Splitting dual-band antennae from Meraki AP

[Silas1066]

If I use the external, dual-band antennae for my Meraki MR-74 AP, is it possible to put one antenna outside a building, and another inside?

The requirement is to have people in the building, and outside, be able to associate with the wireless network.

Is there a specific antenna I should use that is rated for outdoors?

[NolanHerring · Accepted solution]

Anything is possible I suppose lol

MR74 has 4 antenna ports.  Two of them are for 5GHz, and the other two are for 2.4GHz.  The MR84 has dual-band antenna ports, however Meraki for some unknown reason does not offer an antenna that is actually 4-lead dual band connection for MR74/MR84 which ever so slightly kills me inside.

So this would require two antenna from Meraki, or you could get a single dual-band antenna with 4 connectors from a 3rd party like Acceltex for example.  (warning - Meraki Support won't help you if you use 3rd party for tshooting stuff)

If you are using two antennas, and if you were to say point the 2.4GHz outside, and the 5GHz inside, I mean...i suppose that 'would' work, although I wouldn't really recommend it.  You would probably be better off using two access points, put the one outside with maybe the dipole antenna instead like this:

[NolanHerring]

Also, any of the compatible antenna for the MR74/MR84 are outdoor rated by default.

[GreenMan]

The concern I'd have here is that you'd end up with two totally different APs;   a 2.4 GHz AP, on one side of the wall and a 5 GHz AP on the other.  If your client mix is OK with this, that's fine.

I'm thinking maybe you planned on splitting the pigtails from, say, an MA-ANT-25 across the two radios?   On the face of it, that would give you one antenna for each radio, both inside and outside..?   That really should be avoided;  the recommended dual antenna chains connected to the same radio is what provides multiple spatial streams (for newer clients) and/or antenna diversity [to mitigate multi-path fade] (for older clients).  These rely on both antennas having the same coverage area and the radio assumes that, in its operation.  This is mentioned in the antenna installation guide.