just wondering how you guys set up a new radio. do you bring a laptop and check the db yourself? do you call in the shop while your on a roof. use a compass to point it to your ap? or gps with waypoints? just curious
I use a laptop and a battery bag with two sealed lead acid rechargeable batteries connected to a canopy SM psu for 99% of the installs & signal checks. This allows me to tune the SM once it is mounted to the structure instead of having to go up and down the ladder. Occasionally I will phone the shop if I am in a hurry or too lazy to cart equipment.
We preconfig the radios in the shop before they go to the truck. Onsite, all we do is the physical installation, power level the radio, and then put the client info into the SNMP fields. I have a webpage that geocodes the physical address for our status map.
We preconfigure as well. But set the channel and Color Code in the field, run a test cable to the SM, then align it with a head set and then call the Office to verify Signal, Link test and Ping Test. If all is ok we finish the install
We do everything on site, I figure if you are going to aim and assign info to the radio you may as well do it all at once. Biggest problem we run into is when the install team doesn’t get the customer ESN info.
We have radios pre-configured as far as IP scheme, and no NAT or DHCP enabled. Once we do the initial site survey at the customers residence, we then set the color code and freq at the shop so that all that’s needed is alignment and mounting /cabling at the customer residence.
Everything on site.
we do surveying and installation all on site. but we do final configuration (gating, ip address,filtering) from the office
We plot and profile the site before installation, sometimes doing a quick drive-by if in the area. When time to install we configure everything on-site. Any final signal adjustments (RF balancing) we do from the office.
We plot the customers shot to the best AP ahead of time, if everything looks definate, we program the SMs before they go into the vans. This has saved alot of time. The installer shows up, knows the bearing, unspools the test cable and checks the signal using the earpiece AT THE DESIRED POINT OF INSTALLATION (used to test in driveways etc. and say it was good to go but some instances it would not pass the test when on roof, etc.). After enough experience, you can tell by the tone/level if the signal is sufficient. At that point if things look/sound well and there is only one man on site, he calls back to the office to test power level,RSSI, and link test. Two guys on site= yell down to the guy on the ground with laptop to do the above tests.
We use a wireless router and log into the radio from the roof. Choose the best AP, get the jitter and RSSI set and your done. When your installing on a multi-tenant building put your switch where it’s the easiest to reach the rest of the businesses.
Problem is that sometimes you get a -75 and a jitter of 3 but your Link test is below 80%…
mhussey wrote: We plot the customers shot to the best AP ahead of time, if everything looks definate, we program the SMs before they go into the vans. This has saved alot of time. The installer shows up, knows the bearing, unspools the test cable and checks the signal using the earpiece AT THE DESIRED POINT OF INSTALLATION (used to test in driveways etc. and say it was good to go but some instances it would not pass the test when on roof, etc.). After enough experience, you can tell by the tone/level if the signal is sufficient. At that point if things look/sound well and there is only one man on site, he calls back to the office to test power level,RSSI, and link test. Two guys on site= yell down to the guy on the ground with laptop to do the above tests.
tone/level???? is there some sort of device i can use to help me align?
the_NAT wrote: tone/level???? is there some sort of device i can use to help me align?
I think mhussey is talking about headphones
great link thanks
With the new url (forum.cambiumnetworks.com) the link is http://forum.cambiumnetworks.com/viewtopic.php?t=2504, it’s basically a guide to adapt a set of headphones to be used in antenna alignment
Regards