Wireless bridge not linking repeaters

[Calrad]

Good day everyone. I am having a problem with my 2 linked repeaters I have done for a client. The 2 repeaters are to be linked together with Ubiquiti airMAX AC5 radios. Here is the overview of everything:

Site:
Repeater 1: Kirisun DR600, 4-stack folded dipole with highest dipole at 58m; Link 1: Ubiquiti airMAX AC5, 30dBi antenna @ 65m
Repeater 2: Kirisun DR600, 4-stack folded dipole with highest dipole at 58m; Link 2: Ubiquiti airMAX AC5, 30dBi antenna @ 65m

Settings:
Repeater 1: ID - 1001, CC - 01, Beacon interval - 600s, Beacon duration - 3000ms, Static IP, Local IP - 192.168.1.1, Gateway IP - 192.168.1.1, Set as Master, Listening port - 50000, Slot 1 as wide with ID 0, Slot 2 as wide with ID 1
Link 1: Set as AP, Bridge, PTP, ACL with Link 2 MAC entered, SSID - LINK, password - LINK, Channel spacing - 20MHz, Centre frequency - 5580MHz, IP - 192.168.1.112, Primary DNS - 192.168.1.1, Secondary DNS - 192.168.1.2,

Repeater 2: ID - 1002, CC - 01, Beacon interval - 600s, Beacon duration - 3000ms, Static IP, Local IP - 192.168.1.2, Gateway IP - 192.168.1.1, Set as Peer, Listening port - 50001, Slot 1 as wide with ID 0, Slot 2 as wide with ID 1
Link 2: Set as base station, Bridge, PTP, Locks onto Link 1 MAC, SSID - LINK, password - LINK, Channel spacing - 20MHz, Centre frequency - 5580MHz, IP - 192.168.1.113, Primary DNS - 192.168.1.1, Secondary DNS - 192.168.1.2,

Both repeaters have the following table in them:

ID	IP address	Port
1001	192.168.1.1	50000
1002	192.168.1.2	50001

My issue comes in that when I log into the Link radios it shows me that they see each other and getting speeds of about 20Mbps and their signal is about 12db above the noise floor. These links are about 50km apart. When I key up Repeater 1 it doesn't cause Repeater 2 to transmit and visa verca.
This repeater site is about 1100km away from me so traveling up to do maintenance is very time consuming and I would like to have this all sorted and working for my client.
Does anyone know what settings I should look at changing to get the link to work correctly? I have to place a platform 10m off the ground to reach the repeater enclosure so it is a timely en devour and I would like to know what to troubleshoot so that I set up the the platform at each site as few times as possible. The repeaters are to just transmit voice as they don't use the data feature of their DMR radios and share the repeater with an anti-poaching unit hence both slots being on wide.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

You didn't stage the equipment all in one place before installing it? Could the local TX be interfering with the microwave radio?

 

[Calrad]

Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to. They already had Repeater 1 up and we added another plus the link. It worked briefly when the Tx power of Link 1 was set to 30dBm due to region settings but they link was unreliable. 1 sentence would come through clearly then it would stutter or not activate at all. There was only about a 2 dB difference between the noise floor and received power. I reset Link 1 and changed the output to get the roughly 12db difference between received signal and noise.
In our experience we've found that if antennas on the same mast are about 6m apart there is little to no interference. The only test I can do without removing the repeater is attempting to read Repeater 2 from the Repeater 1 site using the link

 

[jeepsandradios]

My thought is your repeater is interfearing with the links. Are you using sheilded cable to the links ? Have you run ethernet tests on the links while both repeaters are up ?

 

[buddrousa]

How far are the Repeaters from each other?
This was tried with a 5 UHF site Simulcast System in a County near me Distance and Line of Site was a big problem the other problem was LAG Latency. They ended up putting T1 links in at all sites.

 

[Cameron314]

Why do you have DNS set as the two repeaters?

 

[Cameron314]

Also just post what model of link radio you are using. Is that a Rocket with a 30dbi dish? Post some screen shots of the dashboard gui. Sounds like you don't have a good link.

 

[kayn1n32008]

You are trying to make a link path of 1000km usi g consumer 5GHz PTP radios?

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

You are trying to make a link path of 1000km usi g consumer 5GHz PTP radios?

I read that as his commute to fix the problem...

 

[crazyboy]

You are trying to make a link path of 1000km usi g consumer 5GHz PTP radios?

Looks like 50km link. 1100 km for him to travel there.

