5 GHz 450 AP doesn't let you set xmt power above 19 dBm in 5.8 even if antenna gain is set below 17 dBi (e.g. if you are using a 10-13 dBi omni). Spec sheet and Link Planner say 22 dBm, and the SM can do 22 dBm.
This is on 13.2.1 FW. Did anything happen after 13.2.1 to increase this?
What about the 450i AP, spec sheet says +27 dBm max xmt power. But is it arbitrarily limited to something lower like 19 dBm?
With a 13 dBi omni and 1 dB cable loss, I need +24 dBm xmt power to achieve max legal EIRP of +36. With a 10 dBi omni, I would need the full +27 dBm xmt power.
Is this in any way tied to the new FCC limits on OOBE in 5 GHz?
I think it's because they simply never got an omni certifed with the 450 AP.
I agree. Would be nice to get the 450i AP certified with an omni to actually get the full 36dBm EIRP.
So when the 450i AP spec sheet says max xmt power +27 dBm, is that just BS because the software won't let you use it? It's bad enough the gain of those omni antennas varies all over with frequency and azimuth, currently I am limited to +30 EIRP in both 5.4 and 5.7 so I may as well use 5.4. Except the antenna seems to suck the worst at the lower frequencies.
Also, it would be really really nice if LinkPlanner restricted you to the same settings as the actual firmware, right now I'm not sure that's true. Especially important if the EIRP is more limited near the band edge due to OOBE regulations.
The hardware is capable of doing +27 dBm transmit power, but this power is restricted by regulations in many parts of the world.
The antenna response (in the case of 450 anyway) is very flat from 5.0 - 6.1 GHz. (On the existing 85009324001, 90 degree and 85009325001, 60 degree sectors, we lose about 2 dBi gain around 4.9 GHz).
With LINKPlanner, we do our best to maintain actual allowed power given the region and product selected. Sometimes these things may get a bit out of sync with the many changes to both the products and the regulations that manage them. If you have a speicfic issue, let's dig in and get it fixed.
I don't run into a problem with the Cambium sectors, but sometimes we have to use other antennas, specifically 13 dBi dual pol omnis (there are also 10 dBi omnis available). If I set the external antenna gain to 13 dBi, the max xmt power on the 450 AP is still +19, even though the hardware can do +22.
Does this change at all with the 450i? If it's still limited to whatever xmt power yields +36 dBm EIRP with a 17 dBi antenna, then the max xmt power isn't really +27 dBm in US Region, and it won't help those of us stuck using omnis.
You can say to use sectors, but I have sites with less than 10 subscribers, and of course they end up being scattered throughout the 360 degrees. Sometimes we get lucky and the intended coverage area is all within 90 degrees so we can just put up a sector, but that's not usually the case. We put up an omni hoping to get that situation, but usually there's a customer north, then another south, then another east, and we can't transition to sectors. With a 450 on an omni, our range is about 1 miles with a CLIP, 2 miles with a dish, and that's with some subs at 4X or MIMO-A. Part of that is the inconsistent performance of available omnis, which you can't do anything about, but it sure would be nice if the AP didn't ignore any external gain settings below 17 dBi.
Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and use ePMP at the small repeater sites.