be a problem with any of the Ubiquiti products.


Therefore a battery pack and a pole would be difficult to use alone (this sentence could easily have been misunderstood). The same goes for a light weight push cart, but I did like the idea of duct-taping the device to the netbook so I will keep that option open (don't know why I didn't think about that). Unfortunately it seems that Ubiquiti might not have a product that can compliment the AirView2 for the 5Ghz band at this point so I might have to wait until a suitable product is released, but should anyone have any suggestions or solutions to share with me then I would appreciate it. Thanks again for the help I received so far.

[boum]

Use airgrid without the grid. It's USB powered.

[WHT]

Use airgrid without the grid. It's USB powered.if...IF...there was nothing but a dipole antenna inside the feedhorn head, then that would work. But I suspect there may be a director or reflector inside and that would give about 5 dBi gain *and* a directional pattern.


For example, the feedhorn for a grid antenna has significant gain towards the connector end, and about 4 to 6 dB less in the opposite direction. So it not an omni antenna.

[Dave-D]

WHT is right; according to posted photos,

there's a small retro-reflector in the end

of the AirGrid nose. It directs the signal

back to the grid. No dice. Dave

[Dave-D]

Ubiquiti has said that they will not bring

out an AirView 5, because the new (free)

AirView applet built into the AirOS 'M'

radios will do the job. So perhaps you

can make your peace with a new radio. Dave

[opampca]

Use airgrid without the grid. It's USB powered.


Hurry up, they are going to be working on 24volts soon.

Or when we see the $29 one hit the market, they will be 5v USB.

Richard

[sremick]

Ubiquiti has said that they will not bring out an AirView 5, because the new (free) AirView applet built into the AirOS 'M' radios will do the job.

Except that's not convenient or portable. A small, portable device is what I need, a la Airview or Wi-Spy.

In the age of 2.4GHz-only Airview and Wi-spy 2.4i/x, there was competition and it was easy to go with the Airview. Not sure why Ubiquiti is now (with 5GHz) abandoning that market and conceding it entirely to Metageek. :( Surely there's a market for such a device that doesn't cost $600.

[WHT]

While all the WISP gear have the AirView spectrum analyzer, they aren't intimately connected to the laptop like the USB products that can interface with NetStumbler.

Has anyone tried the UsB Wifistation products with NetStumbler?