who has trouble with High Gain Antennas?

[palmczak]

Can any one here let me know what trouble they have with High Gain antennas brand of CPE?

We have a fair number of them in the field and one by one they are failing. They seem to run Ok for a few months. then they randomly stop passing data. Our failure rate is better than 50%.

thanks.


Joe

[dr1ce]

I've noticed the same thing. We use a CB3 Rootenna Combo. I think it has to do with the lack of gps sync. Radios are getting blasted with interference, either from other clients on your networks (due to the hidden node problem) or from local interference. Over time it appears to seriously and irreversible de-sensitize the unit :-(

I'd like to hear what other people have to say about this...

[jeff]

wow, what a theory.

Now we just need to gps sync our interferance and all will be well.

[palmczak]

I've noticed the same thing. We use a CB3 Rootenna Combo. I think it has to do with the lack of gps sync. Radios are getting blasted with interference, either from other clients on your networks (due to the hidden node problem) or from local interference. Over time it appears to seriously and irreversible de-sensitize the unit :-(

I'd like to hear what other people have to say about this...


This is NOT the problem I experience. We use a RTS of 800 on the most congested AP's (this was lfigured out by looking at packet size counters) During very busy times I think hidden node becomes a small issue but not normally.

The issue I am asking about is specific to the High Gain Antennas brand of CPE.

[Skaught]

We use a very low RTS and hidden node is not an issue, near/far is a much bigger issue.

I wish there was a sheet that I could stick to CPEs tht would attenuate by 10 or 20 db. I may try to experiment with metalic tape but dunno what that may do to VSWR.

[mrmike]

High Gain Antennas? Where do you want to start? Failures when cold; starting and stopping; tech support that denies any problems. When they are working, they are fine. But the intermittant ones waste so much of my time, that I am replacing them with wraps as they fail.
I don't know if it's the antenna, or the radio that's the problem. They are acting as if they have a cold solder connection somewhere. I'll have to get some cold spray, and rip one apart, and freeze different points. If it were the radios, then I would slap some wraps in the antenna bays and re-use them. Any suggestions?

[palmczak]

Thanks mrmike!

this is the same kind of problem we are seeing. Ours act more like the problem is electronic. Many times if you reboot them 20 or 30 times they will run great for 15 minutes. I have reused the antenna, aside from the connector being a little suseptable to water they seem OK.

What percentage of radios fail for you? we are experiencing 50+% failure.

They seem to run OK for approx 3 months then they begin the slow death.

Yea, they claim no one else hase these problems.


Anyone else??

[greg]

I cut and pasted this from the Tranzeo thread:

========================
Quote:
Originally Posted by gunther_01
I will say this simply cause I have shortly delt with both. I have no stake in this at all.

www.highgainantennas.com
===========================


My experience with them has been miserable. When I bought out the company, we had 20 or so HG systems. We were losing routers and HG radios right and left that spring. Contacted Rich and got one replaced. I inquired about whether the units were properly installed, got no reply. Secretary called and emailed numerous times about RMA's, no reply. All the units were less than a year old. I finally got a long voicemail from Rich stating that no one was experiencing the failures, we were unique. No inherent problems with the design. Further, since I wasn't the original purchaser of the units, I had no warranty. Since I hadn't bought any new units since buying out the company, he seemed a little miffed about that.

I ate the units and swore I'd not do business with them again. Later, I noticed a public post from Rich that there WERE issues with the units with metal fins and they were redesigned. The watertight ethernet boots turned out to not be so watertight. I think we've replaced every one of those over time. Rich swears that no one has had issues with that part either. I sent him at least one of the eth connectors that was burnt from the short.

[mrmike]

Yeah, I was the only one with problems. Thousands out there without a reboot, most in cold weather, etc. etc. As for the failure rate, I bought 50 of these 2400, and I thinks 35 are sitting in my garage, 4 new ones in the barn that I'm hesitant to use, and 4 out installed that will be replaced later this week. Rem inds me of the mid 80's Hyandia, works good for about 20k, then you hit a bump, and pieces fall on the floor.

If it's the radio that's the problem, then I'll use the antenna.

[titan_wireless]

Mike,

Do WRAP's fit in the HGA antennas?? Might be worth looking into, A.

[bbronco]

we have not had any problems with the antanna's just the radios and rich.

the conectors are not water tight so make sure you tape them good.

[gunther_01]

I cut and pasted this from the Tranzeo thread:

========================
Quote:
Originally Posted by gunther_01
I will say this simply cause I have shortly delt with both. I have no stake in this at all.

www.highgainantennas.com
===========================


My experience with them has been miserable. When I bought out the company, we had 20 or so HG systems. We were losing routers and HG radios right and left that spring. Contacted Rich and got one replaced. I inquired about whether the units were properly installed, got no reply. Secretary called and emailed numerous times about RMA's, no reply. All the units were less than a year old. I finally got a long voicemail from Rich stating that no one was experiencing the failures, we were unique. No inherent problems with the design. Further, since I wasn't the original purchaser of the units, I had no warranty. Since I hadn't bought any new units since buying out the company, he seemed a little miffed about that.