 

[Calrad]

To answer as many questions as possible:
@jeepsandradios
The cable for the links are Linkbasic Shielded UV protected Cat5e Cable
The cable for the Repeater is LMR400
I have not run any ethernet tests. I am not all too familiar with setting up and testing networks. Next time I am up I will ping Link 2 from Link 1.

@buddrousa
These links are isolated from the internet and in all videos and tutorials I found with regards to this topic it wasn't said to put the repeaters as the DNS but it also wasn't something wrong to do.
The links are Ubiquiti UISP airMAX Rocket Prism AC 5GHz with Ubiquiti UISP airMAX 5GHz 30dBi Light Weight Dish Antenna


The link distance is ~52km and they have clear line of site to one another. My commute to the site to do the adjustments to get the links to work is ~1100km.

Any LAG latency isn't a serious issue. The radios are used to communicate on if there are any issues while taking guests out or such. The total talk time per day maybe amounts to 1 hr a day.

Will post what screenshots I have tomorrow when I am back in the office with the laptop I used on site

 

[buddrousa]

1. LMR400 is never to be used as REPEATER FEEDLINE.
2. 32 miles is way to far point to point for the radios you are using.
3. You are way over your head and are asking for help at a HOBBY SITE.
4. A Professional Radio Shop is the correct choice for a project like this.

 

[Calrad]

1 - The radio shops here all use LMR400 for their client's repeaters and their own and have no issues with interference or noise in the signals.
2 - I understand it is far but as far signal propagation goes all of the simulations I have done the links receive a good strength signal
3 - Help can come from anywhere and I felt my issue may be with IP configuration. Anyone who has fiddled with it may have had a similar issue to me so no harm in asking
4 - I am consulting them as well

I really do appreciate the responses and the direction I am being given to try fix this/get it working. All systems I have worked on have been analog and luckily no linking required. This is my 1st DMR system and linked system so it is quite the learning curve for me

 

[Calrad]

This was the link at ~32dBm EIRP and 10MHz spacing where it would trigger the repeater but not always consistently

 

[buddrousa]

Good luck I am sure having setup Emergency 2way Equipment I do not know anything.
I use AC's on a Regular basis.
I am sorry but it is foolish to use LMR400 on Repeaters.
Microwave links are most of the time 100 feet separation between dish and TX Antenna.

 

[kf8yk]

This was the link at ~32dBm EIRP and 10MHz spacing where it would trigger the repeater but not always consistently

Your microwave link is only a few dB above the noise floor, I'm not surprised it's unreliable.

You need to design for at least 20 dB or more of margin. -60 to -50 dBm receive is typically what a AirMAX radio wants to see.

 

[Calrad]

Your microwave link is only a few dB above the noise floor, I'm not surprised it's unreliable.

You need to design for at least 20 dB or more of margin. -60 to -50 dBm receive is typically what a AirMAX radio wants to see.

That was the first time I had set up the links and in the UISP dashboard under Advanced Settings in the Network tab I believe it had auto calculate EIRP. I removed that and was able to set it higher but I also changed the channel spacing so I'm not sure what may have caused it to not work at all with a stronger signal. Next time I am up there I will be changing the spacing back to 10MHz

 

[Calrad]

Good luck I am sure having setup Emergency 2way Equipment I do not know anything.
I use AC's on a Regular basis.
I am sorry but it is foolish to use LMR400 on Repeaters.
Microwave links are most of the time 100 feet separation between dish and TX Antenna.

I am not doubting your knowledge or experience. Our standards are less stringent than yours and aside for the mobile service providers I doubt any client here (private farms, neighbourhood watches, farming communities) would use anything expensive unless absolutely necessary. I will definitely look into moving the Link Dish higher as that could be issue.

We are in Africa if that makes a difference

 

[Project25_MASTR]

You only need to set your IP address, subnet mask and ports. Gateway and DNS are not relevant for what you are doing and can be left blank. If you add a router to your setup later on you will want the gateway to be set to the router's IP.

As far as your link goes…you've got roughly 137 dB of path loss that needs to be overcome if I recalled the path loss formula correctly. Your link budget should allow a decent SNR (25-30 dB) if your dishes are properly aligned and your radio is transmitting closer to 20 dBm. Looks like it's transmitting at 2 dBm and you are seeing more loss than you should (which suggests misalignment or path obstruction). This link is very similar to one I setup with Rocket M5's a decade ago in West Texas and was able to pull 78 Mbps each way on 20 MHz (you need kbps for this link to function but your SNR isn't strong enough to currently allow for the link maintaining it's connection).

 

[Cameron314]

This was the link at ~32dBm EIRP and 10MHz spacing where it would trigger the repeater but not always consistently

This is the problem.

Until you get that in the 60's don't even worry about the other issues.