Wolfback

Wolfback Ridge

Marin Amateur Radio Society (K6GWE)

Site located off Wolfback Ridge Road, in the Marin Headlands (map)(photos)

Nodes

NZ6J-Wolfback-South

• Radio: Ubiquiti Rocket M5
• Frequency: 5.885 GHz / Channel 177
• Bandwidth: 10 MHz
• Antenna: 19 dBi, 120° sector (Ubiquiti 5G19-120)
• Location: -
• Altitude: -
• Bearing: -

NZ6J-Wolfback-North-County

• Radio: Ubiquiti Rocket M5
• Frequency: 5.865 GHz / Channel 173
• Bandwidth: 10 MHz
• Antenna: 19 dBi, 120° sector (Ubiquiti 5G19-120)
• Location: -
• Altitude: -
• Bearing: -

K6GWE-Wolfback-Southern-Marin-NSM5

• Radio: Ubiquiti NanoStation M5 XW
• Frequency: 5.865 GHz / Channel 173
• Bandwidth: 10 MHz
• Antenna: 16 dBi (built-in)
• Location: -
• Altitude: -
• Bearing: Toward Tam Valley

KN6PLV-Wolfback-HAP

• Radio: Mikrotik hAP ac²
• Frequency: -
• Bandwidth: -
• Antenna: -
• Location: -
• Altitude: -
• Bearing: -

Backbone

Wolfback AP

• Radio: Ubiquiti Rocket LTU
• Frequency: 6.070 GHz (license WN2XTR)
• Bandwidth: 40 MHz
• Antenna: 19 dBi, 120° sector (Ubiquiti AM-5G19-120)
• Location: 37.850961, -122.498317
• Altitude: 357m
• Bearing: 86°
• Read Only Access: mesh / Back-Bone

Site Details

Future Plans

• Replace blue cables with outside grade cable (current cables are not performing at their specified speeds).

Completed Work

March, 2024

• Replace backbone current 60° sector with 120° sector.
  • While you'd think would be worse, because the AC sector's gain drops off very quickly from the center, the larger sector with a flatter central gain works better for our spread of devices.
  • This is contrary to our original approach (see earlier notes).
• Replace current dual power injectors with EdgeRouterX SFP to provide PoE power to everything.

April, 2023

• Installed hAP ac2 to manage the backbone radio.
• Installed AM-5AC21-60 sector on backbone radio.

March, 2023

• Link from ORCA to Wolfback installed and operating successfully. Still requires adjustment at Wolfback to improve quality. Switching to a narrow sector antenna might be helpful.

November, 2022

• Experiment from San Pedro failed to establish a link. We wont pursue a link from this site to Wolfback further.

October, 2022

• Put a Ubiquiti LTU radio at site connected to a sector antenna, pointing at 40°. We will experiment to see if we can establish links from ORCA, CCCC and San Pedro using Ubiquiti AF5XHD radios and 30 dBi dishes.
• Experiment (Oct 12th, 2022) from ORCA was inconclusive, but test conditions were challenging (wind and fog). A link could be established, but the signal was intermittent. It might be necessary to adjust to tilt of the Woflback sector to be 2° up to counteract the in-built electronic down-tilt.
• Experiment from CCCC established a link.

Commercial Neighbors

Unwired Ltd

Unwired Ltd shares tenancy at Wolfback. They license (WQHK581) spectrum in the 18 GHz and 19 GHz range.

Contacts

Site Admin

• Erick Steinberg - K6ER - ericks@esteinberg.com

Mesh Admin

• Rob Rowlands - NZ6J - rowlands47@gmail.com