Topic: Questions about placement of boards and antennas

[ke9lz]

Hi All,  I should be getting my unit in the next day or so and have been planing my install which will have it's final home in far northeast Wisconsin at my cabin.  I have an outdoor enclosure http://www.orbitonline.com/products/sprinkler-systems/accessories/timer-accessories/timer-box/weather-resistant-sprinkler-timer-cabinet which I would like to use.  The plan is to have everything mounted to inside the box with the antennas mounted to the box or a short distance away and also include a wireless router in bridge client mode to deal with the internet.  I have a tower that is well grounded and thought of mounting to it and have a suitable ground for the controller unit.  I have read that red amp needs to be separated because of noise which could be mounted in another box with the antennas to eliminate that problem but have not read anything about the rest.  Can any of you that have been down the road with building shed some light on what I would be up against?

Thanks
Steve (KE9LZ)

[W3DRM]

Hi Steve,

What kind of RED system do you have? Is it an H-field or E-field or do you have both kits?

The H-field amplifier & ferrite antenna does need to be located away from the controller  board. You must use shielded Cat5e/6 cabling for this purpose. I have mine about 50-feet away from the controller and have great noise levels (small that is). I also have an E-field kit. The E-field antenna & associated pre-amp are located in the same enclosure as the H-field antenna/amplifier. The E-field is connected via a 50-foot length of RG-6 coax to the controller board which is located in my office.

[ke9lz]

I have both the H and E-field coming and do have shielded cat5e here and if need be I can remote mount the antennas with the amps away from the main unit.  I would like to keep everything together as a neat all in one package but don't know how each of the units interact with each other with internal noise. 

Steve (KE9LZ)