Ekahau RW AP power ouput values

[primoz_marinsek]

Does anyone know what the power output values of APs in Ekahau SS PRO are?

[primoz_marinsek]

Thanks for the answer Bill , however I do know what dB an mW means actually. I have learned that quite a while back.

And I know exactly what EIRP should be for my country, however EIRP is regulated and is a max power output. An AP must regulate it's power output as it must combine it with antenna gain.

In the end I was thinking that maybe 25mW is an OK parameter if we take into account that my regulatory allows max 100mW. If we take into account that APs have up to 6dBi gain than that's just about right, but that's a max value that is achievable maybe 30% of the time (not all patterns have this much gain probably). So now I'm thinking to use 50mW to strike some middle ground, but some guidance would be apreshiated.

[bill_burns_6069]

This is a planning tool then, right?
So it's about the kind of AP you plan to deploy.

If you use a value of 50mW transmit power then that means you're expecting 3dB worth of line, connector and "other" losses to end up w/ 100mW EIRP on a 6dB antenna.

3dB of losses sounds like a lot. (especially assuming your antennas are integrated or connected directly to your AP)
You'd be much safer with the 25mW transmitter-power figure.

I figure connector losses (for RP-SMA?) to be someting like .2dB at 2.4Ghz, and .4dB at 5Ghz.
If you assume connector losses weren't accounted for when calculating the gain of your antennas, then to overcome that you could bump your transmit power up to 26mW in the 2.4Ghz band and maybe 27mW in the 5Gig band.
(if your APs have that kind of resolution in their power output)

You aren't using antenna cables, right?
If you were, you could do a calculation to compensate for those losses.

..but does your software really simulate those losses?
Probably not.
That means sticking w/ 25mW transmit power, or 100mW EIRP.

In fact, you might want to simulate w/ less than 100mW EIRP to give you a margin of (coverage) safety in your plans.

--

Wow. 100mW legal limit?
That's less than a "standard" linksys device in the US. (at about 250mW)
..and 100mW EIRP?
Sounds like a pretty severe limitation.

There's regulation limiting most wifi devices to 1000mW in the US.
Ruckus gets around that by way of it's directivity. (that type of system has higher limits)

I don't know what country you're in but if you were using the Ruckus gear that I use here, you'd have to manually configure each AP to be "down" by 14db. (for a 7982)
... and the most my controller allows me to adjust down is 10db.

So.. you either don't (can't?) use the 7982 there, or the 7982/controller that's sold in your country is a different version. (to meet a 100mW EIRP spec)

[primoz_marinsek]

Yes, ESS is among other things a planing tool.

I'm implementing a WLAN network. I did the SS on site, now I'm filling the gaps with virtual APs. I have to guess attenuation of walls which I can do to a fair degree since I've done the SS, however I have another variable which is the output power. NOT EIRP, but the power of the amplifier before the antenna. I'm using only RW APs with integrated antennas, not any kind of external antennas. But don't worry I'll figure something out, I just thought that someone had a good suggestion for power setting in ESS.

--

We can use 7982 and any other RW AP here, no problem. I just use the regulatorry setting in the GUI.

[john_olsthoorn]

As far as I know, the controller and AP will bring the power down to the allowed levels for your area when you have selected the right country when you configured the system. So you do not need to adjust the power level yourself as long as you do not use separate external antennas.