RB433ah + XR5

[mherbst01]

I purchased a mikrotik rb433ah and installed an XR5 on it. I've never used mikrotik but we had some utilities from an old employee. We used winbox to configure everything, everything seemed to be ok we hooked everything up here in our office and were able to pick up signal off an NS5, of course thats a matter of 5ft. Had our climbers put up the enclosure and 14-16dbi 90 degree sector antenna up at about 480ft. I went a lot of the same spots i did some drive testing at before when our AP was an NS5 and now with the xr5 at the tower signal is worse if not at all there. We're leaning towards the antenna being the issue but we're wondering if anyone else has this sort of layout and maybe if you could recommend and antenna to use off the AP and any config help would be very much appreciated it..

[mherbst01]

well we just tried a different antenna, this time a 15dbi 120 degree sector antenna, with no better luck. Im pretty sure its a config issue. Im using winbox to configure the mikrotik and XR5. Im at about 1 mile from the tower and if i hook up to our NS5 thats on the tower I pick up atleast a -10 better signal than i do if i try to hook up to the XR5. Also what i find weird is that inside the config the only mode that seems correct to me is AP bridge, there is no just Access Point or Access Point WDS. If anyone has this particular or similar setup please let me know i would really appreciate any input and help.

[mherbst01]

this is how i have everything setup, i copied everything down off winbox on my wireless interface. If it helps anyone thats watching this thread or gives a damn.

Wireless
mode: ap bridge
band: 5ghz
freq: 5220
freq mode: manual txpower
country: usa
antenna mode: antenna a
antenna gain: 15 dBi
dfs mode: none
proprietary extensions: post-2.9.25
wmm support: disabled

Data rates
Everything selected under supported rates a/g an basic rates a/g

Advanced
Max Station count: 150
ack timeout: dynamic
noise floor threshold: 127 default
periodic calibration: disabled
hardware retries: 4
frame lifetime: 0
adaptive noise immunity: ap and client mode
disconnect timeout: 00:00:03
on fail retry time: 100 ms

WDS
WDS mode: disabled
wds default bridge: none
wds default cost: 100
wds cost range: 50-150

Nstreme
Enable Nstreme checked
Enable Polling checked
Disable CSMA checked
Framer policy: dynamic size
framer limit: 3200

Tx Power
Tx power mode: default
Rate Txpower(dBm)
6mbps 27(17)
9mbps 27(17)
12mbps 27(17)
18mbps 27(17)
24mbps 27(17)
36mbps 25(15)
48mbps 23(13)
54mbps 21(11)

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Hey Mherbst01,

Can you set the antenna gain option to zero in the Mtik?

Thanks,

Mike

[Erick]

Hey Mherbst01,

Can you set the antenna gain option to zero in the Mtik?

Thanks,

Mike

Mike

We had the same problem with xr5 cards. We solved the problem by changing the pigtail from the MMCX antenna plug to the ufl antenna plug. For some strange reason this fixed the problem. I even checked the MMCX connector on xr5 but could not find a problem with then. With one card i went so far as to reheat the connector with hot airstation but nothing. Plug it into the other antenna connector it works fine. Most of our earlier attemps to get long links also failed and at the end of the day it was pigtails and not antennas. Antennas do not have a lot of parts inside so the chance of having antenna that does not work is very slim.

[michelpotvin]

The MMCX/UFL Plugins are antenna a/b switch the antenna to a/b


Hey Mherbst01,

Can you set the antenna gain option to zero in the Mtik?

Thanks,

Mike

Mike

We had the same problem with xr5 cards. We solved the problem by changing the pigtail from the MMCX antenna plug to the ufl antenna plug. For some strange reason this fixed the problem. I even checked the MMCX connector on xr5 but could not find a problem with then. With one card i went so far as to reheat the connector with hot airstation but nothing. Plug it into the other antenna connector it works fine. Most of our earlier attemps to get long links also failed and at the end of the day it was pigtails and not antennas. Antennas do not have a lot of parts inside so the chance of having antenna that does not work is very slim.

[Cyrus Rahman]

The MMCX/UFL Plugins are antenna a/b switch the antenna to a/b


I don't recall a UFL plugin or mention of one in the datasheet on the XR5. Is this a new feature?

[spook99]

XR5 does not use a ufl. It has a single MMCX. I think you are thinking of the SR5 witch has both.

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Hello,

XtremeRange 5 only has a single MMCX connector.

Thanks,

Mike

[bouncer]

What is the reason to enbale the nstream?

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Hello,

That is MikroTik's proprietary polling protocol. More information can be found at http://www.mikrotik.com

Thanks

Mike

[bouncer]

Yes but he bought one XR5 card...what I have learned before for nstreame need 2 card 1 for sending and 1 for receiving.

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Yes but he bought one XR5 card...what I have learned before for nstreame need 2 card 1 for sending and 1 for receiving.


Hello,

This is incorrect. You are referring to NSTREMe2. Regular NSTREME only requires 1 card on each end.

Thanks,

Mike

[bouncer]

Thanks mike....for letting me know.

[guidonet]

Basic question...
same polarity in NS5 and sector panel?

[BobcatGuy]

OkI read alot, cant recall if you said you were using a ubiquity dvice to connect to the MikroTik? I think you said that.

Anyways, I have tried Nstreme, once I enable it, the links all drop. never come on until I disable nstreme. the links are 5 km's and longer. They might connect if it was closer like your situation of 1 mile test location.

Anyways, Just a thought, if nstreme is propriatery to Mtik, and you are using a NS5, how does nstreme work? My understanding of it was that all clients and ap need it enabled.

I do have enable polling box checked on and it works, but not the enable nstreme.

Furthermore, your settings indicate a manual tx power, what is that tx power? im sure even at 1 mile you would get a good signal, but check it out.

It was ussually recommended to leave tx power to default, and set the antenna gain, and country and the tx power is adjusted for your country's regulations.

There is an offset of 10dB in that setting, but these newer Router OS versions indicate that now, where as the when the XR5 came out I set it to 23db which was telling the card to go to 33db. No one gave any notice of the offset to me when I bought the cards, but I was new to this wireless.

[WHT]

Anyways, Just a thought, if nstreme is propriatery to Mtik, and you are using a NS5, how does nstreme work?
It doesn't