"Matthew S. Hallacy" wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 06, 2002 at 10:21:18PM -0500, Neal wrote:
>
> > It is my opinion that precipitation should still be considered in
> > calculating propagation reliability for both major nodes (operational
> > fixed, i.e. Tower to Walker) and street downlinks (AP to mobile, i.e.
> > Walker to Loring Park laptop). With some of the downpours and
> > electromagnetic disturbances in the Cities, I would <not> rule out the
> > effects of these conditions.
> >
>
> I never had problems with rain even on the 20-something mile links, snow
> wasn't a problem either. Fog, now that caused problems =) Not saying it
> isn't possible, but the biggest concern was the wind from the storm tearing
> apart the zip ties holding the antennas up =)

It all depends on the length of the circuit, transmit power, receiver sensitivity,
obstructions, etc. If your link was a generally clear radio line of sight, then
all else being equal, it would've talked. Fog appears to be opague at 2.4 Ghz.
That's going to be a problem. Parabolics will have a definite advantage over yagis
and corner reflectors, IMHO.

> The links should be setup so that a bird taking a dump on the
> feed horn doesn't cause problems..

Loss(guano)= -10db. :-)

There's still that loss between the local AP and the laptop. Even with a mobile
antenna gain of 5db, coffee tables make <lousy> ground planes. That 5db may just
bring the effective gain of the laptop antenna to unity.