I ate the units and swore I'd not do business with them again. Later, I noticed a public post from Rich that there WERE issues with the units with metal fins and they were redesigned. The watertight ethernet boots turned out to not be so watertight. I think we've replaced every one of those over time. Rich swears that no one has had issues with that part either. I sent him at least one of the eth connectors that was burnt from the short.

Wouldn't be so bad if you wouldn't have put my name in there on a quote I didn't make. Taking my quote and adding it to someone elses comment is just wrong.

[gunther_01]

And yea I have had my problems with HGA units.

the 1100 series is plain but works intermitantly on a couple of units I use. unit disappears for a few minutes at a time from snmp.

the 2400/b series is feature rich, with good radio but isn't available anymore

the new 2400 b/g has a low powered radio that doesn't have any range in comparison to the 1100 or the old 2400b.

the 2400 b/g maxx costs to much, i would rather use a wrap and star

and I have yet to get snmp to work on the new 2400b/g, mainly since my MIB reader gives an error to the MIB file provided

BUT,
Rich has been good to me for the most part. of course i don't own more then 10 of his radios yet. I have one in service for over 6 months (old 2400b) and it has been the best one yet. ocaccional reset but never really died.

[greg]

I just tried to cut and paste the original post from the other thread. I didn't mean to imply that you wrote the message, I did and was replying to a message you posted. Sorry for any confusion.

We have over half our HG units sitting on the shelves in the back room. We did swap out some of the radios for cb3's and the like. I know there is not one of the "weather tight" boots left, lots of issues there.

[palmczak]

yea Tasos, I need to peel one apart and put one of your kits inside.

Any news on the 64MB version?

The antenna seems to be the best part.

[mrmike]

Yes, a wrap board fits, barely. Not all is lost.

[jeff]

We tried using the High Gain units as an alternative to tranzeo. Big mistake! We bought and installed around 15 units in the Dec. - Jan. time frame. We have now had to replace almost every one of them. The symptoms are always the same. They work fine when they are installed. Then the customer would report having to power cycle them to keep a connection and finally they would just die.

I tried the latest firmware on a few that would at least connect via the ethernet port and it made no difference. With the one we replaced today we are now at an 80% failure rate. Given that we have installed over 1000 radios and our 5 year failure rate has been below 10% I don't think it is my installers. I hate to speak negatively about a vendor, but it is unlikely we will be buying anything else from High Gain.

[greg]

Were you able to get a refund on the broken units?

[go.fast]

We bought and installed around 15 units in the Dec. - Jan. time frame. We have now had to replace almost every one of them.

I had the same issues with Teletronics EZ Bridges.

They worked great for almost 2 years and then the past 6 months they have been problematic.

So I'm just switching to all war boards.

I'm tired of the cheap cpe flavor of the month that start having issues next month.

George

[Premier]

Tell me, is this the radio you are all using with a different firmware

http://shop.defactowireless.com/s.nl/it.A/id.811/.f?sc=2&category=227

Sorry to bring this thread back to life after all this time, but it does sound as though I am having the exact same problem

[therealboss]

Premier
They make good paperweights, I have a bunch of them and they are all dead. Can't wait for my WAR1's to arrive as I'm sure its the only way to go for a CPE.

[Premier]

Expensive paperweights at that,
I would'nt mind using the war1's if i could get them quickly enough or from a reliable reseller.
I replaced one of these zinwell units today at a golf club. it was seeing the access point at -79 using a 19db grid. The speed was like dial up.
So I replaced it with a Mikrotik cpe inside a 14db rootenna. It could see the access point at -82, not a great signal but it gave me full thoroughput.
Could'nt believe my eyes. All this time i thought it was just me using these units the wrong way. Rest assured I have bought my very very last one :p
Premier
They make good paperweights, I have a bunch of them and they are all dead. Can't wait for my WAR1's to arrive as I'm sure its the only way to go for a CPE.

[gunther_01]

I replaced one of these zinwell units today at a golf club. it was seeing the access point at -79 using a 19db grid. The speed was like dial up.
So I replaced it with a Mikrotik cpe inside a 14db rootenna. It could see the access point at -82, not a great signal but it gave me full thoroughput.



Um, you were using them the wrong way... They only have a RX sens of -83 for 11meg. So that link was border line anyway. The Mikrotik I imagine had a cm-9 or something similar and has a RX of -89ish for 11 meg.

All my newer 8186 HGA's work just fine when used with-in RX spec. I don't care for HGA's older 2400 series anymore though. Software was nice, hardware didn't cut it.. I am not starting or finishing any kind of confrontational thread. It's just mine work.

[palmczak]

I have no more trouble with HGA. I have 2 left in service. Orig had 50. At the first sign of any trouble they will be replaced and set on fire.

Safe to say I will never buy another HGA anything.

I gave a whole box of them to a competitor before they were a competitor feels good to be so generous ;)