Thanks for the response Tom,
The link between Queen Anne and Capital Park looked like a client radio connecting to sector, so I didn't count that.
From your description, it sounds like a proper PtP back of some sort - yet the Queen Anne site isn't exactly a full HamWan node, so not sure how that works.
Other bands I considered are 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz and 10 GHz.
10 GHz is an ideal band for these links.
However, the only commercial radio that will work on the 10 GHz ham band is the Mimosa B11.
Yet, the 10GHz mimosa stuff is $2,000 an end. Pricey.
The amateur community would prefer to not support mimosa - And I understand that. The practicality is that any volume of radios that Amateurs would buy from Mimosa won't make or break the company.
In refusing to use Mimosa, and in not having other equipment choices for 10 GHz, we are actually making Mimosa's statement true that the 10GHz band is not well utilized.
Deploying a few 10GHz links would make the band harder to take away. A physical act of spectrum defence.
3.3 to 3.5 GHz is a ham band.
Ubiquiti Rocket M3's (International) work on 3400-3500 MHZ, although the new Citizens Broadband Radio Service just took away 3450-3500 from the Amateur band.
3400-3450 is still available for our use and works on UBNT.
Ubiquiti has a 3 GHz radio card, the XR3.
I think that is compatible with Mikrotik Routerboard - so in theory an XR3 and Routerboard would still run Router OS.
Frequency selection on the XR3 is done by configuring the RouterOS as though it is a 5 GHz radio.
But I think that is also limited to 3400-3450.
Cambium has 3.3 to 3.8 GHz radios, but I'm not familiar with the product and it's more expensive than Mimosa.
On 24 GHz, the other equipment option in UBNT airfiber.
Quite a bit more expensive than Mimosa's new product, but I think also higher power.
Maybe the Mimosa price pressure will cause UBNT to lower the cost of their 24 ghz product?
Because this is an ISM / unlicensed band, I think we'll see more equipment choices in 24ghz, but its really so distance limited that the number of use cases where Hams can use 24Ghz is tiny.
The 500 MHz of spectrum in the 10 GHZ band has such great potential for backbone links between sites.
I wish more of the 11 GHz commercial WISP PtP system would work in the 10GHz ham band.
The continuing push by the FCC to make vendors software-lock frequency ranges on commercial radio systems is actually hampering our traditional amateur mode of using surplus commercial radio gear.
Bands like 2M and 70cm owe their popularity today to a long history of surplus commercial radio equipment flowing to the ham community for a second life.
Randy
W3RWN