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Different Transmit Power Profiles per AP?

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stelker77
Level 1
Level 1

‎03-11-2020 07:39 AM - edited ‎07-05-2021 11:50 AM

Hey all,

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this post. I will start off by humbly stating that I am very new to Cisco's wild world of WiFi.

I'm working on a Cisco WLC 8540, software version 8.3.143.0.

I am using the "show advanced 802.11a txpower" command on the WLC CLI via SSH to view the transmit power level per access point. Output looks like this:

AP1 *60 *4/6 ( 8 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP2 *64 *2/6 (14 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP3 *44 *2/6 (14 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP4 *36 *5/6 ( 5 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP5 *52 *4/6 ( 8 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP6 *36 *4/6 ( 8 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP7 *36 *1/6 (17 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP8 *36 *1/6 (14 dBm) [14/11/8/5/2/-1/0/0]
AP9 *157 *1/8 (22 dBm) [22/19/16/13/10/7/4/1]
AP10 *64 *3/6 (11 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP11 *36 *4/5 ( 6 dBm) [15/12/9/6/3/3/3/3]
AP12 *36 *1/6 (17 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP13 *36 *1/6 (14 dBm) [14/11/8/5/2/-1/0/0]
AP14 *60 *4/6 ( 8 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP15 *149 *4/8 (14 dBm) [23/20/17/14/11/8/5/2]
AP16 *36 *1/6 (17 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP17 *60 *1/6 (17 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP18 *56 *2/6 (14 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP19 *161 *1/8 (23 dBm) [23/20/17/14/11/8/5/2]
AP20 *48 *3/6 (11 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]
AP21 *161 *5/8 (11 dBm) [23/20/17/14/11/8/5/2]
AP22 *149 *1/8 (23 dBm) [23/20/17/14/11/8/5/2]
AP23 *149 *1/8 (23 dBm) [23/20/17/14/11/8/5/2]

AP24 *149 *7/8 ( 5 dBm) [23/20/17/14/11/8/5/2]

AP25 *52 *6/6 ( 2 dBm) [17/14/11/8/5/2/2/2]

 

This is telling me that my power levels (1-8) in the GUI aren't really giving me the whole picture on transmit power. There seem to be different "Tx Power Profiles" (my made up word) per access point. One AP's power level 1 might be 23 dBm, another AP's power level 1 might be 17 dBm. I checked two AP's of the same model, with different Tx Power Profiles (1 has 8 possible power levels, the other has 6 possible power levels), and they are showing the same software version. Any thoughts on how to account for these discrepancies?

One of my goals is to apply a consistent power level to all AP's on a per-site basis using RF Profiles and AP groups, and this has been an interesting revelation.

What I'd like to do is set all 5GHz radios to 14 dBm as a baseline. I am attempting to do this by configuring Wireless > RF Profiles > My Test Profile > RRM > Maximum Power Level Assignment (-10 to 30 dBm) : 14 dBm
Minimum Power Level Assignment (-10 to 30 dBm) : 14 dBm
Power Threshold v1(-80 to -50 dBm) : -70 dBm (shouldn't be relevant?)
Power Threshold v2(-80 to -50 dBm) : -67 dBm (shouldn't be relevant?)

Is this the correct way to do this? I've only been able to test on a single AP so far, and it is reporting a power level of 2 which does correspond to 14 dBm, according to its own power profile.

Thanks again and I hope you are all well!

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1 Accepted Solution

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aogston
Level 1
Level 1

‎03-11-2020 08:50 AM

Hi Stelker77.

The TX power level will vary depending on which channel the AP is using as you already noted.  Different levels are allowed on different UNII  bands.

 

I have a spreadsheet covering our AP models for my reference.  Below is a snip.

 

Yes, it is a bit of a pain.  We also set the upper and lower allowable levels in Wireless>802.11a/n/ac/ax>RRM>TPC.

 

Hope this helps.

 

3802i-E 8.x code           Power Level
   Channel		12345678
Band A36171411852--
UNII-140171411852--
Lower44171411852--
 48171411852--
Band A52171411852--
UNII-256171411852--
Middle60171411852--
 64171411852--
Band B1002320171411852
UNII-21042320171411852
Extended1082320171411852
 1122320171411852

View solution in original post

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4 Replies 4

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aogston
Level 1
Level 1

‎03-11-2020 08:50 AM

Hi Stelker77.

