Installing The Antenna; Placement And Other Important Considerations - NETGEAR ANT24D18 Installation Manual

For EU, use of any antenna requires careful planning and extra consideration to comply with EU
emissions and health standards and regulations. Antenna installation must comply with the
maximum level authorized by each country.

Placement and Other Important Considerations

Antenna placement dramatically affects potential coverage. In order to maximize coverage try to:
• Minimize obstructions in front of the antenna
• Consider placing the antenna on a wall above cubicles a minimum of 2m high, facing the
area to cover
The best performance is achieved with a short cable between the antenna and the wireless device.
The shortest FCC approved cable is the NETGEAR 1.5 m (ACC-10314-01) cable, except when
using the ANT24BNA booster which requires a NETGEAR 3 m (ACC-10314-02) minimum.
If the wireless access point, router, or gateway is in a IT room, place the antenna outside of the
room close to the ceiling against a wall for optimal range. Use a NETGEAR antenna cable of
up to 10 m length to connect the antenna to the wireless access point.
Optimal
Radiation
Area
The image above shows where one could place the ANT24D18 for best coverage in an office.
The ANT24D18 is placed in an elevated location on an interior wall, above and facing the
indoor area to be covered. Notice that the area close to the antenna, behind or beside it, will
still be covered because the dynamic range of the WLAN transmitter/receiver and antenna is
approximately 100dB. So, even with 20 dB to 40 dB of attenuation, the signal strength is
still strong and communication is maintained.
2
Antenna
facing indoors
above cubicles
Cubicles
Approximate
coverage area
For indoor "hot spot" applications in a narrow building, place antenna on the highest floor's
ceiling in the middle of the area to cover. One to several floors can be covered, depending on
the building material. The propagation loss increases as follows: wood building (relatively little
loss), floors in concrete (some loss), reinforced concrete (more loss), and metal floor or
reinforced concrete with a lot of metal pipes, metal air conditioning channel, etc. (most loss).
For building-to-building bridge applications, place the antenna indoors behind a window or on a wall
behind a window. Alternatively the antenna can be placed outdoors facing the direction of the antenna
of the other buildings. For optimal communication, the window must be clean and not metal coated,
with no partial obstruction (trees, buildings, etc.) in the line of sight between the 2 antennas.

Installing the Antenna

The instructions below cover these three scenarios:
• Wireless device with single antenna
• Wireless device with two antennas, but replacing only the primary antenna
• Wireless device with two antennas, but replacing both the primary and secondary antennas
Turn off your wireless unit, locate the scenario below that fits your equipment, and connect
your Patch Panel Directional Antenna according to the illustration. After attaching your new
antenna, reconnect your wireless device to the network and turn it on.
In order to attach the antenna cable to the antenna, you must first remove the plastic cap from
N connector of the antenna. Then screw the N/SMA Reverse Adapter on (clockwise).
Wireless device with single antenna
Antenna executes both the transmit and receive function.
18 dBi Patch Panel
Directional Antenna
ANT24D18
NETGEAR antenna cable
Wireless Access Point
ETHERNET
5-12V DC
RESET
Antenna Connection
3