Cisco 1230b Antenna Questions

[ronfrancies]

The question I have today concerns using 2 antennas with a Cisco 1200. We have a customer that was using Proxim MP11s along with Proxim 600s to provide Internet in an apartment complex with 560 units and 8 APs. They were getting poor performance so they called us and we had them convert to Cisco. The problem is we need to set up 3 repeaters, and we want to use 12 degree down tilt antennas for the clients. So with the APs in repeater or root mode, can we hook up 1 patch (or Mast) antenna for the backhaul and 1 mast antenna (clients) either one in each port, or both in the primary port using a splitter? Looking to not add additional APs to provide backhaul signal. Are we trying to do too much with 2 AP’s? We have plenty of bandwidth as the 4 root APs all have T1s.

[kmarrero]

You will be able to connect only two antennas to the access point. The right port on the AP is the primary antenna port and the left port is used for diversity. You will not be able to connect two antennas to each port.

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/wireless/airo1200/accsspts/1200hig/12hig2_4.htm#1043327

[bbaley]

The two antenna ports are for diversity so if the antenna is connected to each port they need to cover the same cell (so both antennas need to be located together. If you wish to use two antennas in different areas then yes a splitter should be used. Keep in mind a splitter will add additional loss as additional cable assemblies are typically used and the power would then be divided between both antennas. Splitters and cable assemblies intoduce additional components that could also be sources for potential failure.