I'm trying to establish a connection of about 2 miles distant on 900MHz with my NanoStation M900.. I got one of these Yagi antennas, a 14dBi gain
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TAEAAOSwNphWbCfY/s-l1600.jpg
YA90014 DMS Wireless 900MHz Directional Yagi Antenna with 14dBi gain"
And connected it to the coax connector just under the cover of the NanoStation. In the AREDN setup page, it says antenna selection is now automatic. But still no connection... I aimed it in the direction where the other node is located, according to google maps. Was wondering maybe there's a hardware jumper somewheres inside the NanoStation...?
900MHz will shoot thru some amount of foliage meaning 0.6 Fresnel clearance is not not necessarily required, but some clearance is. Just guessing, need more information.
What is on the other end? 2 miles is nothing if you have reasonable LOS, even with the internal 8dbi antenna.
Yours is a LOCO, right? It has dual polarity antennas built in, but you are replacing it with a single polarity antenna, but it should still connect, just with lower throughput. I'd say if the path is good using the tool NIZ offered then you have something else awry. Not the antenna.
The first question is: does AREDN actually "know how" to use the external port? If you had the right sort of power meter (or spectrum analyzer) you could see if it was actually sending RF out that port. Perhaps one of the developers will comment.
The biggest problem on 900 is interference. If one end or the other is near a really strong signal - anywhere from 890-950 - the receiver may become de-sensed and not perform well - this will be intermittent, if the interfering signal is intermittent.
You should take your setup and a battery and relocate somewhere really near the other station and see if it works there and if the signal levels look as strong as expected.
GL
"You should take your setup and a battery and relocate somewhere really near the other station and see if it works there and if the signal levels look as strong as expected."
That's probably what I'll need to do. Pay a visit to the other ham's QTH and bring my node, antenna and a laptop. Alternatively, the other ham said he'd try his setup on a higher site, but that will be in a while. This is what AirLink https://airlink.ubnt.com predicts on the path:
I found you post on your connecting to the Begenfield Ham.
This is his actual location with his side at 12 meters and your at 7 meters. This is unless you were trying to get to the church location.
Looks like you make it free & clear but there are 75+ ft trees which may cause enough attenuation of the signal to stop a connection? This is from experience testing in a similar looking good simulation. You also need to figure out were those hills are with terrain layer and then figure out if there are any buildings there or dense trees by zooming in to satellite layer. I do this and then draw it into the terrain simulation after increasing its size in paint to get a better picture of what is happening.
After you figure out more closely what is in the way I think you should try it again.
Wanted to see how Google Earth could help see what is going on. Very nice tool to see what is in the way!
Here is a bird eye view. See were the yellow line disappears into the trees. This is the problem. This is also for 10 meter elevation both sides. I have to figure out if the elevation can be different on each side.
Anyone else use Google Earth to figure out the line of site?