Vodafone Cell - Panel or Omni's?

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nzpilot1181

138 posts

Master Geek
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#87427 28-Jul-2011 18:16

Hi all

Just finished a trip around the North Island and was wondering whether someone can explain in what case Vfone (or T/Com) use Omni Antennas as opposed to the standard panel antennas? What benefit do the omni's provide over panels?

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tritex

189 posts

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#504739 10-Aug-2011 23:43

The Omni sites used to be Telecoms old analogue network i think - and obviously are still used in many areas for Telecoms newer technology. I think Vodafones sites are all panel and cylinder (from what ive seen) I also notice most Telecom sites constructed since the launch of CDMA in 2001 roughly are panel sites. I could be wrong and would welcome to be corrcted but i think Telecom are the only network that have operated Omni sites in recent times :)

alexx

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#504752 11-Aug-2011 01:00

Main advantage would be 360 degree coverage from a single carrier, resulting in lower cost for radio equipment, antennas and feeders. This would be suitable for a low capacity rural site, some in-building applications or some other small cell filling a gap in coverage.

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raytaylor

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#504758 11-Aug-2011 01:50

Omni's can also pick up interference from all directions, where as a panel will limit the ability to pick up interference to about 120 degrees.

Omnis dont cover as much of an area as panels, so when you are looking at 1ghz+ frequencies, it makes sense to use a much stronger sector (panel) antenna. At higher frequencies, the loss of signal as it travels through the air is much greater.

So if you transmit at 5 watts at 900mhz it might go 5km, but at 1800mhz it will peobably only go half that. So they need a stronger antenna to compensate and a sector is better at doing that.

Ray Taylor

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