Mikrotik Routerboard Gateway not forwarding data packets

Gateways MikroTik Gateways
1

Hi,

I’ve bought a second hand mikrotik GW (https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/gateways/mikrotik/). It’s connected to TTNv3 server, and I see gateway status packets arriving like every minute.

* 00:17:51

Receive gateway status

Metrics

rxfw0ackr0txin0txok0rxin0rxok0

Versions

ttn-lw-gateway-server"3.32.1-rc0-SNAPSHOT-4712e7f5b6"

* 00:17:21

Receive gateway status

Metrics

ackr0txin0txok0rxin0rxok0rxfw0

Versions

ttn-lw-gateway-server"3.32.1-rc0-SNAPSHOT-4712e7f5b6"

* 00:16:51

Receive gateway status

Metrics

rxin0rxok0rxfw0ackr0txin0txok0

Versions

ttn-lw-gateway-server"3.32.1-rc0-SNAPSHOT-4712e7f5b6"

* 00:16:21

Receive gateway status

Metrics

rxin0rxok0rxfw0ackr0txin0txok0

Versions

ttn-lw-gateway-server"3.32.1-rc0-SNAPSHOT-4712e7f5b6"

I see connections to two AWS IPs, corresponding to eu1.cloud.thethings.network (load balancer ?), on UDP port 1700 - proper connectivity seems to be given.

However, no data packets are being forwarded by the gateway. There is one LoRa device placed at ~6m distance, so there should be packets caught by the GW.
At 30m distance there’s another GW, set up 2-3 years ago already, that’s forwarding the packets - so I’m pretty sure the device is sending something :slight_smile:

Where to look at the issue ? Some particular logfiles ?

Thanks for any pointer you can give me

2

Have you checked if the antenna is connected?

They have an internal that you can disconnect to connect an external antenna.

3

Do you see node traffic in the local GW logs (vs on the TTN Console GW page?)

If nothing locally and GW antenna connected (fact is at that range even with poor ant you would likely capture weak node traffic anyhow) then there is chance the GW is deaf - 2nd hand you say; what is its provinence, might it have been sold as it had issues? One posibility would be a close proximity lightning strike killing the RF front end…

You might also try powering down and reseating the LoRa concentrator card…

4

Or if there has been any filtering setup. A hard reset of the gateway may be required to clear out errant settings.

5

Sorry for the late reply !

I already did a hard reset & factory reset before setting up the device.

Here a picture of the board - internal LoRa antenna is connected and also the external connector (though no antenna screwed on RF out

image
image1920×1473 243 KB

Board looks optically fine to me - no burn marks or the like

Antenna settings in the web interface:
image

I bought the board from Galaxus, which I would say is a quite known company taht also sells refurbished devices. Not from some exotic seller on ebay :slight_smile:

Restarted GW after taking the picture: logfile on the GW contains nothing special: ether up, dhcp, ntp, admin login. no other entries. GW is sending status info to TTN but still no data packets

How to electrically check the Antenna/LoRa extension board for functionality ?