mhammett

I operate a Fixed Wireless Broadband company (WISP). At the time I was inspecting the site to verify it was a suitable location for a turn-key private microwave backhaul for a customer.

CH33XC033 ========== I was just driving by and the gate was open, so I stopped and took some pictures. I should have grabbed some more showing the coax routing on the ground. The hardline is going towards the old cabinet, but then there are jumpers bringing it back to the new one. There are a couple microwave dishes on this one. Sprint is the only tenant. https://plus.google....567714061019425

CH01XC181 ========== Well, there's also a couple of WISPs and another cellular carrier. I hope to be back to that site soon for better pictures. I wasn't on site to inspect Sprint's equipment at the time, but to evaluate options for a customer of mine. https://plus.google....120670046143473

The pictures I took of a NV site I was at have nothing in them indicating the ability to remotely control the azimuth or elevation (downtilt) of the entire antenna. If Sprint is using something like this, it must be internal. Next time I'm on a NV site, I'll take more detailed pictures of the Sprint equipment. https://plus.google.com/photos/113290727794626880879/albums/5815120670046143473 New to the site, so I haven't viewed all threads. That information was portrayed in this thread, but I put it another way and added some more information.

Inside the antenna, I presume? The pictures I took don't seem to indicate there is anything like that external to the antenna.

Different materials have different signal attenuation for different frequencies. Typically, the more solid the material, the less likely your signal is to penetrate it. With all else equal, lower frequencies will (normally) penetrate materials better than higher frequencies. An obvious exception to this rule is that 80 GHz has better free space loss characteristics than 60 GHz because 60 GHz has high oxygen absorption characteristics. These two bands will be key in dense backhaul environments. Antenna down-tilt is also a major factor. There are less likely to be people hundreds of feet off the ground than on the ground. Operators will physically tilt the antennas down so that the elevation of their radiation pattern tops out at a certain distance from the tower (cell size). This is to reduce self-interference when doing higher density deployments. Obviously in locations like Chicago, Downers Grove, Oak Brook and Schaumburg, some antennas will be pointed higher - depending on their distance from the buildings - to provide services to devices on higher floors. I thought you said you didn't collect with Sensorly. ;-) Lower frequencies require physically larger antenna to achieve the same gain and radiation patterns. Sprint was in 1900 MHz, but now are planning for 800 MHz LTE and voice. That will require a much larger antenna. It is becoming increasingly common to house multiple arrays in a given enclosure. These arrays may be on different bands or have different radiation patterns. This tactic typically carries reduced wind\structure loading, so the carriers can deploy more sectors or be charged a lower lease. My bet is on the ability to deploy more sectors. I've been doing that for about 8 years as I'm in the wireless industry. When I was in Mexico, I was going crazy looking at every tower and tall building. They had a lot. I wish the phones would provide an option to use GPS time. It doesn't make sense for them to do so there as that location isn't far from a Sprint tower. According to some of the microwave licenses, it's a major tower location, likely due to the fiber in the ground there. AT&T's LTE is likely running on 700 MHz, while Sprint's currently is on 1900. When they deploy 800 MHz LTE, that advantage will largely be gone. It'll still play a role when at the edge of their license area. Mostly physical, but beam steering\forming technologies exist. They are slowly making their way into commercial use. Largely so far they've been used in military applications. A few companies in the WiFi space have used similar techniques going back 6 - 8 years. The same thing goes for speed tests. Don't do those constantly. I cringe every time I hear someone say they did 2 gigs worth of speed tests that day. Absolutely unnecessary and a detriment to the network. Are they physically steering the array or is it electronic beam forming?

Yup, new member and I'm wanting to get caught up with what's going on instead of randomly posting questions to things already covered. I also (apparently) have to correct things that have been sitting out there that aren't correct. ;-) Very true, if your provider's transport went back to 350 E. Cermak Chicago to pick up something cheap such as Hurricane Electric and the speed test in the town next door's transport went to say 56 Marietta in Atlanta, your speed test to next door could have gone to Chicago then NYC then Atlanta then to your neighbor. Another example of this? If you're on any Boingo hotspot, your traffic is hauled to Austin first. I know this because when on a Boingo hotspot served by my network, my traceroutes go through Austin when going to another location on my network.

How likely is there to be a hand-off issue between DAS\in-building and the macro network such as we've been experiencing in Chicago with Motorola\Samsung?