MR36 - Transmit Power

[PJ51182]

Hi,

I have recently been supplied with MR36 APs rather than the MR33 we ordered due to supply issues. I installed my first batch of MR36 and found that the transmit power maximum setting is only 12 where as the MR33 is 16.

"1 radio is incompatible with a max power of 16 and will be set to its highest compatible power."

As we have planned the install for the dBm being higher it has had an affect on the coverage.

I have checked the datasheet for the MR36 and there is no mention of the dBm at all.

Please see screen grab below:

I'm not sure why the transmit power is lower? Any thoughts?

[GreenMan]

I'm not sure of your in-country regulatory rules, but note the difference in peak antenna gain between the two models.

From the datasheets:

MR33: Integrated omni-directional antennas (3.8 dBi gain at 2.4 GHz, 3.9 dBi gain at 5 GHz)

MR36: Internal Antenna (5.4 dBi gain at 2.4 GHz, 6 dBi gain at 5 GHz)

With a higher peak gain, you usually need lower Tx power, to avoid exceeding max EIRP for the system

[joey.debra]

I have also noticed some possible discrepancies in the allowed EIRP on Meraki W6 AP's vs the actual regulatory allowed EIRP.

In Europe you have following rules.
All 2.4 GHz channels - max 20 dBm EIRP.
So the MR 33 should be max 16 dBm Tx Power and the MR36 should be max 14 dBm.

In case of 5 GHz it depends on the channel.

36 - 48 and 52 - 64 = max 23 dBm EIRP

In this case you should have max 19 dBm Tx power on MR33 and max 17 dBm on MR36.

100 - 140 = max 30 dBm EIRP

In this case you should have max 26 dBm on MR33 and max 24 dBm on MR36

However the MR33 also has a total max Tx power of 17 to 21 dBm depending on the channel used.
And the MR36 is even a bit lower I've found the datasheet in the library section of the site (it's not linked on the product page itself 😕 ) the max power is 18 dBm in 2.4 GHz and 17 on 5 GHw