antenna mast, etc.

[Gary D]

Hi,

Does anyone know of a local source for a cheap, 5' aluminum antenna mast? Before all the DTV stuff started coming out, one could walk in to almost any Radio Shack and find a mast sold for VHF roof antennae...

Also, aside from DD-WRT, what else has been installed on the Ubiquiti NanonStation 2?

thanks,
Gary

[Brian Beattie]

On Sat, 2008-08-23 at 17:09 -0700, Gary D wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know of a local source for a cheap, 5' aluminum antenna
> mast? Before all the DTV stuff started coming out, one could walk in
> to almost any Radio Shack and find a mast sold for VHF roof
> antennae...

Those masts were steel, You might try rigid electrical conduit 1" 1.5",
the heavy stuff that has threaded connections, not the thin-walled stuff
that uses crimp connectors.

>
> Also, aside from DD-WRT, what else has been installed on the Ubiquiti
> NanonStation 2?
>
> thanks,
> Gary
>
>
> >

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting a bad thing?

Brian Beattie LFS12947 | "Honor isn't about making the right choices.
bea...@beattie-home.net | It's about dealing with the consequences."
www.beattie-home.net | -- Midori Koto

[Tyler Booth]

Also, aside from DD-WRT, what else has been installed on the Ubiquiti NanonStation 2?

Aside from the included "Air-OS" by uibiquiti (which is very good firmware in my opinion), it supports a number of more extensible linux based distros like DDWRT and openwrt as well as a number of commercial solutions like StarOS and Mikrotik RouterOS (also very good).

Tyler Booth // President
ph. 503.548.2000 | fx. 503.548.2002
921 SW Washington St, Suite 224
Portland OR 97205

[Gary D]

Brian Beattie wrote:

> Those masts were steel,  You might try rigid electrical conduit 1" 1.5",

Ah, that makes more sense -- I seem to remembering them having a bit of heft but it's been 5+ years since I had mine. Thanks for the tip re conduit. Is there a local source for wall mount brackets? I'd be happy to buy from Metrix or elsewhere on the west coast as I may need to order a couple of new pigtails, too, but I seem to recall there being one or two Portland metro vendors being mentioned in the past.

Tyler Booth wrote:

Aside from the included "Air-OS" by uibiquiti (which is very good firmware in my opinion), it supports a number of more extensible linux based distros like DDWRT and openwrt as well as a number of commercial solutions like StarOS and Mikrotik RouterOS (also very good).

I'm mostly looking for some WDS options in bridging with my existing Proxim AP-700 (which has to run a 2 year old firmware since anything newer is unstable). I'm fairly new to WDS, however... If have my NS2 working in WDS mode properly, would my client still show it's associating with my Proxim or will it visibly connect to the NS2?

much thanks,
Gary

[Michael Weinberg]

On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 5:09 PM, Gary D <ga...@eyetraxx.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know of a local source for a cheap, 5' aluminum antenna mast?
> Before all the DTV stuff started coming out, one could walk in to almost any
> Radio Shack and find a mast sold for VHF roof antennae...

You might try a cyclone fence post. That's what we used on Mississippi
Ave and on my roof (others too). They work well, and are under $10, as
I recall.

--
Michael Weinberg
President
Personal Telco Project, Inc.
A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit

[Russell Senior]

>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Weinberg <mic...@personaltelco.net> writes:

Gary> Does anyone know of a local source for a cheap, 5' aluminum
Gary> antenna mast? Before all the DTV stuff started coming out, one
Gary> could walk in to almost any Radio Shack and find a mast sold for
Gary> VHF roof antennae...

Rick Lindahl (invictus networks) had some nice looking powder coated
tripod mounts or something, he might have a simple mast as well. I
also noticed that Radio Shack isn't carrying the masts in their stores
anymore (at least the one I asked at didn't). You can get the off
their website, however.

Regarding brackets, chimney straps, etc, we've bought them from a
place called warren electronics before. The chimney straps we got
there were massively superior to the radio shack ratchet type.

<http://www.warrenelectronics.com/>

--
Russell Senior, Secretary
rus...@personaltelco.net

[Rick Lindahl]

We stock tripods, non-penetrating tripods, universal mounts and other
hardware but the simple VHF antenna-type hardware, such as chimney mounts,
small diameter masts, etc., we usually leave to the electronics and home
improvement retailers. You could also try Home Depot, Loews or any number of
hardware stores for a galvanized steel tube mast which is usually made in 5'
lengths. You can also use heavier duty chain link fence masts, top rails or
Heavy Duty conduit lengths. Just don't mix galvanized/steel with aluminum.

Good luck and thanks for the mention Russell

Rick Lindahl
"Your Wireless Solution Partner"
Invictus Networks, LLC
503-635-2562, f503-635-9207
www.invictusnetworks.com

[Tyler Booth]

We use quite a bit of proxim gear. Mostly AP-4000, which runs essentially the same firmware as your AP-700. I can say with some certainty that you are absolutely right about 3.6.3 stability/compatibility issues (3.4.0 was/is still very solid) but I strongly suggest you give 3.7.0 a try. They've fixed most of the new problems that where introduced in 3.6.3 and have introduced some great new features such as dynamic frequency selection and increased  firmware efficiency, enabling a higher level of client associations and other more processor intensive operations.

