Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
E and Dave,
I went to the FCC files and looked over the pictures. Anyone else notice the internal antenna? Is it a dipole with the external antenna or a separate transmit or receive antenna?
I would like to know how many teams having problems have the modem mounted against a metal surface. If any team is having regular problems, could you try holding the modem outside the robot and check for same issues you had when the modem was mounted on the robot?
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They're definitely separate antennae, one for transmit one for receive. During my discussion with Corey this past weekend, some of his suggestions were to mount the modem vertically, orient the external antenna away from the internal antenna, and to keep it away from any metallic structure nearby that could be acting as a ground plane. At the time, both modems were screwed to pieces of plywood, one for the driver station, and one that was C-clamped to our drivetrain with no structures surrounding it. Implementing those suggestions still resulted in a number of cutouts on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
IFI should have our modems on Tuesday assuming UPS does its job. Right now, last year's modems are working flawlessly so paying double or triple for to overnight them wasn't worth the cost.
--Eric