10
9. Antenna Alignment
SkyWay Excel contains several tools to aid with the antenna alignment process:
Audible Alignment: The radio produces an audible beep allowing antenna
alignment without the need for additional monitoring hardware.
Beeping will begin once an RF link has been established, regardless of quality.
It is useful to reduce the RF Data rate setting to its lowest value during the
antenna alignment procedure to maximize the system’s link capture
envelope/angle.
Beep rate will increase as a function of RSSI; a higher value will cause a faster
beep rate. To assist with both coarse and fine tuning, the beep rate is NOT a
simple function of RSSI value. Rather, the rate will continue to increase as long
as adjustments deliver an improved RSSI. As soon as any degradation
(alignment ‘overshoot’) is detected, the beep rate quickly falls, regardless of
the amount of reduction. Thus, the system is useful for both coarse and fine
tuning of the antenna position.
To ensure the system will deliver adequate link reliability, it is recommended
that the operator verify the numerical RSSI following antenna alignment, rather
than relying solely upon the audible beep rate.
The audible function is enabled for the first 30 minutes of operation following a
power cycle.
Alignment Page: An alternative tool to assist with antenna alignment is the
Antenna Alignment page. Navigate to Installation -> Antenna Alignment to
display the following page:
On this page is a dynamic display of the RF link state and local RSSI, in both
numerical and graphical format. In addition to displaying current RSSI, the bar
graph format has an auto-scale function which tracks the minimum and
maximum achieved RSSI values since power-up.
10. Verifying Operation
The basic status of the unit can be viewed in the Main Status screen:
This screen updates periodically and thus displays current field values.
Navigate to the Configuration screen if setting changes are necessary.
Three noteworthy items:
Up Time The elapsed time that the unit has been running since the last reboot
or power cycle.
MAC Address The MAC address of the local unit.