IMHO, you want to avoid WDS at all costs. It's a nightmare, especially when dealing with cross-vendor compatibility. If you just give them the same SSID and string ethernet in between them, you'll have much better luck and it's way easier to set it up. As far as your client question, it will show it connected to the SSID (which would be the same in both cases) but most client devices allow you to see the BSSID (mac address) of the AP that you are associated with also which would be the indicator of which one you're connected to.

[Gary]

Thanks for all the antenna feedback, folks. I'm definitely going to
mount my antenna regardless of what I end up attaching to it. It's good
to know there are some local vendors to work with and recommend to others.

Also, thanks for the feedback re the Proxim APs, Tyler. I've been wary
of trying new revs of their firmware since I've always had to backrev
almost immediately after installing one. Re cross-vendor WDS, I was
starting to wonder the same thing myself since everything I've read
about it cautions that it's not part of the spec. I wonder, though, if
it would make a difference if you're using the same firmware. For
example, DD-WRT on a NanoStation2 with DD-WRT on a cheap Linksys, etc. I
did just turn on SSH access to my NS2, though, and their web UI is
nicely streamlined.

-Gary

[Russell Senior]

>>>>> "Gary" == Gary <ga...@eyetraxx.net> writes:

Gary> [...] Re cross-vendor WDS, I was starting to wonder the same
Gary> thing myself since everything I've read about it cautions that
Gary> it's not part of the spec. I wonder, though, if it would make a
Gary> difference if you're using the same firmware. For example,
Gary> DD-WRT on a NanoStation2 with DD-WRT on a cheap Linksys, etc. I
Gary> did just turn on SSH access to my NS2, though, and their web UI
Gary> is nicely streamlined.

We've had "okay" success with WDS. We use it on the 5 GHz band part
of our Mississippi Avenue network. That uses the Madwifi-ng driver.
I believe we've connected a broadcom-based Linksys router to the 2.4
GHz radios on the same network. I have no experience with DD-WRT,
just OpenWrt. But the best way to determine if it will work is to try
it.

[Tyler Booth]

Also, thanks for the feedback re the Proxim APs, Tyler. I've been wary
of trying new revs of their firmware since I've always had to backrev
almost immediately after installing one. Re cross-vendor WDS, I was
starting to wonder the same thing myself since everything I've read
about it cautions that it's not part of the spec. I wonder, though, if
it would make a difference if you're using the same firmware. For
example, DD-WRT on a NanoStation2 with DD-WRT on a cheap Linksys, etc. I
did just turn on SSH access to my NS2, though, and their web UI is
nicely streamlined.

One would assume that with the same firmware/OS, it would be -more- compatible.

This depends however on wether or not WDS is implemented as a chipset feature and merely

enabled by the firmware, or rather if it's an entirely software based solution. I don't know

the answer to that though.

[Gary]

I haven't upgraded the Proxim firmware yet but I did get the NS2 with AirOS working -- after trying and failing with DD-WRT on a Motorala WR850Gv2. I ended up using "WDS Bridge" mode on the NS2 which appears to be working with WPA2 and has been pretty stable so far. I'm using it to connect some devices from a corner of my basement with poor signal -- there's a lot of duct work and metal pipes so I could previously only get a signal strong enough to download TiVo channel listings but not sufficient for video streaming.

AirOS has some great features that's allowed me to, thus far, get a great connection to stream 5-6Mbps steadily with my Roku N1000 connecting to Netflix (also at the TV in the same basement corner). If I decide to transfer any files off of my TiVo Series 2 I can connect a switch to the bridge and maybe get a wired adapter for the Wii as well.

As an aside, has anyone used v24sp1 of DD-WRT on the Motorola boxes? It seemed OK yesterday when I was working with WDS and no security but as soon as I tried chaning it to a non-WDS bridge it wanted to reboot with about 3 out of 5 config changes. Perhaps those changes required a reboot? I may just end up using it as a managed switch so I can host multuple SSIDs on my Proxim AP -- or are separate VLANs still required for this feature in the newer firmware?

Now I can get back to my antenna mounting. :)

-Gary

[Tyler Booth]

Separate VLANs are always required for each SSID. It's not a proxim thing, but all vendors do it that way. There is no other easy way of separating the traffic without putting multiple physical ethernet interfaces on the AP for each SSID.

[Gary]

Has anyone tried Proxim's 4.0 firmware yet? It says it was released on Sep. 29th.

-Gary

[Tyler Booth]

Yes. I'd hold off for a couple of weeks. I've discovered an issue in 3.7.0 related to changes in mesh topology effecting ip connectivity to remote nodes when using a management vlan. This is very likely still present in 4.0. If you've used 3.7 without trouble and aren't using VLANs, and are brave (or it's not mission critical), then give it a shot and let us know how it works for you.

Tyler Booth // President
ph. 503.548.2000 | fx. 503.548.2002
921 SW Washington St, Suite 224
Portland OR 97205