Wireless Introduction

What this chapter covers

This chapter introduces the wireless hardware that the rest of the guide builds on.

It looks at the main families of MikroTik wireless devices and at what is inside them. It also explains how to find out which wireless driver a device is running, because the two drivers use different menus.

The chapter is short on purpose. It sets the vocabulary you need before the RF and configuration chapters.

The terms introduced here come back in every later chapter:

• Radio: the part of the device that sends and receives on one band.
• Chain: one transmit and receive path with its own antenna connection.
• Antenna: the part that shapes where the signal goes, either built in or external.
• Driver package: the RouterOS software that controls the radio.

How the topics fit together

Hardware choices decide what you can configure later.

The radio and antenna decide the bands and the range. The driver package decides which menu and parameters you use. The later chapters on RF, regulation, security and CAPsMAN all assume you know which device and driver you are working with.

How to use these pages

The topic page has the same shape as every page in this guide.

• What it is: the idea in plain words.
• How it works: the mechanism, with diagrams and example commands.
• What to remember for the exam: the facts to memorise.
• Common mistakes: the classic traps.
• Check yourself: three questions to test your understanding.

If you have a MikroTik device, run the print commands on the page and compare the output with the text. Finding the installed packages on a real device makes the driver idea concrete.

If you have no device, read the example commands and say aloud what each one shows. Then use the Check yourself questions to see whether you can explain the ideas without looking at the page. Return to this chapter whenever a later page uses a hardware term you have forgotten.