(This contribution is probably drifting a bit off topic significantly.  Apologies for that.)

I have to acknowledge: As someone who lacks the expert-level technical knowledge most contributors on this list have, what I say doesn’t carry much weight.  I’m here mostly because I enjoy the content.  But, I have a few concerns I’d like to raise, mostly related to safety…

• Fire is a serious matter.  As well-intentioned as it may be, using a prosumer-grade fire alerting product in an commercial or high-density residential setting may not be appropriate.  It’s one thing for the occupant of a residential unit to install their own device.  It’s something quite different to use it as part of the services a building offers to its tenants.
• Creating a building-sized 2.4Ghz antenna sounds like an interesting experiment, but wouldn’t the noise-floor being prohibitively high?
• Supporting such an environment on your day off would be a challenge.  That’s important considering the functionality the solution has to deliver.
• Something I’ve learnt about loops and other redundant systems is that their reliability benefits are only as good as the processes that monitor them for failures.  Passive cable is really hard to monitor.

Then, as someone occasionally involved in deployments of commercial off-the-shelf solutions through my $dayjob, I’d argue that the “traditional” route of installing a bunch of CAT6 and one or more APs per unit (if the solution *had* to be Nest Protects) would likely score higher on availability, performance and supportability.  (If you’re talking Zigbee not WiFi then I’m even further out of my depth, but I’d argue the same points still apply.)

Jannie

Van: Make-wifi-fast <make-wifi-fast-bounces@lists.bufferbloat.net> Namens Bob McMahon via Make-wifi-fast
Gestuur: Maandag 17 Mei 2021 20:09
Aan: Make-Wifi-fast <make-wifi-fast@lists.bufferbloat.net>
Onderwerp: [Make-wifi-fast] 2.4Ghz hybrid wiring for nest protects

Hi All,

There is a historic building that has 5 floors and no fire alerting associated with the rear fire escape ladder. I'm considering installing nest protects in each unit near the rear egress to alert of the fire escape is compromised by fire. My guess is floor to floor wireless communications may not work too well.

I'm thinking about cleaning up the communications runs in the rear of the building. The cable company did a shoddy job of hanging cable for TV services in the 80s. It seems a good time to add communications conduit and run more modern cabling.

As part of this, I'm considering running LMR 600 cabling on the exterior brick wall to act as 2.4Ghz communications wave guides. I was thinking make a loop but break the loop at each floor with a 2.4Ghz wilkinson power divider. Then bore a hole into each unit and install a 2.4Ghz patch antenna pm each rear interior wall. Each unit would then install a Nest protect on the ceiling from the patch antenna. The ring or loop topology I think gives a bit of redundancy.

Thoughts on if this would achieve the goals of supporting nest protect communications for such a building?

Bob