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Antenna Paths grouped into Alternative Groups
In a complex setup, an antenna path may be directed through many branches (e. g., in a 1:N switch) and some
of those branches may be merged (e. g., in an N:1 switch) later in the RF network. In such networks, several
paths might reach a single end-point (or to a combination of end-points). Where these paths are equivalent, the
operator would not care which of the available paths was selected when asking for a particular end-point. These
alternative paths are merged into a group, called Alternative Group and treated as a single on SMD.
There is one more level of grouping paths - if two or more R-ports of a single switch are marked as end-points,
paths ending at these end-points are considered as equivalent and are grouped together. This "higher level"
antenna groups receives the name of the switch, omitting the name of individual R-ports.
In the Antenna Paths tab, the paths are organized by Alternative Groups even in simple setups where there is
only one Antenna Path per Alternative Group.
How can Alternative Groups be split, if needed
In some setups, not all paths in an Alternative Groups are equivalent. For example, some of the paths may
contain elements which can't handle power during transmission and are as RX-only. In addition, the user may
want to reserve those paths which pass through a certain point or resource in the network. There are two ways
of achieving a separation of paths. The simpler method is to mark some of the R-ports as a "Distinguishing
point" in RF Boxes → Rules for the respective RF box. Paths that contain Distinguishing points will be moved to
a separate Alternative Group. The second method allows more precise control and involves using Global
Attributes. This method was described in the previous chapter.
Configuring the Antenna Paths tab
The main purpose of the Antenna Paths tab is to display the generated Antenna Paths and their grouping into
Alternative Groups. Checking the "Show alternatives" checkbox displays all Antenna Paths within the groups,
unchecking this checkbox hides the individual Antenna Paths and the lower level grouping, leaving only the list
of higher level Alternative Groups as they are then used in the Virtual Rotators, Antenna Groups and Bands tabs.
The user cannot add, remove or reposition items within the list; the Add, Remove, Replace, Up and Down
buttons below the list are inactive in this tab.
Changing names for Antenna Paths and Alternative Groups
Each Alternative Group and Antenna Path has an unique name, generated according to the rules described in
previous paragraphs, displayed in Description column. While these names provide a brief but complete
description of the Group/Path, they are impractically long for usage both in following tabs of Router, and in SMD.
For each Alternative Group - both the lower and higher level - the user can chose a shorter descriptive name and
a label. Initially, when a new path or group appears in the list, name and label are automatically generated by
Router. The user can then change name and label by highlighting the required line, and after a brief wait single-
clicking on the string in Name or Label column. For a highlighted item, the name and label can be reverted to the
automatically generated by pressing the Default Names button above the list. Pressing the Default Names for
All button will revert all names and labels to the automatically generated ones.
Limiting Rotators control
For Antenna Paths in setups where antenna combinations are available (e.g. through stacking), multiple rotators
can be associated with the multitude antennas. The default behavior of rotator control is that all rotators
associated with an Antenna Path are controlled simultaneously. This can be suppressed when the checkbox in
"Limit rotators control" column is checked. In that case, if the Antenna Path has a controlling end-point, only
rotators on sub-paths switched through that end-point are controlled (e.g. when the controlling end-point is a
stack switch, only those rotators which are associated with the antennas of the currently switched stack are
controlled). Double click on the checkbox to toggle its state.
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