You really had me going with the length of time it takes to get an STA. Glad to hear it is of a more reasonable time. I do wish they would allow longer STA testing periods, but I quite agree that since they will likely allow any reasonable experiment, you are fairly safe in getting the everything ready before the STA goes into effect.
While I don't fully agree with Bob's view on regulations, I do respect his amazing programming abilities. The WiMax setup here is just a very common ISP installed RF link using Alvarion equipment. I use the term WiMax as a generic higher powered version of WiFi. Alvarion did not wait for the final IEEE specification and started marketing their products much earlier. I have seen these kinds of system other communities. They do throttle back the throughput since you are sharing the sector with anyone else on that connection. It can run over 1 Mbps, but they have it below 500 Mbps I have heard. My understanding is that they have a hexagon array of antennas with each covering 60 degrees beam width to cover the full 360 degrees. The power level is a few watts and runs on 2.4 GHz. It can not tolerate the slightest blockage from distant buildings or trees so is truly LOS. The neighbors barn just happens to be in line with a water tower located about 5 or 6 miles away that has one of their access points so there just is no useable signal at my location. Luckily, after cutting down some trees on the other side of the highway, I was able to open up a LOS link to a more distant tower about 7 or 8 miles. 73, Rick, KV9U John Champa wrote: > Rick, > > Sorry. Did I write "years" to get an STA? My bad. > > It should only take a 1 -2 months. Paul R. can help. > HOWEVER, he will insist that you have whatever it is > ready to be put on the air for testing BEFORE he > applies, and not wait until the STA is issued to finalize > the software, hardware, etc. > > There have too many cases when the time on the STA > ran out before anything actually got tested on the air! > It happened to the HSMM Working Group with the 6M OFDM > Modem testing. I think John, KD6OZH, got pulled away by > our AMSAT brothers to work on a transponder or two, so > we had to request a renewal. I supposed they got it as > that is the HSMM follow-on project. > > Again, sorry for the confusion. > > If you would like to see your WiMax solution published, > just let me know. I am editor of the HSMM column in > CQ VHF magazine. > > As to the regs, I like Dr. Bob's (N4HY) of AMSAT fame > approach. It definately fits for the FCC: > > It is easier to ask for forgiveness, than to seek permission! (HI) > > 73, > John > K8OCL >
