Connecting my GarageLab using a wireless bridge (Part 2)

[@MysticFists]

When testing using the DFS channels how bad is the interruption from rescanning for an open channel? Curious if this was just a monetary drop or if radar occupies large frequency ranges and means a longer drop out.

[@TechnoTim]

Great question! A couple of things I noticed: 1) Channels take a long time to scan when switching to a DFS channel, up to 1 minute 2) When radar is detected it tells my AP to switch channels. I think that that point it has 60 seconds to notifiy all of my clients of the incoming changes and will find a non DFS channel, at which point it switches. 3) This change happened within 2 minutes and all clients switched channels. There might have been a small interrupion to the clients but hard to know 4) The access point stayed on the NON DFS channel until my daily optmization ran at 2 AM, then it switched back. 5) RADAR was never consitent. Seemed to start at 7:30 AM, 2:27 AM, 5:54 AM.

[@jenyabo]

30m of fiber and two SFP modules or media converters would solve all the problems forever

[@TechnoTim]

0:1:34

[@jenyabo]

As a radio engineer I would always recommend going fiber when possible 😉

[@dudedavid522]

how'd you get the cat 6 outside

[@TechnoTim]

@@dudedavid522 I fed it thought the existing fiber hole which is about 6 ft from the pole I mounted it on, above ground. There's no way to go to the garage without going under the cement patio and avoiding a buried electrical line. No thanks.

[@matthiaslange392]

I have build wireless bridges for years now. First 11Mbit with Dlink and Yagi-antennas, than 300Mbit with patch-antennas (Dlink and TP-Link), than 108Mbit point2point over 300m with Ubiquiti, than 5Ghz as an upgrade on the same link and now mesh with AC-lite, AC-mesh, U6-mesh and U6-pro. About 35 APs controlled with a single RasPi4b.

[@poorlybuffalo555]

Assuming you already have mains electricity in the garage you could have tried Powerline (ethernet + WiFi) with one of the consumer unit boxes of the kind that Devolo do (Magic 2 LAN DINrail on their website) to increase the bandwidth.

[@TechnoTim]

Thanks! I thought about that but heard that it doesn't work great for sub panels? Maybe I can also try that in a part 3!

[@cdnron75]

I get that this is a sponsored video but wired would have been the much better way to go for that distance. Yes, I saw your reasons for not going wired but you already had to go through the wall to put in an outdoor access point (one of the reasons you didn't want to go wired), so you might as well have just went wired (copper or fiber, preferably the latter). Much more reliable than any wireless.

[@TechnoTim]

I repurposed the hole that was used for fiber line coming in for the access point, which is above ground and there's no way around the cement patio except for under, along with buried electrical ⚡. Also, it was sponsored by Micro Center, network brand was my choice.

[@cdnron75]

@@TechnoTim I get it, but if you're planning on being there long term, which I assume you are given you said your previous setup was from about 10 years ago, then wired would be the way to go. Yes it takes more effort initially but the long term gain is having a much more reliable connection. You could even make it a video series.

[@TechnoTim]

@thank you! For sure! This is really part 2 of the journey! Part 3 could be wired!

[@sivi151]

Having a microcenter in my country (Hungary) would be a dream. Like man you dont need to wait two days for stuff and you can go in person and shop computer parts like you are going to the grocery store?? Such a great thing

[@TechnoTim]

I am lucky to have such a great partner here in the US to help me continue doing what I love!

[@virondir]

Ubiquiti has had point to point wireless bridge using 24ghz and 60ghz for years. It's plug and play. Aim it through walls. No radar interference. Gigabit+. Been using them to connect buildings in close proximity for a long time. If you're broke or not sponsored by Ubiquiti, Mikrotik does similar products, been using them for years too.

[@TechnoTim]

Thanks for the heads up, I will check it out! I am not sponsored by Ubiquiti. Looks like there will be a part 3 to my wireless bridge in the future!

[@johnnyzhang1253]

I don't think 24GHz and 60Ghz radio can go through wall at all

[@TechnoTim]

@@johnnyzhang1253 Good to know, it's not only a wall, it's stucco (house & garage) so it's a cement wall too! 😅

[@random_stuf_yt]

@@TechnoTim rib bro

[@AddieDirectsTV]

Ah microcenter. I haven’t been over to SLP in a while lol.

