Hello,
I added a non-standard Meraki antenna to a Meraki MR86. My question is, how do I account for antenna gain if the antenna won't appear in the dashboard? I have already set an RF profile to account for min/max transmit power.
Thanks
Choose whatever most closely matches your third party antenna.
What would happen if I leave the default value and I am using say the following antenna?
AccelTex ATS-OP-245-13-4NP-36 13.0dBi
I should re-phrase my question, if I leave the default antenna (MA-ANT-20) which has Gain (5 GHz): 7 dBi, does that mean that the AccelTex AP will be limited to 7 dBi gain instead of 13 dBi on 5 GHz?
@latintrpt the antenna gain is a physical characteristic of it. If you add an antenna with a 13dB gain, but set the AP to expect a 7dB gain one, then you will potentially transmit a signal with 6dB of gain more than you are supposed to. As the Meraki WiFi6 APs broadcast at 6dB below the regulatory limit, so there is headroom for beamforming, you'd be fine (legally) as long as you don't use it.
So using the 3 live AP's below as an example on 5 GHz using the default antenna in Meraki MA-ANT-20 7 dBi configured but I really have a AccelTex ATS-OP-245-13-4NP-36 13.0dBi installed, what would be my true transmit power's or is what is presented below the true transmit power?
That is just the ap itself.
https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Radio_Settings/EU_Compliance_Information
21,21,17 i.e. 6dB more in each case.
And depending on where you are in the 5Ghz band, and your local regulatory domain laws, then your EIRP can vary. - So be mindful.