User's Manual

Chapter 1: Working with the EnRoute500
TR0153 Rev. E1 14
DO NOT CONNECT ANY DEVICE OTHER THAN THE ENROUTE500 TO THE
PORT LABELED “CPE” ON THE PoE INJECTOR. NETWORK EQUIPMENT
THAT DOES NOT SUPPORT PoE CAN BE PERMANENTLY DAMAGED BY
CONNECTING TO A PoE SOURCE. NOTE THAT MOST ETHERNET
INTERFACES ON PERSONAL COMPUTERS (PCs), LAPTOP/NOTEBOOK
COMPUTERS, AND OTHER NETWORK EQUIPMENT (E.G. ETHERNET
SWITCHES AND ROUTERS) DO NOT SUPPORT PoE.
1.5.2 Antennas
Attach the supplied antennas to the mesh and access point (AP) radio ports on the
EnRoute500. The antennas used for the two radios are band-specific and therefore it is
important to correctly match the antennas with the radio ports.
The thicker of the two antennas is the 2.4 GHz antenna, which should be attached to the AP
connector. The thinner antenna is the 5.8 GHz antenna, which should be attached to the mesh
connector.
1.6 Deployment Considerations
The EnRoute500’s radios operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz ISM bands. It is
possible that there will be other devices operating in these bands that will interfere with the
EnRoute500’s radios. Interference from adjacent EnRoute500s can also degrade performance
if the EnRoute500s are not configured properly.
It is advisable to carry out a site survey prior to installation to determine what devices are
operating in the two bands that the EnRoute500 uses. To detect the presence of other 802.11
devices, a tool such as Netstumbler (http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/) can be used. A
spectrum analyzer can be used for further characterization of interference in the band.
1.6.1 Mesh Channel Selection
The mesh radio channel must be the same for all EnRoute500s in a given mesh neighborhood.
Adjacent mesh neighborhoods will get a performance benefit if they are on different channels
as the neighborhoods will not interfere with each other. The 802.11a channels that the
EnRoute500 mesh radio can be configured to use are all non-overlapping.