User's Manual

pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual
3-7
3.2.5 Antenna Alignment
When mounting the high gain antenna (24 dBi), the proper antenna alignment is extremely important
since the beam-width of the antenna is very narrow. Once you perform a rough alignment and the
link is in operation, you can use the “monitor-link” and “antenna-alignment-aid” commands. Type:
> monitor-link
in order to update, every half second, the link statistics including the RSSI level. The antenna can
then be aligned so that the RSSI is maximized. In the PmP topology, the hub antenna is typically an
omni and dose not need to be carefully aligned. But if you need to align a hub radio antenna for
maximum signal from a particular remote use the command:
> monitor-link node=N
where N identifies the remote per the table displayed with the show command
Since in many applications the antenna is on a tower where it is not practical to have a terminal
nearby, the pulsAR radio provides an “antenna alignment aid” available at the outdoor unit. This
feature uses the three pin “Auxiliary port” connector to output an audio signal with a pitch
proportional to the receive signal strength. AFAR provides a special cable adapter that converts the
three-pin connector into a standard female audio jack. Use this cable to connect the three-pin
connector to a pair of standard headphones while aligning the antenna. At a terminal session issue the
command:
>aaa audio (aaa is an abbreviation for “antenna-alignment-aid”)
and then align the antenna until you hear the highest audio pitch. Once the antenna is aligned you
may type the command:
>aaa off
to turn off the audio signal and revert the auxiliary port connector to console mode.
3.2.6 Radio Configuration
The pulsAR units are shipped pre-configured with a factory default configuration. If the unit
configuration has been altered, you can always reload it with the command:
> load factory
In order to deploy an RF network between two or more radios you need choose one radio to be the
“hub” and configure it with the command:
> node type=hub
All other radios may be left configured with the factory configuration. As you turn them on with
antennas pointing at the hub they will automatically join the network. Use the >show command to
see the status of the radio, or the >show radios command for a complete list of all the radios in the
network.