Re: Help with Cisco Aironet 1310 and Cisco Aironet 6-dBi Omnidir

antyman506 · ‎04-30-2011

Hi,

I have a Cisco Aironet 1310 that I have indoors inside of a hall closet with an Cisco Aironet 6-dBi Omindirectional Antenna (AIR-ANT5160V-R)

The problem I have is signal range!!! Its very very low! My linksys router has better range than my aironet

I have the antenna laying on top of the door frame in the closet, which I'm sure may kill the range some, but I would think I should still be able to walk outside and still pick up on my aironet!

I may just have the arionet configred incorrecetly, so I'm going to post my config below for you guys to take a look at and give me some pointers. When I go to the cisco outdoor bridge range calcuation utility and enter my antenna, it tells me I should have a range of 1.92 miles using 54mb/s and 8.57 miles using 6mb/s. Can someone help me get the max range out of my aironet?

Building configuration...

Current configuration : 1517 bytes
!
version 12.3
no service pad
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone
service password-encryption
!
hostname Anty506-AP1
!
enable secret 5 #############
!
ip subnet-zero
!
!
no aaa new-model
!
dot11 ssid ZELLA-AP-01
authentication open
!
!
!
username amanzella privilege 15 password 7 ############
!
bridge irb
!
!
interface Dot11Radio0
no ip address
no ip route-cache
!
encryption key 1 size 40bit 7 ########## transmit-key
encryption mode wep mandatory
!
ssid ZELLA-AP-01
!
speed basic-1.0 basic-2.0 basic-5.5 6.0 9.0 basic-11.0 12.0 18.0 24.0 36.0 48.0 54.0
no power client local
power client 100
power local cck 100
power local ofdm 30
station-role root access-point
antenna receive right
antenna transmit right
antenna gain 6
bridge-group 1
bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
no bridge-group 1 source-learning
no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
!
interface FastEthernet0
no ip address
no ip route-cache
bridge-group 1
no bridge-group 1 source-learning
bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
hold-queue 80 in
!
interface BVI1
ip address 192.168.1.223 255.255.255.0
no ip route-cache
!
ip default-gateway 192.168.1.1
ip http server
no ip http secure-server
ip http help-path http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/smbiz/prodconfig/help/eag
!
!
control-plane
!
bridge 1 route ip
!
!
!
line con 0
line vty 0 4
login local
!

Thanks,

Anthony

paolo bevilacqua · ‎04-30-2011

Should post in Wireless forum, not here.

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-30-2011

I have a Cisco Aironet 1310 that I have indoors inside of a hall closet with an Cisco Aironet 6-dBi Omindirectional Antenna (AIR-ANT5160V-R)

The problem I have is signal range!!! Its very very low! My linksys router has better range than my aironet

I have the antenna laying on top of the door frame in the closet, which I'm sure may kill the range some, but I would think I should still be able to walk outside and still pick up on my aironet!

Hi Anthony,

I think I may know why the range is non-existence. Look at the data sheet of the 1300 AP. The 1310 only supports 802.11b/g and doesn't support 802.11a. The Cisco AIR-ANT5160V-R is for 802.11a radio.

Cisco Aironet 1300 Series Outdoor Access Point or Bridge

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. May I request if you can rate our useful posts please? Thank you very much.

antyman506 · ‎04-30-2011

Thanks for your reply. I have 3 of the 1310 APs but only have one

hooked up so i don't want to upgrade to any other AP. What antenna

should I buy to get the most range possible?

Thanks,

Anthony Manzella

Sent from my iPhone 4

On Apr 30, 2011, at 7:18 PM, leolaohoo

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-30-2011

What antenna should I buy to get the most range possible?

Nuts. I ain't going to answer this question because I have alot of question FOR YOU!

Firstly, please describe the environment where the three APs will be going.

What are the walls made out of? If they are concrete, cinder blocks, bricks then how thick are these?

