01/17/2011
Smart and Diligent Diagnosis Always Works
SB was contracted by another microwave company to resolve a problem for one of their customers. They were having throughput issues and they thought it was related to their mounts swaying in the wind. We reinforced them with cross braces, etc. This took them down completely. Their links, a 60 GHz radio and a laser have little margin for error and the reinforcements were enough to knock them out of alignment. Looking through the laser scope was evidence enough of how far off the target they were.
The original problem, however, was not so much that the hardware was moving, but the cabling. The fiber in one place was exceeding the bend radius, losing its connection by barely touching it; and the DC wiring caused the power LED to blink in the same manner. By preventing their equipment from moving slightly in the wind, which likely would not have been an issue alignment-wise, they provided a band-aid to their cabling problems but in the process, created a new one. It seemed a logical thing to try, but they could have saved a lot of trouble and effort with a more diligent diagnosis.
J Shea, Field Technician
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