Radios
Recommended Radios
Mikrotik SXTsq 5 High Power
An all-in-one, high power, 5.8GHz radio measuring only 5 inches square. A fantastic, cheap, and discreet radio to start your AREDN project.
Mikrotik LHG HP5
An all-in-one, dish style antenna. Better gain and directionality than the SXT so great for point-to-point connections or for targeting something further away.
Ubiquiti Rocket M5 XW
Radio only (you'll need a separate antenna), but the workhorse of many AREDN systems due to power and flexibility. Increasingly difficult to buy new, but eBay has many deals.
Remote reset
In the case of failure, the Rocket can be reset via the ethernet cable using the following procedure:
- Unplug the Ubiquiti radio from the POE Adapter
- Push a pin into the POE Adapter reset button (on the model I have, the reset button was on the bottom, underneath the mounting plate)
- While holding the reset button, plug the Ubiquiti radio into the POE adapter and continue to hold the reset button for 45 seconds
- The Ubiquiti radio is now ready for the AREDN factory firmware update. It's listening on 192.168.1.20
- TFTP the factory firmware to the Ubiquiti radio and you're back in business
[Source: Rachel Kinoshita KK6DAC]
Recommended Antennas
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Adapters
- Mikrotik Basebox5 to Ubiquiti
Radios and Antennas to Avoid
Omni Antenna
Don't use an omni antenna for anything except, possibly, scanning a new area to determine what nodes you can see. Because omni's receive and transmit in all direction, they provide poor links with lots of noise. Please avoid.
Radios with 32 MBytes RAM
Some older radios found on eBay can have only 32 MBytes of memory. This isn't enough except on a network with half a dozen nodes. Avoid.