I use a spectrum analyzer. It's for rent too :-).
EC also has a very nice portable unit (much easier to use) that's available
for rent. Or they have them for sale if you're looking for something to
keep.
I used to use some tools from teletronics but the new version isn't nearly
as good. If you just need something that'll give you a ballpark reading
they do work better than nothing.
Marlon
(509) 982-2181 Equipment sales
(408) 907-6910 (Vonage) Consulting services
42846865 (icq) And I run my own wisp!
64.146.146.12 (net meeting)
www.odessaoffice.com/wireless
www.odessaoffice.com/marlon/cam
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Ireton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 11:33 AM
Subject: [WISPA] Diagnosing interference
In our neck of the woods we have some areas where 802.11 systems simply do
not function, period (and this is across a range of frequency bands and
equipment manufacturers). And sometimes, in some limited cases, we will
have a sub who appears to be experiencing interference that is much louder
than our rssi at the sub (say they have a -63, but they still can't
reliably hear the ap well enough for communication) and there's nothing
really obvious in the area we can see. We know it's radio interference
because we can play the channel flipping game, but we'd like to be better
than that and actually diagnose the problem and identify the source and
direction of the transmitter creating the problem, so that we can plan
better and actually provide a resolution that will last for that sub.
We know about spectrum analysis and such and actually own a handy unit
(the Spectran) but it doesn't give real time data useful for direction
finding. What are some of the other tools (hand held or truck mounted, not
built-in firmware features) you folks use for this? If we had a tool that
would just give us knowledge about the non-household applications present
in these areas (where non-household is anything with a larger gain antenna
and/or power output than a cordless phone or wireless access point), we
could even go so far as to try and coordinate with those applications for
the betterment of everyone. But just waking up one morning and learning a
long time customer now has an Interference problem you have no way to
resolve other than by terminating the business relationship, just really
sucks ass in my opinion. And when you run out of tricks like new antennas,
equipment, alignments and such, that's exactly what you're left with.
Mike-
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