Howdy all.
I have a “business customer” that is inside a 2 story building. Upper floor is metal walls outdoors. Only about 3 miles or so from my tower. Started with just a standard arm mount and a M2 yagi. Worked most of the time. This was on the corner of the building (not shooting over it)
Raised the antenna 6-7 foot above the roof of the building. Worked some better, but still not that great. So, put a M2 17db on it. Looked terrible! Worked great until a good storm blew thru.
So I went and messed with it a while today. Just to know, I scooted the first M2 (I think its a 14db) back about 6 feet on the same pole. Now the signal is physically going over the roof of the building (metal with a layer of tar over it). Signal improved drastically!
Pretty strange. I thought it would get a better signal on the edge and not going over it. I guess once it bounces over the wall and over the roof, it drops down over distance. Mostly reflection on the corner?
I may try a mesh on it just for kicks. Still learning!
Multipathing sucks.
Nice fix though. Most people who use 900 do not have a clue on how to work with it due to the extremely large fresnel zone and crazy reflections.
You might see that one drop once the rain sets in. My standard practice with 900 and metal buildings is at least a 10ft pole if not 20ft off the top of the roof usually with a 14 yagi. I also make sure to never shoot over the roof because one day it will just stop working because the signal bounce will change.