Radios

Good 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 for when 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.

Good Antennas

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Adapters

• Mikrotik Basebox5 to Ubiquiti
  • Commercial
  • 3D Printed

Bad Radios and Antennas

• 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.
• 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.