The TX power level will vary depending on which channel the AP is using as you already noted.  Different levels are allowed on different UNII  bands.

 

I have a spreadsheet covering our AP models for my reference.  Below is a snip.

 

Yes, it is a bit of a pain.  We also set the upper and lower allowable levels in Wireless>802.11a/n/ac/ax>RRM>TPC.

 

Hope this helps.

 

3802i-E 8.x code           Power Level
   Channel		12345678
Band A36171411852--
UNII-140171411852--
Lower44171411852--
 48171411852--
Band A52171411852--
UNII-256171411852--
Middle60171411852--
 64171411852--
Band B1002320171411852
UNII-21042320171411852
Extended1082320171411852
 1122320171411852
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stelker77
Level 1
Level 1
In response to aogston

‎03-11-2020 09:38 AM

Ah, yes! I remember reading this at some point but had either forgotten it or didn't make the connection. Thank you so much!

Is there any way I could convince you to post the rest of your chart? :)

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aogston
Level 1
Level 1
In response to stelker77

‎03-11-2020 10:26 AM

This could be ugly!  I am sure you can make a better job of it than I did :-)

 

3802i-E 8.x code           Power Level
   Channel		12345678 3702i 8.x code           Power Level
   Channel		12345678 3702i 7.x code           Power Level
   Channel		12345678 3602i           Power Level
   Channel		12345678 2702e           Power Level
   Channel		12345678
Band A36171411852-- Band A36171411852-- Band A36181512963-- Band A36181512963-- Band A36181512963--
UNII-140171411852-- UNII-140171411852-- UNII-140181512963-- UNII-140181512963-- UNII-140181512963--
Lower44171411852-- Lower44171411852-- Lower44181512963-- Lower44181512963-- Lower44181512963--
 48171411852--  48171411852--  48181512963--  48181512963--  48181512963--
Band A52171411852-- Band A52171411852-- Band A52181512963-- Band A52181512963-- Band A52181512963--
UNII-256171411852-- UNII-256171411852-- UNII-256181512963-- UNII-256181512963-- UNII-256181512963--
Middle60171411852-- Middle60171411852-- Middle60181512963-- Middle60181512963-- Middle60181512963--
 64171411852--  64171411852--  64181512963--  64181512963--  64181512963--
Band B1002320171411852 Band B100171411852-- Band B100181512963-- Band B1002320171411852 Band B100181512963--
UNII-21042320171411852 UNII-2104171411852-- UNII-21042320171411852 UNII-21042320171411852 UNII-2104181512963--
Extended1082320171411852 Extended108171411852-- Extended1082320171411852 Extended1082320171411852 Extended108181512963--
 1122320171411852  112171411852--  1122320171411852  1122320171411852  112181512963--
 1162320171411852  116171411852--  1162320171411852  1162320171411852  116181512963--
 120--------  120--------  120--------  120--------  120--------
 124--------  124--------  124--------  124--------  124--------
 128--------  128--------  128--------  128--------  128--------
 1322320171411852  132171411852--  1322320171411852  1322320171411852  132--------
 1362320171411852  136171411852--  1362320171411852  1362320171411852  136--------
 1402320171411852  140171411852--  1402320171411852  1402320171411852  140--------
 144--------  144171411852--  1442320171411852  144--------  144--------
Band C149-------- Band C149171411852-- Band C1492320171411852 Band C149-------- Band C149--------
UNII-3153-------- UNII-3153171411852-- UNII-31532320171411852 UNII-3153-------- UNII-3153--------
Upper157-------- Upper157171411852-- Upper1572320171411852 Upper157-------- Upper157--------
 161--------  161171411852--  1612320171411852  161--------  161--------
 165--------  165171411852--  165--------  165--------  165--------
                                                      
            Power Level
   Channel		12345678             Power Level
   Channel		12345678 3702i           Power Level
   Channel		12345678 3602i           Power Level
   Channel		12345678 2702e           Power Level
   Channel		12345678
3802i-E 8.x code1,6,11161310742--                                            
           3702i1,6,1116131074---  1,6,11181512963--  1181512963--  1181512963--
                                  6181512963--  6181512963--
                                  11181512963--  11181512963--
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Leo Laohoo
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

‎03-11-2020 03:33 PM

@stelker77 wrote:

One of my goals is to apply a consistent power level to all AP's on a per-site basis using RF Profiles and AP groups

The output shows the WLC is automatically setting the power and the channels.  Leave it alone.  

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