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Troubleshooting
All cables should be carefully checked for “shorts” and “opens”.
The rooftop antenna, if directional, should be checked for proper alignment along the
calculated compass heading. Typically, the directional antenna should be aimed at
the same site that your handset uses in the area where the outside antenna is
placed.
If cables and alignment are acceptable, it may be necessary to use a spectrum
analyzer to examine the signal environment in which the BDA is operating. The
existence of strong analog signals within the frequency bands can cause the AGC
to reduce the amplifier’s gain particularly on the downlink. In some cases additional
filtering might be required to reject these unwanted signals. In some instances the
directional outside antenna can be reoriented, horizontally to place the interfering
source in an antenna pattern “null”. There also may be some cases where the
interference from outside signals is so great that they can not be filtered or otherwise
reduced or eliminated without expensive and possibly prohibitive measures. In these
cases it may not be practical to use the BDA for providing coverage at these sites.
