AIR-ANT2566P4W-R - Cable connectors

[Alex-Pr]

I'm about to install a dozen AIR-ANT2566P4W-R Antennas on 3802e access points and the AP's have the connectors marked as A,B,C or D but I don't see any label on the cable or connector on the AP.  Does it matter which cable on the anntenna is plugged onto which antenna port of the AP or are they all the same?

Thanks,

Alex.

[WiFi Trainers]

Hi Alex,

The AIR-ANT2566P4W-R antenna is a dual band antenna. Since the 3800 AP has dual band ports you should be able to connect to any antenna port of the AP.

Hope this answers your question.

Best Regards,

www.wifitrainers.com

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[Lhausklsg]

Hi,

in the 7-series deployment guide they say it is not critical, but they still have a recommendation...

Cisco Aironet Series 1700/2700/3700 Access Points Deployment Guide

[Alex-Pr]

This is great.  It would be very useful if the info sheet or the antennas had "A C D B" written on them.  I ran some tests with it in the incorrect order (ABCD) and I was able to get download and upload speeds over 500Mbps from one AC client laptop where I had the AP set at 160mhz channel width.  I am now curious if this will incease performance having it in the correct order or if it will just help smooth out the power levels in the desired path.

Thank you!

Alex.

[samuel.heinrich]

I would recommend go with the prober order from the design guide.

like Lhausklsg mentioned

"It is not critical which antenna lead goes onto which antenna port on the AP as long as all the antenna ports on the AP are connected to the antennas. In the case of the Patch antenna AIR-ANT2566P4W-R, because the elements are spaced physically apart (side by side) in the plastic housing, there will be a slight improvement if you use the outer two elements on the Patch on ports “A” and “B”. This is only a small improvement and not a critical one and that is why we do not label them."

I was curious about it and did some test on my own with ekahau.

1) A,B,C,D  = 1,2,3,4

2) ACDB  = 1,2,3,4 (like recommended)

I wasn't able to see RSSI any difference on the outgoing signal (ap to client) but i had the feeling that the i had a slightly better incoming signal (client to ap). I did not repeat the test so many times, that i could verify the results. 

[tsawchuk]

Here is a picture for the proper connections for the antenna to the access point.

[jiflorwi]

Hi All, I have been monitoring and been made aware that there is some discussion on how to correctly hook this antenna to a Cisco AP.  The antenna itself does not have any markings on the antenna leads.  This, is because it does not matter when used on a 4 port dual band AP model.  The text that is being quoted refers explicitly to how to connect this antenna to a AP 1600 - and when it was written - that particular AP was brand new.  The concern came from this document - Cisco Aironet Series 1700/2700/3700 Access Points Deployment Guide

Two additional data Sheets that do not mention this - for good reason are here - 

AIR-ANT2566P4W-R Data Sheet

Install/Upgrade guide - Cisco Aironet 2.4-GHz/5-GHz MIMO 4-Element Patch Antenna (AIR-ANT2566P4W-R)

To be clear - there is no official ABCD for this antenna.  The antenna itself is a 4 array dual polarized antenna - and this operates fine on any of the 4 port dual band antenna AP's.  The special instruction and the photo were provided by Fred to cover what to do if you are putting it on a 3 port AP model (which is legal as far as we are concerned since the antenna itself is 6 dBi or less).  The cable arrangement was discussed and agreed to with the antenna engineer who designed it - and the intent was to isolate and arrange to use advantageously 3 of the ports in a beneficial combination - since you would have either 2 horizontal and 1 vertical - or 2 vertical and 1 horizontal elements at play. 

I hope that this helps.