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How to Spot Sprint Antennas and RRUs (Ericsson)


lilotimz

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Ericsson RRUS31 B25 + RRUS11 B26

These are the newest and greatest remote radio units to come from Ericsson. 

The new Ericsson RRUS31  B25 should be fairly distinctive compared to the earlier RRUS11s and now the RRUS12s being deployed by ATT and Verizon. One of these new RRUS31s can do the job of two earlier RRUS11s thus reducing deployment costs for Sprint and complexity in deploying new sites and making it easier for users to spot as there are now 4 jumpers coming out of one RRUS31 rather than two from each RRUS11 that Ericsson originally deployed. 

All future deployments will be utilizing the new Ericsson RRUS31s. In addition Ericsson are sending crews to their original deployments and swapping out older RRUS11s for these new RRUS31s due to the aforementioned fact that one RRUS31 can do the job of 2 RRUS11s. Weight savings will be significant at sites where there are 4 or 5 RRUS11 B25s that can be replaced by one or 2 RRUS31s. The Ericsson RRUS31 deployment project is known as the 65 Mhz Project. 

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Ericsson RRUS11 B26 top and RRUS31 B25 bottom

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Ericsson High Capacity / 4x4/2 MIMO Deployment
Note the additional antenna + PCS radio.
Previously Ericsson utilized additional PCS radios and used RF combiners for high capacity setups where they utilized three or more PCS radios. This new setup will utilize a completey new antenna + radio set just like Samsung and run 4x2 MIMO on the LTE antenna / radio set. 
 

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Ericsson RRUS11 B25 [EOL'd] and B26
A standard Ericsson Network Vision 1.0 site with 3 RRUS11s where two are dedicated to PCS and one to SMR.  

This type of setup is no longer deployed or utilized in new sites. Existing sites will be slowly converted to newer RRUS31 B25 via the Sprint 65 mhz project. 

r1mLaQL.jpg
 

Ericsson NV high capacity site [EOL'd]
3 or 4 PCS RRUs are present for a total of 4 or 5 RRUS11s per antenna. 

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Close up of Antennas
 

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Ericsson cabinets 
(center)

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All credit to those who took the photographs. They know who they are! :)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

so whats the purpose of each of the 4 boxes on the back of each antenna?  is it just an ericsson antenna specific thing?

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so whats the purpose of each of the 4 boxes on the back of each antenna? is it just an ericsson antenna specific thing?

Those are the RRUs. Remote Radio Units. See the FAQ for a detail explanation.

 

They are not an Ericsson thing. All of the OEMs use them. Though they all look different, as each company develops their own technology. Samsung uses 2 RRU(H)s, as does Alcatel Lucent.

 

 

Sent from my LG G3

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so perhaps a stupid question, but as i seen from the map samsung is the northwest antennas, but i have seen a few that look like these ericson models?  Do other carriers have deals with ericson up here in the northwest?  or do they tend to stay in the same territory for each carrier?  like does verizon use samsung/ericson/altel lucent as well?  or do they have their own manufacturer?

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so perhaps a stupid question, but as i seen from the map samsung is the northwest antennas, but i have seen a few that look like these ericson models?  Do other carriers have deals with ericson up here in the northwest?  or do they tend to stay in the same territory for each carrier?  like does verizon use samsung/ericson/altel lucent as well?  or do they have their own manufacturer?

 

ATT -- Ericsson / Alcatel-Lucent

Verizon -- Ericsson / Alcatel-Lucent

Tmobile -- Ericsson / Nokia Solutions & Networks

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so sprint is the only one that uses samsung equipment then?

 

So this would be a samsung one then correct? hope you can clearly see it.  that was taken with the galaxy camera 2.

 

Yes...

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so sprint is the only one that uses samsung equipment then?

 

So this would be a samsung one then correct? hope you can clearly see it. that was taken with the galaxy camera 2.

Wrong thread. Again........

 

Sent from my LG G3

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Wrong thread. Again........

 

Sent from my LG G3

 

thanks for the reply.  I deleted my post.

 

Kevin

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  • 1 month later...

Has anyone seen panels like these used in an Ericsson NV deployment? I found these staged at one of our few remaining non NV sites in Louisville, KY. These are slightly different than the usual panels.

 

These are Andrew panels, with input ranges of 698 MHz - 896 MHz and 1710-2360 MHz. 

