This link is replacing our old airMAX 3.65 backup link to the main airFIBER24. As you can guess the M3 was not really able to handle our load if called upon as it was at best 80 Mbps.
So I have NOT had time to play with the channels I just quickly selected 2 channels that I new would be OK to get it up, may spend more time this weekend on this.
So the link is 2.4 miles.
I am using 2x40Mhz wide channels one of which is in UNI-I 5210 and the other in UNI-II (DFS) 5250. The 5250 is considered DFS as the upper half of the centerline is in DFS spectrum so it is limited to those rules.
The Tx is set to 4dB
Signal is 52.3 which is pretty good as they calculated it should be 60.9 (My tower crew Joel and Justin plain out ROCK on alignments)
The air rate varies between 600 and 800 Mbps so the actual payload bounces from 300+ to 400+ Mbps.
It actually hovers more around 600/720 (2x40 so 2 chains) most often with an estimated payload of 315/378
Now I am a but confused if this means I am supposed to be able to get 315+378=693 Mbps? I DO NOT THINK SO, would be nice though!
But my QUICK and dirty testing shows me able to pull around 350 to 400 Mbps.
When I failed over the link late at night from the AF24 to the B5 I lost 2 pings which was OSPF not the link. At the time my network was doing about 100-150 Mbps down and about 25-50 Mbps up as this was around 1AM. Now my NEW CTO Thomas/Tom/Tossman made this switch over sooo nice, he LABs everything so no surprises late at night!
My latency to 8.8.8.8 jumped up 2-3ms which is expected from a half duplex link.
I was able to speedtest.net 240-250 up and down on top of the existing traffic that was present (see above).
I did notice the latency go up during the tests which indicated to me that the link was indeed saturating.
The link has been in service for going on 3 days now with no issues, and so far no DFS jumping around.
The UI is simple and easy to understand but these are things I think it needs:
There is no username, just a password which I do not like.
There is no access list which it should have
A Tarpit on the login would be nice.
I do not think there is a SSH / CLI interface which I want.
I would like more channel widths to select from such as 25/30/50 MHz as it only supports 20/40/80 in 1x or 2x chains.
I do not like that it does not display as far as I can tell anyway the modulation it is using such as QAM64/QAM256
For a product fresh out of the gate I think it is very well made and the firmware is very stable as I can tell so far.
The real time spectrum analyzer is nice not having to go off line to see whats going on around you.
I think when I play with the channels I can squeak out more performance.
As I am only using 2x40 this is obvious as there is an option for 2x80 but man, 160 MHz is a shit ton of spectrum to chew up.
I am still waiting on Mimosa to tell me if I can power this link with 48VH from the WISP switch, for now I am just powering it in a 48VH port but have 48V as the POE option. It is drawing about 12-15 watts with no load so you definitely need to make sure it is in a 48VH capable port which is rated at .75A or 36 watts when using standard 24V & 48V. I wish I would have looked at the power consumption when I was testing it under load.
So this is my first quick post on the link, I wish I could compare it to the AF5X but I did ask Ben for a pair and I got no response.
I feel comfortable on the links reliability so far, will keep you all posted. Also remember that Mimosa has the smaller integrated and connectorized version without GPS coming out soon at $299 per radio.
Come to think about it I did see the radio is getting GPS telemetry but not sure how you synchronize radios yet but I never use GPS (Yet anyway) I use RF Armor!
I also have a pair of the connectorized B5 which will be installed in about 1-2 weeks on an 8 mile link replacing and old SAF 106 18 GHz link. By the way we designed a shield kit for that radio and will be selling it on RF Armor as the thought of having EXPOSED jumpers again gave me shivers....NEVER AGAIN.
CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO SEE FULL SIZE
- mimosa.jpg (215.02 KiB) Viewed 36138 times
- mimosa 2.jpg (255.22 KiB) Viewed 36138 times
- mimosa 3.jpg (316.43 KiB) Viewed 36138 times
