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Well, our irrigation project that the D-Stink DWL-7700s were to be used on is finally to the point where it is time to start testing the wireless access side of the project. I get back from vacation to find that the other folks in my shop had installed them inside the cabinets where the Allen-Bradley PLCs are located and ran coax out to the antennas. That would have been not ideal, but to make matters worse they used 1/4" superflex which at 5.8g has about 16db loss per 100'. One run is about 70'. Yuck. The other runs are shorter, about 20-30' but still, YUCK! (Waveguide would have worked, but that have cost more than the AP!) Well, that's ok, we can modify the installation.

The first thing is to put the units on the mast, (they are OUTDOOR units after all,) and run 2-3' LMR400 jumpers to the antennas. Much improvement.

The only thing is, that I've had to reload the firmware in one unit AGAIN because of a lockup problem after 5 minutes of runtime, and then the unit wouldn't answer any pings nor could the nifty little programming utility find the units. After a bit of head scratching I found that if I cleared the ARP table on the laptop I was using the unit would ping about 4 times then that was it. Nada. It would still pass (bridge) traffic through the unit, but you couldn't ping or manage it. Clear the table, you get four more pings then no reply.

Further investigation found that the problem occurred when I had set it up for WDS mesh. It had 3 partners that it could link with, and that seemed to confuse its' little brain. I put it back to only one 'mate' and it was fine. Set for two devices, (for man in the middle,) and again it was ok. Three, and barf, down it goes. D-Link says "We don't know, it should work fine with up to 8 "mates". Uh, huh. Yeah. Sure. Whateeeverrrr you say.

Well setting it up for two mates works find on the bench and that is really all I need anyway. Ok, now lets put it back up in the air and get on with the show!

Well, damn, I now I can't see that unit anymore from the next hop location. Go back up in the bucket truck and pull it. For some unfathomable reason it has decided that its firmware load is bad, and the version of VxWorks that the AP runs pukes a "Data Error" message out the console port. D-Link tech support officially declares it a BRICK and has decided that they will issue an RMA.

/Gomer Pyle
Suuuprise, suuuprise, suuuprise!!

They also exibit erratic behavior on the AP side of things. I can use the laptop to link wirelessly to the units, then shut down the laptop and go each lunch. An hour later fire up the machine, and it will NOT authenticate to the AP. NO changes in encryption, key or anything have been made to either the laptop or to the AP. Ok, power cycle the AP. Hmmm, links up fine. Wait a bit and the same problem occurs. Try several times to reassociate, and out of 4 or 5 attempts, I get maybe 2 times where it actually completes the handshake.

These things are an absolute POS. They are physically built well, and I think you could even drive over the case and probably not hurt them. You could even use them for wheel chocks for a large truck! (And probably should.)

I sent D-Link a message detailing all the problems, and ended the message by saying something along the lines of this:

"These units would be usefull if they were mixed by weight with equal quantities of bovine excrement and run through a shredder, they MIGHT make a small quantity of very low quality plant fertilizer."

I get a message back after waiting FIVE FRIGGING DAYS saying that I might want to contact their business support department.

Yeah, sure. I'll get right on that.

We're going to see if we can get our money back and get some gear that will actually work.

The Airaya stuff? Working like a champ since it was installed. No problems.

Linksys has just recently released a weatherproof unit, you might want to look into it.

streaker69 wrote:Linksys has just recently released a weatherproof unit, you might want to look into it.

Cool. I'll add it to my 'to do on Monday' list when searching for replacements!

Tx Streak

Well, got the RMA "new" unit. Programmed 'er up and tied it into the other three. Promptly screws the communication up between the other three remaining units. Plugging in the console cable shows that the one of the other units has magically switched it's encryption from AES to WEP! Of course that forces its mate to deauthenticate and down goes the path.

Power cycle everything and DON'T power up the 'new' unit. All three talk fine, and AES WPA2 is showing on the console as the encryption. Power up the new unit and monitor the other three. As soon as the new unit gets up and running, one of the links changes on the fly to WEP.

