Chapter 3. Installing the Antenna. Proxim 65756B, CPN 65756B

Tsunami MP.11a Antenna Installation Guide

Chapter 3. Installing the Antenna

PLANNING ANTENNA INSTALLATION

Plan the day for your outdoor antenna installation carefully. Do not install the antenna in wet or windy conditions, during a thunderstorm, or when the area in which the equipment is to be installed is covered with ice or snow.

The grounding system for the antenna mast, Tsunami MP.11a hardware, and surge arrestor should be installed before the cable from the antenna is connected to the surge arrestor. This protects your system against lightning strikes during installation.

Familiarize yourself with the antenna and the antenna-specific mounting instructions prior to climbing any roof or ladder. Installing and testing all equipment before beginning the actual rooftop installation will help you to determine whether all required equipment and items are available and are functioning properly.

To verify the equipment prior to installation, you may need to follow the guidelines as described in the documentation that comes with the Tsunami MP.11a first.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Read this section carefully before beginning the installation. All of the following requirements should be satisfied prior to starting installation of your outdoor antennas.

DANGER!

The Tsunami outdoor antennas are intended for mounting on a roof, or on the side of a building. Installation shall not be attempted by someone who is not trained or experienced in this type of work. The antenna has to be installed by a suitably trained professional installation technician. The site prerequisites have to be checked by a person familiar with the national electrical code, and other regulations governing this type of installation.

Outdoor antennas and antenna cables are electrical conductors. Transients or electrostatic discharges that may occur at the antenna (for example a lightning strike during thunderstorms) may damage your electronic equipment and cause personal injury or death to persons touching the exposed metal connectors of the antenna cable.

When installing, disconnecting or replacing one of the cabling components, you must ensure at all times that each exposed metal connectors of the antenna cabling system will be grounded locally during the work.

Do not install this antenna where there is any possibility of contact with high-voltage arc-over from power cables or service drops to buildings. The antenna, supporting mast or tower must not be close to any power lines during installation, removal or in the event of part of the system should accidentally fail. Apply a ‘Danger’ label to a plainly visible area of the antenna support structure.

Do not climb rooftops in wet or windy conditions, during a thunderstorm or when the area where the equipment will be installed is covered with ice or snow.

Do not touch antennas, surge arrestors and antenna cables during a thunderstorm.

The location where you will install the antenna(s) must be at a safe distance from power lines or telephone lines.

The safe distance should be at least twice the height of the antenna mast plus the height of the antenna.

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Tsunami MP.11a Antenna Installation Guide

Antennas shall be mounted in such a manner to minimize the potential for human contact during normal operation. In order to avoid the possibility of exceeding the FCC radio frequency exposure limits, human proximity to the antenna shall not be less than 20 cm (8 inches) during normal operation.

The low-loss antenna cable that will connect the antenna with the surge arrestor must be at least 1 m (3 ft) away from any high voltage or high current cable.

Check whether the antenna mast and its guy wires or wall bracket are positioned correctly and secured properly to the roof or wall(s).

Check whether the grounding system for the antenna mast, the Tsunami MP.11a hardware and surge arrestor have been installed. The grounding system must comply with the requirements as described in “Grounding

System.”

Always consult a qualified electrician if you are in doubt as to whether the antenna mast, the surge arrestor and

Tsunami MP.11a hardware are properly grounded.

The antenna cable between the antenna and the surge arrestor must be grounded at all times. If the cable is disconnected at one end for some reason (for example, to replace the surge arrestor) then you must ensure that the exposed metal connector of the cable is grounded locally during the work.

INSTALLATION OVERVIEW

The installation process can be summarized in the following steps:

1. Verify that the support structure for the antenna has been connected to the grounding system. If this is not the case, you should do so now.

2. Connect the exposed metal connectors of the low-loss antenna cable to the grounding system.

3. Mount the antenna to the support structure, following the guidelines as described for your antenna.

4. Connect the antenna cable to the antenna.

5. Route the antenna cable to the surge arrestor that has been installed indoors.

6. Connect the antenna cable to the surge arrestor.

7. Attach the surge arrestor to the N-type male connector pigtail hanging from the cable opening in the

Tsunami MP.11.

8. Run the Link Test diagnostics of the management tools that come with the Tsunami MP.11a to aim the antenna and verify optimal placement.

9. Once the antenna is correctly positioned, and you have verified the installation works properly, secure all cables and use weatherproofing tape to seal all outdoor connectors.

Note: When you must remove or relocate the antenna, follow the Safety Precautions at the beginning of this chapter and follow the steps listed above in exactly the reverse order.

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Tsunami MP.11a Antenna Installation Guide

MOUNTING THE ANTENNA

Proxim Corporation offers multiple antennas to set up a wireless link. As the mounting procedures for the various antennas differ from one another, consult the documentation you received from the antenna manufacturer for mounting procedures.

When mounting multiple antennas on a single mast, use the following methods to minimize the influence of cross-talk interference between the antennas:

▪ Place your antennas as far apart as you can.

▪ Alternate the mounting of directional antennas for vertical and horizontal polarization.

