MR74 with a single antenna

[nyuszy]

Hi,

I am about to cover a warehouse with directional antennas installed on the end of rows. I plan to use only 5 GHz.

Is it allowed (or rather officially supported) to add only a single antenna like ANT-27 to the MR74 on the 5 GHz connectors, and keep the 2.4 GHz radio shut down?

Thanks.

[PhilipDAth]

Could you use little cheap 2.2dBi dipole antennas on the 2.4Ghz radios?  It's safer for the radios to have something bleeding off the energy.

[nyuszy]

This is a shared environment, 2.4 GHz is so much infected that I don't want to enable it all anyway.

Anyway I'd consider doing this, but there's nothing like that officially supported for MR74, and a pair of ANT-20 for $199 list price is too much for this.

[DonAnnett]

I agree with Philip. I would still terminate the 2.4 ports with a cheap antenna or a 50ohm termination like this:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Amphenol-RF/202109-10?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvkloRJ4SuqXuLVgwQXDW1kKr3UMU...

[SoCalRacer]

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Other_Topics/Frequently_Asked_Questions_regarding_Cisco_Meraki_A...

This gist of that is uncovered connectors are unsupported and void the warranty. Third party antennas are possible, but again unsupported and damage caused by them is not covered. The recommended option is a N Type dust cap, find an example below.

https://www.amazon.com/Eightwood-10pcs-Protective-Female-Connector/dp/B01MU5T6KW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords...

[DonAnnett]

If it was me, I would still use a 50ohm load on an unused port (antenna or termination). A dust cap will present an open circuit to the port and if the port is ever enabled, 100% of the power gets reflected back into the radio... never a great thing for a radio.

[BrandonS]

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@nyuszy wrote:

This is a shared environment, 2.4 GHz is so much infected that I don't want to enable it all anyway.

Anyway I'd consider doing this, but there's nothing like that officially supported for MR74, and a pair of ANT-20 for $199 list price is too much for this.

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$129/pair here: https://merakinow.com/products/ma-ant-20

I know it is expensive, but may be worth it for full Meraki support..