Hmmm. Ok, lets' try the new one with just ONE of the old units. Damn! They talk fine to each other! WPA2 and AES shows up as the encryption. Add a third radio and -poof- the backbone link dies. Again, WEP shows up as the encryption, but this time it is between the old and new radios!

What's D-Link t/s say when I send them configurations and screen captures showing the switch over. Their answer? Must be another bad unit!! Send it back!

Nope, we're done. We want our money back.

D-Link t/s called me back today and indicated that the reason I was having problems when using the 5.8gig in WDS mode was that the radios....





/drum roll please....

DON'T SUPPORT ANY ENCRYPTION OTHER THAN WEP!!

Airstreamer wrote:D-Link t/s called me back today and indicated that the reason I was having problems when using the 5.8gig in WDS mode was that the radios....





/drum roll please....

DON'T SUPPORT ANY ENCRYPTION OTHER THAN WEP!!

Sure as stated on Page 23 Paragraph C sub-section II in the manual.

Airstreamer wrote:D-Link t/s called me back today and indicated that the reason I was having problems when using the 5.8gig in WDS mode was that the radios....





/drum roll please....

DON'T SUPPORT ANY ENCRYPTION OTHER THAN WEP!!

Oh, yes. Yes, I did. The plans were on display, in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door reading “Beware of the Leopard.”

beakmyn wrote:Oh, yes. Yes, I did. The plans were on display, in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door reading “Beware of the Leopard.”

I don't know why, but for some reason, I got an image of Airstreamer laying down in some mud in front of an AP, which someone prattles on to him about how the Earth is about to be destroyed.

Nah, if I had my way, they'd all be stacked together and taped with the strongest fiberglass packing tape I could find.

Then they'd be set out about at the 100 yard line, with the D-link product manager keeping them from tipping over like a football kickoff. Me? I'm back at the firing line with the .300 Win mag and a box of shells with easy reach. I'll bet about 10 rounds from that puppy wouldn't leave a chunk larger than a bottle cap, and would require said manager to go through about 10 changes of tightie-whities.

Buddy of mine did that to 3 hard drives and his "new" .45-70. Put a pretty big hole in the first one and dented the shit out of the two behind it.

One of the IT guys likes to stack about 5 disks and punch holes through them, I think with a .243 or something similar.

I took that .300 Win Mag and hit a 1" thick 6" long section of fork lift blade at about 40 yards with a 180 grain softpoint. I buried the steel down just slightly in the dirt and tilted it slightly so any 'return' would go back up over me. It blasted a funnel shaped hole right through it. The slag made about a 6" to 8" tunnel in the soft dirt behind the blade.
Needless to say, I was impressed.

A number of years ago, my Dad came up with a box of .30-06 cal AP that we would take a few rounds out and run through the M1. (I didn't ask where he got them. ) We would wait until dusk and shoot at a vertical section of 10" pipe that had walls pretty close to 1/2" thick. The shower of sparks was really cool! If you hit it off center so the metal cross section was about 1-1/2" or so, it would start trapping the carbide cores in the back section, with the outer jacket trapped in the front.

My scanner crapped out, so you get the iSight version.. You need some of these...

Well, they refunded all our $$. I am totally in shock.

Now we get to go get stuff that works!!


Yaaaaay!

Anybody have (or know) of anyone that's messed with the Arrowspan units?
http://www.arrowspan.com/products/map3100.html

The cut sheet looks like it will do exactly what we want, but I've never heard of them before.


Tx

Airstreamer wrote:Anybody have (or know) of anyone that's messed with the Arrowspan units?
http://www.arrowspan.com/products/map3100.html

The cut sheet looks like it will do exactly what we want, but I've never heard of them before.


Tx

Try to pm Mikep928. He's probably the regular on the forums, who has had the most wifi hardware, of the kind you're looking for, between his palms, and he might be able to come up with some recommendations for vendors that he can vouch for.

Dutch