Force 180 Antenna

We have a client who is using three Force 180’s for a small network across a parking lot. They are working OK(ish) for them – with one Force180 in AP mode on their main building, and to other Force180’s in SM mode on outbuildings across their parking lot.

The issue is that the two SM’s are fairly wide spread - maybe 40 or 45 degrees. I was noticing the 180’s antenna is listed as 15 degree x 30 degree, and I was looking for opinions on turning the AP on it’s side (so mounting it ‘tall’ instead of ‘wide’) and if that would essentially increase the beamwidth to 30 degrees wide, only 15 degrees tall?

Any downsides / gotchas that anyone can think of? (I’d probably put a bit of extra weather protection on the door/cover)

Definitely would like to know what others think/experienced… I have a similar setup but is a farm shop that has force 180 as AP and then a force 180 sm on another shop and then one at the house… I think I have exact same issue… working but could be better with wider spread.

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I had similar situation and think same as you, but at the end I replaced force 180 with force 130 (3dB Beamwidth-Azimuth 45 degrees 3dB Beamwidth-Elevation 15 degrees) AP and it solved my problem.

We are replacing them all with Ubiquiti gear. Cambium has removed AP support in AC gear, so we can no longer use Cambium gear for these small networks, or for small remote micropop AP’s. So - we are done with Cambium. :frowning:

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Hey ninedd, what do you mean “removed AP support in AC gear”? Am I missing something in the Force 180s? I have multiple deployments like yours and they all offer TDD, basic wifi and ptp mode, dont they? lol

In the 1000 and 2000 series SM gear, yes, there is AP/PMP mode. So yes, the Force 180 & Force 200 have TDD AP mode, which works great, and we used all the time. But in the AC gear (Force 300 SM’s), Cambium has removed it.

So, we can no longer use Cambium gear for our client’s WAN networks, or for our micro-pop needs.

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