 

7ATvfs3l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7ATvfs3.jpg

 

More pics and details here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4956-kentucky-nashville-maps-and-stats/?p=358363

 

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Has anyone seen panels like these used in an Ericsson NV deployment? I found these staged at one of our few remaining non NV sites in Louisville, KY. These are slightly different than the usual panels.

 

These are Andrew panels, with input ranges of 698 MHz - 896 MHz and 1710-2360 MHz.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/7ATvfs3.jpg

 

More pics and details here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4956-kentucky-nashville-maps-and-stats/?p=358363

Sprint uses off the shelf equipment from the antenna manufacturers. Antenna manufacturers try to include as many frequencies as possible to support a wider client base and limit development costs for multiple different antennas when one can do everything that needs to be done.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

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Sprint uses off the shelf equipment from the antenna manufacturers. Antenna manufacturers try to include as many frequencies as possible to support a wider client base and limit development costs for multiple different antennas when one can do everything that needs to be done.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

OK, so hope is not lost yet. I was wondering as there are three other carriers on this tower and these are different than most of the other panels used for Sprint here. Hopefully these get mounted soon.  :tu:

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OK, so hope is not lost yet. I was wondering as there are three other carriers on this tower and these are different than most of the other panels used for Sprint here. Hopefully these get mounted soon. :tu:

Remember antennas are agnostic. They can broadcast whatever as long as it's in the supported frequency range and are hooked up properly to a radio.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

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Has anyone seen panels like these used in an Ericsson NV deployment? I found these staged at one of our few remaining non NV sites in Louisville, KY. These are slightly different than the usual panels.

 

These are Andrew panels, with input ranges of 698 MHz - 896 MHz and 1710-2360 MHz. 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/7ATvfs3.jpg

 

More pics and details here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4956-kentucky-nashville-maps-and-stats/?p=358363

 

 

Sprint uses off the shelf equipment from the antenna manufacturers. Antenna manufacturers try to include as many frequencies as possible to support a wider client base and limit development costs for multiple different antennas when one can do everything that needs to be done.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

It appears I was wrong, this was for another carrier. Went by the site again today and they were actively working on the bottom rack, Sprint is second from the top. Oh well, this site goes back on my watch list. 

 

DzSmYPml.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

I also found a site, which has been marked in the sponsor area as "In Progress"...with the new RRUS31 being used.

 

I just happened to drive to the site out of the blue, and they were working on it. Talk about your ironic luck...

 

I hope this site goes live soon, but here's what I got yesterday and today (No change that I can see between today and yesterday, so I'm not sure what work they were doing)

 

Today

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gn086o78k3rop70/DSCF0001.JPG

 

Today

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yyb3npffhi9tjut/DSCF0002.JPG

 

Yesterday

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cjrxwc4tlld4iub/DSCF0380.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Do these new RRUS31 produce a stronger signal on PCS LTE Band 25 versus the old RRUS11?

Less weight for similar capability. Potentially stronger signal at the edge but other than that not much changes except you drop a lot of weight from removing two or three old rrus11s which allow you to have more rooms for activities... You know... Like installing a new radio head and antenna.
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Less weight for similar capability. Potentially stronger signal at the edge but other than that not much changes except you drop a lot of weight from removing two or three old rrus11s which allow you to have more rooms for activities... You know... Like installing a new radio head and antenna.

Spotted a crew doing a RRU swap today, I believe it was Goodman Networks, they were working on the N and SE facing sectors, could only get LTE on the SW facing sector of the site.  I'll try to get pictures tomorrow depending on the weather and if they have finished up.

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Less weight for similar capability. Potentially stronger signal at the edge but other than that not much changes except you drop a lot of weight from removing two or three old rrus11s which allow you to have more rooms for activities... You know... Like installing a new radio head and antenna.

 

I found a NSN/Ericsson Spark permit in my area which, in addition to adding 2.5 equipment and replacing RRUS 11s with RRUS 31s, also adds new 1900 MHz antennas -- APXVSPP18-C-A20 on the alpha and beta sectors, and APXVRR13-C-A20 on the gamma sector. The original NV antennas also remain, so this may be the first indication that Sprint will actually be using the 4x2 MIMO capability of the RRUS 31.

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  • 5 months later...

New Ericsson high capacity setup in Lawrence, KS. (Plus Nokia...)

 

Courtesy AJ.

 

Yep. Looks like they're abandoning the Rf combiners in high capacity sites for another set of antenna and radio heads like Samsung.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

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Is this more for 4x2 mimo?

No. This is just another way to deploy high capacity sites. Samsung has been doing this type of setup since the beginning.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

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