How hot is too hot for RSSI?

We are using an omni as a mini-pop on a roof in a small neighborhood.  Some of the SMs are 1000+ feet away, others are the building right next door.  One of the SMs we just installed in directly next door to the AP and we are getting very hot RSSI numbers. Is there a point where this can damage the radio?  AP is a 1000 Connectorized into an omni. SM is a Force 180.

From AP:

It won't exactly damage the radio but anything stronger than -40 will saturate the receiver and the radio performance will degrade significantly. 

Would pointing it away from the AP to lower the RSSI be a solution?


@Au Wireless wrote:

Would pointing it away from the AP to lower the RSSI be a solution?


Yes, that is one trick but pointing away could also result in reflections (if its pointing to a wall) causing self interference. But its certainly worth a shot if the throughput you get is sufficient enough for that particular end customer. With ePMPs "Air Fairness" algorithm, the potentially poor throughput/modulation from this SM will not impact the others. 

Well, it is getting the desired throughput currently (27 x  27).  I'll keep an eye on it and see if it degrades at all.  We are moving that AP to a 40 Mhz channel soon anyway so that should help raise RSSI numbers as well.