I recently got a PRISM II 100mW radio from Demarktech to try in our AP-1000
running Karlnet TC. The output power was the draw, as
it was either that or amps, which I wanted to avoid for certification and
noise problems. Two problems are occuring, however.
One is that the signal strength reported by the PRISM II card doesn't
seem to match up with the number of packets making it. For
instance, in one test where the S/N=2 (!), the number of 11Mbps packets reported
making it to the AP were 81%. The mismatch between the signal
recieved at the laptop radio from the AP and that reported by the AP from
the laptop was so high as to make me wonder if there is a software
reporting problem. Same example before, the signal reported at the laptop
(at 8 miles from AP, 24 db grid antenna, 4' pigtail, Orinoco card-->at
AP1000, PRISM II 100mW card, 14dB 90 deg sectorial, 25' of LMR400) was -79dBm
from AP, while the AP reported -101dBm from the laptop! That's 21 dB, and
before the installation of the PRISM II card, (using an Orinoco card in the same
setup), the recieved signals matched w/in a dB or two. The output power of
the PRISM II card is 20dB, and that of the Orinoco card, 15dB, so at most, one
would expect a 5dB mismatch, rather than 21dB!
The second, much more serious problem is that after changing the params in
the AP-1000 remotely, and telling it to reboot, it hung and required a long trip
up the mountain to reboot it by power cycling. (I wasn't a happy
camper.) This AP-1000 is running Karlnet TC v4.02, and has both
interfaces running TC, one, the Orinoco card as a satellite for the backhaul,
and the other, the PRISM II 100mW card running as an ISP Base as the
PtMP. I tried rebooting it from the configurator several times, and
about half the time it would hang on reboot and necessitate a power cycle.
Anyone seeing these, or similar problems?
Norm