What is the area? (l x w x h)

How many clients do you expect to use each AP and/or in total?

antyman506 · ‎04-30-2011

Well this one is going to blow your mind. I'm using this equipment for

my personal setup which is at an apartment complex. I'm not going

to put all 3 up (I don't think anyway!)

Apartment is a 3 BD room. The AP is in a closet which is made out of

normal sheetrock. All walls in the apartment are Sheetrock as well.

The outside of the apartment is all brick. Normal residential bricks.

The sad thing is, even when I'm in the back bedroom, I only have

decent signal. My goal is to have connectivity through out the whole

complex. So I can sit at the pool and still have Internet. This is

just my home project and not for any of my clients. There is potential

agreement between me and the complex owners to have all 3 running and

offer Internet to the complex, but that will be a future project.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks,

Anthony Manzella

Sent from my iPhone 4

On Apr 30, 2011, at 7:37 PM, leolaohoo

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-30-2011

Ok. It's going to be no big deal then.

Right. Firstly, I'm not recommend high-gain antenna because the main issue is NOT from the AP to the client but the other way around: transmission signals from the client to the AP. Huh? Let me explain: Presume that you got this 2.4Ghz 6 dBi antenna so which means the AP can blast that power out. That's fine. But what about the client? The client doesn't have anything close to 4 dBi antenna. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO the client can hear the AP fine but the AP can't hear the client.

First, you need to run copper cables from your AP's location to your switch. Next you need to put your APs in the correct position. It also helps to point the antenna to the direction of the clients, this means point the antenna down to the floor.

I'd start looking at the 2.2 dBi antennas for the 2.4Ghz.

Ok, now you've choosen your antenna what next? Next you look at that particular model's data sheet. Pay close attention to the radiation pattern. Radiation patter is not scary. It doesn't mean that you'll have kids with three heads. Basically, radiating patterns means the horizontal and veritial "footprint" of the signal.

Normally the vertical footprint of a dipole antenna goes around. Think of it as standing in a room and extend your arm perpendicular to your body and spin around. That's the vertical footprint. Horizontal footprint is the up-and-down when you flap your arm like a chicken. This is the most important bit because not all dipoles are the same in the horizontal side.

Look for horizontal footprint like a kidney-shaped.

iskoy.istem · ‎05-01-2011

lee is right, you should be using an antenna for 2.4 GHz, what you were using now is for 5 GHz band which means the two components are incompatible.

antyman506 · ‎05-01-2011

One more question for you guys. How good is the built in antenna on

the 1310s? I know they are straight line of sight, but what type of

range can I expect out of them? Few hundred feet? Miles?

Thanks,

Anthony Manzella

Sent from my iPhone 4

On May 1, 2011, at 7:17 AM, "iskoy.istem"

Leo Laohoo · ‎05-01-2011

Hi Anthony,

Check the link I've posted.

antyman506 · ‎04-30-2011

What kind of range can I get with the 2.2dbi?

Thanks,

Anthony Manzella

Sent from my iPhone 4

On Apr 30, 2011, at 8:13 PM, leolaohoo

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-30-2011

This is a good place to start. ANT2422 is a good one. Take note that the ANT2422 and the ANT4941 are one and the same.

Cisco Aironet Antennas and Accessories Reference Guide

By the way, another thing I forgot to mention is your AP. Remember that the 1310 only supports 802.11b and g. Make sure you check the airwaves for any interferring signals from nearby wifi. 802.11b is limited to three non-overlapping channels. If your AP and other nearby APs transmit in one channel then you'll get interferrance.

antyman506 · ‎04-30-2011

I found the ANT2422 on eBay. What kind of range can I expect with this

antenna?

Thanks,

Anthony Manzella

Sent from my iPhone 4

On Apr 30, 2011, at 8:25 PM, leolaohoo <

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-30-2011

What kind of range can I expect with this antenna?

Check it out here ...

Cisco Aironet 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Antennas and Accessories

Help with Cisco Aironet 1310 and Cisco Aironet 6-dBi Omnidirectional Antenna