I need to set up to radios with high gain directional antennas to talk to each other within a relatively small distance. The radio in questions is a RADWIN 5000 jet. The max distance I can set them up is about 20 feet from each other. Each antenna has a gain of 20dBi and the lowest power the radios will transmit at is -1dBm. So without attenuation each radio will receive a signal about 1/2W and we have a concern this will damage the receiver. Traditionally we could use a wave guide filter to attenuate the signal before the antenna but since this device is an all in 1 package (radio and antenna in one case) we don't have this option.
So my questions is this: does anyone have any suggestions on type of materials or sets ups I can put between the 2 devices to attenuate a 5GHz signal by say 30dBm?
Best Answer
If you stick some ECCOSORB in front of the antennas, it should attenuate the transmitted power pretty considerably.
Basically, you want some sort of microwave absorbing attenuator. There's a number of brands, but it's generally colloquially called "echosorb" or something like that. In general, it's a carbon-loaded open-celled foam substance, which attenuates broadband microwave energy.
The downside is it's pretty specialized, and kind of expensive.