Up on the internet tower today......

and since it is under 200 Ft, on Private Property, not in an Airport Approach within 2 miles, and using "No License Required" radio gear, it doesn't come under the FCC, or the FAA Rules or Regulations, for Communications Towers. .... YMMV.....

 

It is all in the Antenna Gain, and not so much in the RF Power Level. If your working LOS Paths, in the clear, then you get a lot more distance by upping the Antenna Gain, on each end, then you do by upping the RF Power Level. Remember that most REAL Cellphones run in the 800-900 Mhz Range and the Highest Power Subscriber units only Runs 3 Watts maximum RF at the antenna. Cellsite RF Power, per Channel, is a Maximum of 45 Watts, and there are High-Cellsites that have 25-50 mile diameter Coverage Areas. I have some WiFi Shots (2.4 Ghz) on my network that go 3 miles, using 1 Watt RF Tx Levels, and 20DBi Panel Antennas. I know from the RSLs (Receive Signal Levels) that these can easily double that distance, and still have a 20db Rain-Fade Margin. We have an AT&T Digital Microwave System that use to feed us, our T1 Phone Connection, that uses that SAME 2.4 GhZ ISM Band, as WiFi, and is also limited to 1 Watt RF Power, and it is on a 16 mile LOS Path, over water, to Hoonah Mountain. When they engineer the path, they spec'd some 6 Foot Grid Antennas, on each end, and when we got the antennas lined up on the path, we had way to much signal, and had to put a 15db Pad, in the Antenna Feedline, to knock down the Signal Level, so it didn't saturate the Receiver Frontends. This is all well understood technology, by the folks that do the engineering, of these kind of Comm Links. .... YMMV....

Security would be in the design of the Hardware, and I am not familiar with the exact stuff TnAndy is using on his system. With WiFi, it can be as complicated, and SECURE, as one would like it to be with the right hardware on each end of the Link.....