[@TechnoTim]

That's the one!

[@alexandzors]

I've been using two Ubiquiti Nanostation locos between the house and garage at my parents for years now. They work extremely well and haven't had any issues with them. They are UISP devices but they do show up in the Unifi network topology properly. The reason I did those was also the same reasons you have for not running a cable. Though thankfully the siding there is vinyl and not stucco haha.

[@TechnoTim]

Good to know they show up in UniFi even though they are UISP! I will keep that in mind! Thanks for confirmation!

[@alexandzors]

@@TechnoTim np! They only show up under wired connections though! So if you filter by only Unifi devices they won't show up. But when they are showing you can see the connection between them.

[@nodd85]

Awesome solution. I'm super interested in seeing the install too, can't wait for the video to come out on your other channel.

[@picklypt]

Why was your SSID halfway across the world?

[@TechnoTim]

The U7 range is incredible. I guess the joke didn't land the way I wanted it to 😅

[@SwissPGO]

It's just your neighbor's kid playing with a flipper zero that caused your network drops.

[@emmashepard2070]

Neat, personally find this interesting and super helpful. I just need to run internet through a floor so that UDB might work out fine for me. There are sometimes situations where people are stuck renting with no hopes of owning a property. So sometimes you can't drill holes and run a cable!

[@TechnoTim]

Thanks! Yeah, "just run a wire" isn't always the solution.

[@joshhaas8121]

That is half the fun 🤩

[@DPCTechnology]

Did you try the UDB Pro? Would be interesting to see if you got any additional gains at that distance...

[@TechnoTim]

I did, it's in there. Worked a little better (better quality signal) but still not worth the hassle if I was going to mount it properly since it's directional. New AP (U7) plus UDB FTW!

[@DPCTechnology]

@TechnoTim lol, multitasking while watching.. yeah it was super impressive at distance in my testing.. UDB made more since in ur application, I was just interested in speed results head to head....

[@jimmyscott5144]

Any tips on the minis form ms-01? I want it to auto reboot after power loss or have wake on lan but it doesn’t seem to support either of those in the bios

[@squalazzo]

a wireless bridge is a "wireless cable" :D

[@SwaggerMeister72]

Meanwhile I'm still learning about sfp transceivers and swapping to opnsense. Lol

[@Michi-go5xi]

Third world country perks: A few people can afford internet. Those who can only have ISP routers that use 2.4 GHz stuff, radars aren't any common here I can enjoy my WiFi 6 router using exotic channels

[@TechnoTim]

I want to use exotic, open ocean, channels!

[@BerserkeR_031]

Time to pick up a shovel Tim!

[@FlightdeckJohnny]

You will dig down a small flexipipe with a network cable within a couple of months. You will not be satisfied with this kind of solution. 5:06

[@NeptuneSega]

Yeah... I would have just ran two cables for redundancy and called it a day. This is far too involved and temporary.

[@TechnoTim]

It's been temporary for 10+ years 😂

[@AddieDirectsTV]

9:12 too close to the airport or a main road?

[@TechnoTim]

I think it might be the airport, that's the only explanation I can think of.

[@greg.dg_]

This is not a great setup to be honest. Just get a point to point and an access point to the garage i know yoy dont want to drill holes but man you have too many devices not designed for this all trying to work together and give a mid solution

[@TechnoTim]

Thanks for the feedback. This is exactly what the UDB is designed for, point it at your existing wifi network. Works great according to my tests and point to point doesn’t give wifi coverage in or around the garage.

[@ManuelRodriguez27]

Homie complains about congested 5GHz spectrum and then un-ironically takes up 240MHz of spectrum at high power to run a security camera.

[@TechnoTim]

@@ManuelRodriguez27 homie had to test it out

[@narniaphuket]

the ultimate wireless bridge isn't wireless, it's MoCA Wireless is the enemy

[@alldave]

1st Comment!, Radar causes chaos with wifi, used DFS at my old place at the ocean and my wifi basically turned off with all the radar😂

[@TechnoTim]

I had no idea I had radar in my area until now!