Hello,
After some discussion we decided to deploy Haystack as a 2nd generation
site. It has a huge view of the Puget Sound, it will have a very fast
uplink (via the new Queen Anne facility), so it will do well with the
extra throughput capacity. What this means is:
1) The sector modems are dual-channel (MIMO, RB911) instead of
single-channel (SISO, Metal). This, in theory, doubles speed while
still using the same bandwidth.
2) The sector antennas are dual-polarity, and higher gain to (mostly)
compensate for the power loss of going to the lower-powered MIMO modems
3) The sector antennas and dishes feature shielding materials to
minimize interference between the radios
4) All the modems are in metal enclosures to prevent any stray radiation
and interference
This 2nd gen architecture is fully compatible with 1st and 2nd gen
clients. Going to a 2nd gen client may not actually be the speediest
thing for you! The 1st gen client setup (Metal 5SHPn + Poynting 30dBi
grid) offers better gain + EIRP than a typical RB912 + 2ft dish 2nd gen
client setup. That added signal power may actually prove to achieve
faster speeds than the added 2nd channel of dual-polarized MIMO signals
when your signal levels are low. If your signal levels to the site are
high, then switching to a 2nd gen client should be beneficial.
I have footed the $601 bill (shipping included) for the upgrade. I have
also allocated one of my personal MIMO sector antennas (~$150 value) to
the cause. If someone feels like raising a vote to compensate me fully
or partially, that'd be awesome.
The reason for the rapid action is I got word our site sponsor would
like to deploy this weekend. I'm not sure if the hardware will make it
in time at this point, but at least I tried. If it doesn't make it,
we'll do a 2nd round of deployment later. There's plenty of work to be
done at the site with installing the mounting points and solar power system.
BTW, if you'd like to volunteer your time and energy, the deployment is
sometime this weekend. The mountain is near Sultan, WA. I don't know
which day(s) we're going up. Let me know if you'd like to help.
Thanks,
--Bart
