We have 11 towers in our system. 3 APs with 120degree antennas on each. I understand that all APs on a tower should have the same max range setting but do all the APs in the entire network need to be set to the same max range?
Second Question: I was told that if I have two towers that are 7 miles apart, that I shouldn’t set my max range beyond 6 miles or they may cause problems. I’m not sure this is right because regardless of the setting, the towers can still see the RF that is present. Can you have a tower inside the operating range of another?
Last question, should two APs, each on a different tower but facing each other, be set to the same frequency or different frequencies? i.e. 906 facing 906. The moto manual shows one thing, my contractor installing some equipment says the other.
Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.
rosborne wrote: I understand that all APs on a tower should have the same max range setting but do all the APs in the entire network need to be set to the same max range?
I would think it depends on how far away the towers are. I run the same max range on all my APs.
rosborne wrote: Second Question: I was told that if I have two towers that are 7 miles apart, that I shouldn't set my max range beyond 6 miles or they may cause problems. I'm not sure this is right because regardless of the setting, the towers can still see the RF that is present. Can you have a tower inside the operating range of another?
I haven't heard this but I have two towers within 4.3 miles of each other with a 14 mile max range and they are running fine.
rosborne wrote: Last question, should two APs, each on a different tower but facing each other, be set to the same frequency or different frequencies? i.e. 906 facing 906. The moto manual shows one thing, my contractor installing some equipment says the other.
Either way should work. I would try running on the same frequency first. Make sure the control slots, downlink data, and max range are the same.
We have 11 towers in our system. 3 APs with 120degree antennas on each. I understand that all APs on a tower should have the same max range setting but do all the APs in the entire network need to be set to the same max range?
To keep it simple the whole network needs to have the same max range, downlink %, and Control slots (start with 1 - this will increase as you add users). Once the network is up and stabilized, you can start using the Frame Calculator tool to determine alternate settings if needed. My personal recommendation is that they all stay the same - change one setting on one AP, change it in all AP's.
Second Question: I was told that if I have two towers that are 7 miles apart, that I shouldn't set my max range beyond 6 miles or they may cause problems. I'm not sure this is right because regardless of the setting, the towers can still see the RF that is present. Can you have a tower inside the operating range of another?
The max distance will not change the potential for self-interference. There is no point in setting the max distance any further than your desired coverage area. Setting it to more or less than the distance to the next has no impact other than the further you set the max distance, the less overall throughput you will have.
All AP's need to have a sync source - CMMmicro, Last Mile CTM, PacketFlux SyncPipe, or other 1pps GPS timing pulse source.
Last question, should two APs, each on a different tower but facing each other, be set to the same frequency or different frequencies? i.e. 906 facing 906. The moto manual shows one thing, my contractor installing some equipment says the other.
As a rule back-to-back and face-to-face AP's should generally be on the same frequency. The actual channel assignments will depend on AP's relative position to each other, and outside sources of interference. This takes a bit of finesse and you are unlikely to find the right combination the first try.
Set your AP's to individual color codes. In SM's allow all frequencies. This will allow you to change an AP's frequency, and have all of it's child SM's follow.
Sync is the magic sauce that makes Canopy the killer platform that it is. the manual goes into detail about sync - spend extra time on this.
I HIGHLY recommend either sending one or two guys to Canopy training, or have a trainer come to you. The achilles heel of Canopy is that it's very easy to deploy and difficult to perfect.
Thank you gentleman. The information has been very helpful.
I agree with Jerry, all sites need to match. We do this with our equipment and also coordinate with our competitors.
All AP’s need the following:
1. GPS Sync
2. Transmit Frame Spreading either on or off, this will depend on other Canopy operators in the area. Off is preferred, but on our network we have to run with it on.
3. Control Slots, we used to coordinate on 0, but have in the last 2 weeks convert to 3 across the board, to coexist well.
4. Downlink Data % has to match.
5. I have opted to enable Schedule Whitening across the board, cannot say it has helped with anything per say, but there are no negative effects.
The distance has nothing to do if I understand correctly other than will allow for you to maintain/control the integrity of your furthest links as well as your coverage area for your support/truck roll team.
We set all our 5.2 and 5.7’s to 10 Miles, and our 2.4 and 900Mhz to 15 Miles.
The only thing that this does is not allow an SM to see or register with an AP furthur than that, we have had a couple customers at the edge, 10.3 miles or 15.7 miles, and on those specific AP’s we add the extra mile.
Our reasoning for the distances is purely based on our experiences with customers in the field, we do not want people much furthur than those distances because of integrity issues of the link.
Hope this helps.
–SDH
shaskins wrote: We set all our 5.2 and 5.7's to 10 Miles, and our 2.4 and 900Mhz to 15 Miles.
If you can use 14 instead of 15 (miles) then you'll gain an extra (up) data slot.
What types of speeds do your customers get on the 900 MHz?
rosborne wrote: What types of speeds do your customers get on the 900 MHz?
With 100% link efficiency they see ~2Mbps aggregate in 1x mode and ~4Mbps in 2x.
shaskins: Make sure you keep all your ap max distance settings the same. That is one of the factors that affects the frame coordination for syncing.
I was under the impression that if you had two aps facing each other, so as not to cause interference, they needed to be an entire non-overlapping channel away from each other? Didn’t I see that in the Canopy docs?
P143 - 145 Canopy Manual Rev 8