I tried to install a 2.4 on a KP dish today at 15 miles. I've done FSK at this distance and further before but not EPMP. I was able to get a -79 signal but it will not be stable as the uplink is a -88 and wireless link test is 3 MB down by .01 up. Would a larger dish help enough to matter. This is a tower to tower link at 150' and 255' respectively and is clean LOS and good Fresnel. I'm planning on switching to 900 mhz for the short term until we can get something closer to the customers location but am curious if anyone has had success at this distance. The AP at 255' is on a KP 90 degree sector antenna
Hey there bluebit... welcome to the Cambium forum!
FSK requires a far lower SnR to achieve a usable connection... I believe it's only like 3dB. For ePMP to have a usable signal you will need a greater SnR, I'd recommend at least 10dB over the noise floor. Have you used ACS or done an SA to see what your noise floor looks like? Considering most of the time, the 2.4 noise floor can be pretty poor, I'm surprised you saw a link at 15 miles at those signal levels.
Some things to try:
- Make sure you're using the newest ePMP firmware build on the AP and client
- Try a smaller channel width, like 5MHz or 10MHz, and use ACS.
- On the AP, make sure the "Subscriber Module Target Receive Level" is set to something like -65dBm
- KP makes both dual-slant and H/V pol antennas. I'd recommend you use dual-slant on both the AP and client side.
- Try adjusting the AP/sector antenna, you might be able to get a better signal by adjusting the vertical e.g. up/down alignment.
- I would probably try a KP connectorized reflector dish OR try using a 2' Ubiquiti 2.4GHz dish paired with an ePMP 1000 2.4 connectorized radio for maximum range/performance.