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If you're interested in doing your own installation, this page will
give you the information you need to get the job done. Please read
the entire page before attempting to do the installation. A basic
understanding of wiring and computers is required in order to do the
installation. If you've ever pulled telephone wire or cable, run CAT5 to your
computers or installed a satellite dish or outdoor TV antenna, then you should have no
problems with the technical aspects of installing this equipment.
NOTE: Most of our tech support calls come from people who did their own installations. Before attempting an installation, ask yourself if you're really saving
anything by doing it yourself.
Equipment
To perform a basic installation, the following items will be
provided by Aledo BroadBand:
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Antenna
Size varies depending on your distance from the tower, but
the average antenna size is 8" x 8" and about
1" thick.
It also includes a pivoting mounting bracket (not shown)
for attaching the antenna to the side of a building or to a
roof-top TV antenna pole. |
LMR 400 Coaxial Cable
Standard length is 30' long and 1/2" diameter. The end
connectors are approximately 3/4" in diameter. Regular
coax cable will NOT work!
One end of the LMR400 coax cable connects to the back side
of the antenna. A special 2' connector cable (not shown) is
provided to connect the other end of the LMR400 to the radio. |
Radio
The radio is ~6". It requires electricity (power cord
provided) and must be connected via CAT5 to your computer or router.
The radio does not need to be kept close to an electrical
outlet. A special "Power Shot" module (included) is
used to send electricity safely to the radio over the CAT5
cable. |
If you need additional items (antenna pole, CAT5 cable, router,
hubs, etc) to complete your installation, they can be purchased at
your local home repair center or electronics store (Home Depot,
Lowes, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc). If you need to connect more than one computer, you will need a router. If you do not already own a router, a simple "Cable/DSL
Ethernet Router" will suffice. These can be purchased from your local
electronics retailer starting at about $39.
Installation Procedure
1. Locate one of the Aledo BroadBand towers.
We have towers in Aledo, Annetta and Willow Park.
2. Locate a spot on your roof, side of your house, chimney, etc,
where the antenna can be mounted and aimed so it will have a completely
unobstructed view of the tower. Regardless of what any
manufacturer will say, wireless broadband will NOT work through
dense trees, hills or buildings. (There are, of course, rare
exceptions to this rule, but we do not recommend setting up a
wireless link based on an exception.) If there are dense trees or
buildings obstructing the antenna's view, you may have to purchase
an antenna mast (pole) to raise the antenna above the obstruction.
Antenna masts can be purchased from Home Depot or Radio Shack (the
masts are built for outdoor TV antennas, and will work for wireless
broadband antennas). If you are not able to establish line-of-sight,
please contact us as we may have a relay station for you to aim at
instead of the primary tower.
3. Determine the length of LMR400 coax cable you will need to run
from the antenna, into the house to the radio. If you need more than
30 feet, make sure you tell
us so we can get you the proper length. This cable should never
be spliced! Be aware that the radio signal degrades while traveling the length of the
coax cable, so the shorter the cable, the better. If you need more than 40 feet of
cable, we recommend that you try to find another location to mount the antenna, or find
a spot closer to the antenna to mount the radio. As with all
electronic devices, keep the units in a climate-controlled
environment and out of the elements. The
antenna must be outdoors, everything else must be indoors, preferably in an air-conditioned environment. Note:
Consider installing the radio closer to the antenna and then using CAT5 to run
the length to your computer. CAT5 cables can be as long as 100 meters (328 feet) before
signal degradation occurs. If cable installation is a challenge, consider using a
wireless router. These can be purchased at your local electronics retailer for about
$99. To minimize interference, keep your radio as far away from
any wireless devices you may have in your home.
4. Use the provided brackets to mount the antenna permanently in place. Connect the LMR400 to
the back of the antenna and run the cable into the building to the
place where it will connect to the radio. Attach the small connector
cable to both the radio and the LMR400 coax cable. It is
imperative that both ends of the cable be protected from moisture!
If water gets inside the connector, cable or antenna, the affected equipment is pretty much ruined and must be
replaced. (Use 3M mastic tape (Home Depot, etc) to wrap the outdoor connector to protect it from
moisture).
Connect the radio directly to the
computer (or directly to a router's WAN port and then to multiple
computers. Most routers
will let you connect 4 or 5 computers without requiring a
hub.) Contact us and give us the MAC address of your
computer (or the WAN side of your router). If you're connecting directly to a
computer, you can find your MAC address by opening a DOS window
and typing "IPCONFIG /ALL". If you're using a router,
the MAC address is often listed on the underside of the device
(if you're using a Linksys or DLink router, you'll need to consult your
documentation to find the MAC address since the address listed
on the underside of the router will be for the LAN port and not
the WAN port. Usually, the WAN MAC address is simply one digit higher than the LAN).
For the ultimate in wireless connectivity, consider a
wireless router (~$99). Use this in conjunction with wireless NICs (~$50) in your laptop so you can surf while
roaming the house or lounging at
your pool! If you opt for a wireless router, keep the radio as far away from the wireless router as possible.
5. Once your hardware is in place and connected, let
us know so we can create your account on our servers and get you
online!
And that's pretty much all there is to it! If you have any
questions about the installation process, please feel free to contact
us. For any other questions, please read the FAQ first before
contacting us about specifics.
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