Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Camouflaging outdoor access points and radio bridges

Hi all,

I'm helping overhaul the WiFi at a professional haunted house as a side project. The topology is very straightforward; I'm just carrying a VLAN or two to some Ubi WAPs on a few outbuildings via 5Ghz nanostations.

I'd love to see if anyone has any thoughts regarding my approach to spooky camouflage for the gear. See, all of the buildings are black and/or textured, and white Ubiquiti equipment will stick out like a sore thumb and distract from the attractions onsite.

I come from a B+M retail background, and deal with similar aesthetic challenges on store frontage. Radio-transparent enclosures are a clean solve for this situation, but I'm seeing if we can find more 'organic,' fabric-based solutions for the nanostations we'll have up on pole masts.

I'm thinking of gently draping the the radios with a light wicking fabric, like a burlap or black veil material, which can get damp in the rain but won't get soaked. (That's the chief concern; the camouflage material getting wet and muting the radio.)

I'll be testing out a few options this week but figured I'd also poll the audience to see if anyone has any thoughts/suggestions.

Thanks!



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