So when we’re aligning the antenna we use a power inverter with the cat5 etc. hooked up to test the antenna alignment before going inside. I know some of you guys are using 1-tech installs. How are you doing it? With the headset tones? I’ve never actually used the headset tones but I’ve heard bad things about them.
Just curious because I recently heard some people were thinking out of the box and using PDA’s. I was just curious how. We have the Canopy power adapter working fine on a cigarette lighter port…but I was thinking it wouldn’t be that hard to get a little battery to power it at the top of the tower with a PDA so that one person doesn’t have to be at the bottom of the tower reading off the signal strength.
Just curious what works for you guys~
Tone Tone Tone.
I did solo installs for a couple of years, and did them in 2-3 hrs. Our current installer does them solo as well and it generally takes him 2-3 hours as well.
Here is the procedure I used:
DETERMINE ROUTER LOCATION - TYPICALLY ROUTER TO BE AT DESKTOP COMPUTER
LOCATE CENTRALLY IF ONLY WIRELESS LAPTOP TO BE USED
FOR RESIDENTIAL USERS CONFIGURE FOR NAT
TEMP MOUNT RADIO OR DISH (DON’T RUN CABLE YET)
SELECT LOCATION WITH:
SHORTEST CABLE RUN
CLEAREST LOS
SWAG CAT5 CABLE TO POWER SUPPLY
CONNECT LAPTOP TO RADIO
QUICK CONFIGURE RADIO
CHANGE RADIO TO HARDWARE SCHEDULING
DESELECT 100M LINK NEGOTIATION SPEEDS
SELECT ALL FREQUENCIES TO SCAN
CHANGE COLOR CODE (BEST GUESS)
SET WEB PAGE AUTO UPDATE TO 3 SECONDS
POWER UP IN OPERATIONAL MODE
ENABLE 2X RATE (DISABLE IF JITTER TOO HIGH)
ENTER SITE NAME (CUSTOMER NAME)
SAVE AND REBOOT
DETERMINE BEST CC THROUGH AP EVAL DATA
USE TONER TO PEAK DISH.
IF UNABLE TO PEAK DISH – CHANGE CC OR RELOCATE
ONCE DISH IS PEAKED, RUN CAT5 CABLE TO ROUTER LOCATION
TERMINATE BOTH ENDS USING 568B
CONNECT DESKTOP TO ROUTER WITH CAT 5
CONFIRM DESKTOP NETWORK CARD IS ENABLED
CONFIGURE DESKTOP TO OBTAIN IP ADDRESS AUTOMATICALLY
USE DESKTOP AND LOG INTO ROUTER AND CONFIGURE
DO NOT RUN CD ROM
USE ROUTER DEFAULT IP ADDRESS AND PASSWORD
(REFER TO NETWORK INFORMATION SHEET FOR SETTINGS)
Yeah that’s basically what we do except we pre-program the SM before it leaves the shop.
DESELECT 100M LINK NEGOTIATION SPEEDS
Does this make a significant difference?
Depends on the NIC in the router or computer. We have seen some issues where the link speed was toggling so as a default we set it to 10M.
If we need to go to 100 its on a case by case basis.
my installers are tone deaf… and clumsy keep damaging the laptops… now i’m gonna start charging them for damage… I think that may cure their deafness
Yeah I was just trying to think of a more efficient way than dragging a laptop around all over with 50ft cat5 hooked to it, etc.
Why would someone NOT use the tone? I don’t get it.
I can get a radio 100% peaked every time with tone - just takes a little practice.
I’ll have to check into the headsets then. Do you use just the regular headset that comes with the kit or where did you get yours from?
Like what I said - I haven’t used it, but I was told it sucks…this just makes me want to try it now =P
I bought a pair of 15.00 headphones and made an adapter that converted the 1/8 stereo headphone jack to RJ11.
If you were using the tone on SW ver 4.x or earlier it did not work very well. After 6.0 it got loud enough to use it. Once in a while I will get a radio that has low output and it hard to hear, but once you do some installs using it you will know what to listen for.
I plan on putting a small UPS in a back-pack and then power the radio from that, then using a PDA with a CF NIC card, log into the radio and align it. Thatway there is now cable running down to an invertor. Just a short run from the back-pack tot he radio. I just got the PDA ($140) Working on the NIC now (around $140 as well). Not sure how well it’s gonna work.
Cheers
Brad
what UPS are you working with… I was thinking of the same thing…
Probably a APC 350 or 500. Or even a cheap Belkin would work. As long as it gives me 30 minutes of run time. After use I can just recharge it in the Van via the invertor or at the Customers prem while I’m finishing the install. I just got the PDA (Toshiba Pocket PC e740) Looks and works well only thing is that if your battery dies it loses any info stored in it, which isn’t a huge deal cause I’m only using it for alignments anyhow.
There is a post some where in the forums where a guy made up a slick setup using the USB power output.
You then just have your slimline type laptop the USB/Eth adapter and your good to go.
Now that I mention it, I think I’m going to search for that post and see about making one myself!
Actually it was the firewire port, not the USB.
http://motorola.canopywireless.com/support/community/viewtopic.php?t=36
Here is is:
http://web.abnormal.com/~thogard/canopy/firewire.shtml
If you are just wanting to power up an sm, the battery out of a cordless drill will work for over 30 mins.
You’re going to carry an APC350 or APC500 on your back up a tower? Holy cow =P.
Jerry - What do you do about installs that are up on a pole say 30 ft? We currently just use the box of cable and put a RJ-45 connector on each end…test the alignment and then when we get it where we want it…we pull out plenty of cable and then pre-cut it. It works good - but I was seeing if there was a way we could save from having extra cable at the end, etc.
Fortunately I am not in an area that needs 30’ poles.
Up a broadcast Tower no. But up a clients 30-68ft tower sure why not. The UPs’s aren’t that heavy. Just toss everything into a Back-Pack and your good to go.
[quote=“Jerry Richardson”]I bought a pair of 15.00 headphones and made an adapter that converted the 1/8 stereo headphone jack to RJ11.
Jerry, would you be willing to share you method of adapting the headphones?
Btw, we’ve had an installer/partner that has used a 18v drill batter for what seems an hour or two but he doesn’t work with us on a regular basis for personal reasons. Right now we look at the lights on the sm for a good signal, using up to a 200 foot cable for power. Once we feel we’ve found the best spot we mount then fine tune the antenna.