Wireless bridge antennas

[whewetson]

Is it a good idea to deploy a central Aironet 350 using a 14dBi MAST MOUNT SECTOR with all the remote sites using 13.5dBi MAST/WALL MOUNT YAGI’s? Is the mismatching of antennas considered to be good practice for wireless bridging?

The reason I am asking; I have already deployed a site using three Aironet 350’s using 13.5dBi MAST/WALL MOUNT YAGI’s in a 35 degree arc. It is working great. I now have to deploy a 3rd remote site which is in the opposite direction to the existing Head Office.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Wayne

[scottmac]

It's usually not an issue. At worst, you could be crossing polarities which would degrade the signal somewhat (~3db or so).

In your case, the sector antenna is directing most if it's energy in one direction / quadrant. If you put an antenna behind the sector, there is very little sensitivity or energy in the reverse direction ... you may not have enough to have a reliable connection.

Depending on your setup, you may want to go with a high-gain omnidirectional at the central site, then high-gain directional antennas at the remotes.

There are likely to be some security issues with this kind of setup; you may want to put in a second bridge and directional for the second remote.

What kind of distances are you connecting?

Scott

[whewetson]

Plus minus a mile in each direction; will it be acceptable to use a second yagi on the Ho site? Is there a way not to broadcast the SSID or implement mac filtering on the 350’s

Wayne