I recently set up a node in HD Altstadt with a secondhand 841. It works just fine and provides freifunk to indoor guests. However the outdoor range of the 841 is not great and it also does not mesh with any of the other nearby nodes. Even though there about 10 knoten within a kilometer. It would be interesting to try to start a mesh over Altstadt.
What is the recommend setup to be 1) provide longer range for clients 2) allow
meshing with other knoten? I was looking at the following options:
Ghetto. Stick the 841 into a plastic box and place it outside.
Coax. Get a 1043 and some kind of external outdoor antenna.
Overboard. Get a 1043 for locals and stick a Picostation on the roof.
The picostation seems attractive, because it would perhaps allow some future freifunker to connect to it without me doing anything (like pointing my antenna.) However, according to the network list, I see that there are no picostations used as node. Hence, I suspect that the picostation is a bad idea?!?
Does anyone have a setup recommendation for this location?
Yes, these PicoStations are really a bad idea. I’ve testet one some time ago and the performance was even lower than a 841. So if you really want a omnidirectional antenna we have to do some research. If you want to use a moderately directed antenna I would suggest the CPE510 oder CPE210. So maybe you could tell use a little bit more about your situation. Do you have access to the roof, are there bigger buildings around you, where are you exactly. Well there are a lot of factors. Finally I would say that it would be very difficulty to build a connection to these other nodes if you don’t have direct sight. So maybe we can establish a discussion with the other persons running there nodes around you, what is possible. (Mind the preservation order)
Thanks for the answer. Yes, I’ve got access to the roof. It is average height (4 floors) with a 360 degree view. Some blockage. I considered uploading a panorama foto, but decided against it. Anyway… It is not the perfect location, but not terrible either. There was a Loco node up couple of days ago, which I have a line-of-sight with, i think. It should be about 200 meters away, but the 841 did not see it even when I put the 841 outside (when it wasn’t raining). That could have been an antenna pointing thing? All the other existing nodes are mostly inside shops, so I do not expect to mesh with those b/c there is no line-of-sight.
You suggest getting a CPE210, which has a 70 degree opening angle. I could point that at the loco m2 and hope it comes back up. And/or find its operator. Or perhaps a new one.