EAP225-OD antenna radiation patterns
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I am wondering if anyone can provide the antenna radiation patterns for the EAP225-OD. Specifically I am looking for the patterns with both antennas vertical and both antennas at 45 degrees (per instructions). I would also like to know if there is any benefit in changing the orientation of the antennas when positioned at 45 degrees? I am broadcasting to a marina from the EAP225 and need to concentrate a 90 degree radiation pattern not 360 if possible.
unfortunately I have no antenna pattern for EAP225-OD, but if you need 90º coverage and if you're willing to restrict the EAP's wireless signal to the 5 GHz band only (turning off the 2.4 GHz radio), maybe the Pharos sector antenna TL-ANT5819MS (5 GHz only) can provide that angle. It has an antenna beam width of 120º @6dB / 90º @3dB.
EAP225-OD once was announced by TP-Link as useable with Pharos antennas, it should even fit into the antenna's mount:
But please note that I did not try this and I have no idea whether this would improve coverage at your place, so use on your own risk.
I'm crazy enough to give such experiments a try, but the sector antenna is still somewhat too expensive to just buy one for a test with the risk of an unforseeable result.
When I have some time, I will test EAP110-OD with Pharos antenna TL-ANT2410MO and if the TL-ANT5819MS will become cheaper b/c it is already approaching EOL, maybe I will buy one to test it with an EAP225-OD.
As for benefit of changing orientation of the omni antennas included: yes, it can have a (small) effect, e.g. if the EAP is mounted high enough. OTOH, EAPs should not be mounted too high since the signal at the edges can become weaker. I usually mount EAP-Outdoors at a height of 2m to 3m with both antennas positioned straight upwards.
unfortunately I have no antenna pattern for EAP225-OD, but if you need 90º coverage and if you're willing to restrict the EAP's wireless signal to the 5 GHz band only (turning off the 2.4 GHz radio), maybe the Pharos sector antenna TL-ANT5819MS (5 GHz only) can provide that angle. It has an antenna beam width of 120º @6dB / 90º @3dB.
EAP225-OD once was announced by TP-Link as useable with Pharos antennas, it should even fit into the antenna's mount:
But please note that I did not try this and I have no idea whether this would improve coverage at your place, so use on your own risk.
I'm crazy enough to give such experiments a try, but the sector antenna is still somewhat too expensive to just buy one for a test with the risk of an unforseeable result.
When I have some time, I will test EAP110-OD with Pharos antenna TL-ANT2410MO and if the TL-ANT5819MS will become cheaper b/c it is already approaching EOL, maybe I will buy one to test it with an EAP225-OD.
As for benefit of changing orientation of the omni antennas included: yes, it can have a (small) effect, e.g. if the EAP is mounted high enough. OTOH, EAPs should not be mounted too high since the signal at the edges can become weaker. I usually mount EAP-Outdoors at a height of 2m to 3m with both antennas positioned straight upwards.
It's not a heat map, but an antenna pattern describing the radiation in H and V directions. The unit of measurement along the circle is degrees (º) and from outside to inside it's the attenuation in dB. You need to imagine this in 3D to get an idea of the radiation pattern. For EAP225-Outdoor's 2.4 GHz radio it looks pretty much like a donut with four »bumps« on every side, while for the 5 GHz radio it looks like a four-winged butterfly with three heads »pumped up« like an oval/flat balloon.
When you asked, I did wonder what you might discover on the pattern for omni antennas which radiate almost (H) resp. nearly (V) equally in 360º direction? Such patterns are mostly helpful for directional, sector, yagi etc. antennas to identify the main, side and back lobes and the nulls in between.
To create a heat map you need to deploy the EAP and use a tool such as NetSpot or Ekahau heat mapper, which both can show a heat map of the EAP's spatial extension as well as the actual signal level (RSSI) amongst many other parameters such as interferences etc.
For example, this is a heat map of the signal level inside a building for an EAP225-Outdoor mounted outside (on the bottom right, the red square is a steel beam that is in the way causing a small dead zone in the middle bottom area of the big room):