Connecting the Antenna Cable

Once the antenna is properly installed, you can connect the antenna to the Base Station or Subscriber Unit by way of the surge arrestor:

1. Connect the antenna cable to the antenna.

2. Secure the antenna cable to the mast so that the cable connectors do not support the full weight of the cable.

3. Connect the opposite end of the antenna cable to the surge arrestor.

CAUTION! To avoid damage to the antenna cable and connectors, refrain from using tools to tighten the cable connectors.

4. Prior to securing the cable along its complete length, run the Link Test diagnostics of the management tools that comes with Tsunami MP.11a to analyze wireless performance and optimal placement of the outdoor antenna. How to use this tools is described in the documentation that comes with the Tsunami

MP.11a or can be from the Proxim website at http://www.expressresponse.com/proxim02/ .

5. If required, adjust the direction of the antenna.

6. Once the installation has been fully tested, tighten the nuts of the antenna to “lock” the antenna into its position.

CAUTION! Avoid over-tightening of the connector, and nuts and screws used to mount the antenna, to prevent damage to your Tsunami MP.11a hardware.

7. Secure the cable along its complete length with cable ties or electrical tape to relieve strain on the antenna connector properly. No part of the cable should be allowed to hang free. This is especially important for those parts that are routed outside the building.

8. Proceed as described in the next section to weatherproof all outdoor coax connectors.

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Tsunami MP.11a Antenna Installation Guide

Sealing the Cable Connectors

Most problems associated with wireless outdoor installations are related to degrading performance due to corrosion of the antenna cable and cable connectors. To avoid this type of problem, you must always seal the cable connectors that are located outdoors using the weatherproofing tape provided.

You are advised to seal the connectors only after you have verified optimal alignment of the antennas using the Link Test as described in the documentation that comes with the Tsunami MP.11. Doing so lets you adjust antenna placement and cable routing without removing the tape.

1. Prepare the cable and connectors so that they are free from dust, dirt and grease.

2. Attach the tip of the weatherproofing tape to the cable just above the connector. Holding the tape in its position, now stretch the tape and wind it half-overlapped around the cable and connectors to form a void-free joint. The degree of stretch may vary in different sections of the joint, as long as the overlaps accomplish a void-free application.

3. To protect the weatherproofing stretch tape from the effects of Ultra-Violet (UV) radiation (for example, from direct sunlight), you should protect the joint with two half-overlapped layers of any vinyl plastic electrical tape. Alternatively, you can apply silicone sealer to protect the weatherproofing tape from sunlight, rain and other weather conditions.

Grounding System

Direct grounding of the antenna mast, Tsunami MP.11a hardware and surge arrestor is very important.

Note: A safety grounding system is necessary to protect your Tsunami MP.11a hardware from lightning strikes and the build-up of static electricity.

WARNING! The antenna mast, Tsunami MP.11a hardware and surge arrestor must be connected to the same ground, using an equi-potential bonding conductor.

A good electrical connection should be made to one or more ground rods, using at least a

10AWG ground wire and non-corrosive hardware. The grounding system must comply with the

National Electrical Code and safety standards that apply in your country. Always check with a qualified electrician if you are in doubt whether your Tsunami MP.11a hardware installation is properly grounded or not.

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Tsunami MP.11a Antenna Installation Guide

Antenna Alignment

For optimal performance of your wireless link, make sure the antennas are properly aligned (facing one another “eye-to-eye”). To align the antennas:

▪ Use a pair of binoculars or a map of the area and a compass to point the antennas to one another.

▪ Use the Link Test option of the management tools that come with the Tsunami MP.11a to analyze the radio link quality.

▪ The Link Test option lets you display the radio signal strength in relation to the noise in the signal path.

▪ If required, you can interactively optimize the antenna alignment with the Link Test, by making small modifications in the antenna orientation.

▪ Alternatively, consult a professional Antenna Installation Service to optimize the antenna alignment.

Omni-directional antennas are characterized by a wide radiation pattern. Therefore, alignment of this type of antennas is less critical than alignment of directional antennas.

Antenna Polarization

Tsunami outdoor antennas are standard mounted for vertical polarization.

In some cases, you might consider mounting the antenna for horizontal polarization. For example, to minimize the influence of cross-talk between antennas when:

▪ You plan to mount multiple directional antennas to the same mast.

▪ Your wireless link receives interference from a vertically polarized neighboring installation.

Mounting for horizontal polarization is not supported for omni-directional grid antennas.

Note: For optimal wireless link performance, you must always verify that the antenna polarization on both ends of the wireless link is the same. Consult the corresponding instruction appendixes for changing the antenna polarization.

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Tsunami MP.11a Antenna Installation Guide

Antenna Cable Routing

The antenna cable must be routed and fixed in such a way that installation technicians have a clear passage area. All connectors that are located outdoors must have a weatherproof seal. You are advised to seal connectors only after you have completed the final radio tests.

BEFORE CLIMBING THE ROOF...

Before you start installing, check whether you have all the required components to set up an outdoor wireless link. For each side of a wireless outdoor wireless link you need:

▪ One or two low-loss antenna cables

▪ A female-female converter N-connector in case you want to use two antenna cables

▪ Tools and material to mount the antenna

▪ Tape or wraps to attach the antenna cable, for example to the mast

▪ Grounding material such as cable and connector

If an item is missing or damaged during shipment, inform your supplier.

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Issue Date: August 2003