Tips on Adjusting Repeater Forward and

Reverse Path Gain

Server antenna

Donor antena

Repeater

Base station

2850 Colonnades Court

Norcross, GA 30071 U. S. A.
+1.770.582.0555
Fax: +1.770.729.0075
Introduction
The most important task involved in a repeater installation is setting the repeater gain. Repeater gain
will dictate how far your repeater can extend coverage and whether or not the noise contribution will
have a measurable effect at the base station.

Gain adjustments are actually made by manipulating the attenuation. A CDR1901 has 30dB of
adjustable gain in 2dB steps. If your repeater has a maximum gain of 90dB and the attenuation is set at
30dB, the gain will be (90-30) 60dB; whereas, if the same repeater were set for 0dB of attenuation, the
gain would be (90-0) 90dB. Check your data sheet to determine the repeater’s maximum gain.

Forward Gain
Setting the forward path gain is very simple. Measure the RF output power at the server port. This can
be done a couple of ways:

1. Use a spectrum analyzer. If the spectrum analyzer is NOT configured to read the power of a
1.25MHz channel a correction calculation will have to be made.

The general correction equation is 10log[RBW(Hz)/BW(Hz)]

Where RBW is the spectrum analyzer’s resolution bandwidth and BW is the 1.25MHz CDMA
channel bandwidth.

Example: For a 30KHz resolution bandwidth the correction factor would be

10log(30000Hz/1250000Hz) = -16.2. This means that the actual CDMA channel power is 16.2dB
higher than the spectrum analyzer’s measured reading. Therefore, if the spectrum analyzer is
showing a 20dBm output at 30KHz RBW, the actual channel power is 36.2dBm.

2. Use the “OUTLEVEL” command. Log into the repeater with read/write access and type
“OUTLEVEL”. This will display a real time value of the forward path output power within 2dB of
accuracy.

Note: If no (or not enough) RF is passing through the repeater “OUTLEVEL” will still read a
minimum value. This value is different for all repeater flavors. A good way to verify the
minimum value is to power down the repeater, replace the coax connected to the donor port with a
terminator, power the repeater back up, and check “OUTLEVEL”.

Once the RF output power has been determined, the attenuation will most likely have to be modified to
reach your desired output. The amount of output power a repeater should be emitting is a function of
the mobile traffic during optimization. At peak traffic times a BTS can deliver up to 6dB more power
than off-peak hours.

We recommend setting the output 2 to 3dB below the repeater’s maximum power if the optimization is
taking place during an off-peak time. For peak hours, configure the gain such that the repeater is at
maximum power.

EMS Wireless 2850 Colonnades Court / Norcross, GA 30071 / +1.770.582.0555

Reverse Gain
Now that the mobiles, in the repeater coverage area, have strong receive signals, the reverse path gain
must be optimized. The gain should be low enough so as not to cause an enormous increase in the
noise floor at the base station, but high enough to ensure a strong signal.

Adjusting reverse path repeater gain dictates the size of both base station and repeater coverage areas.
Setting the gain too high will maximize the repeater coverage area, but shrink the base station coverage
area and unnecessarily reduce capacity. Conversely, not enough gain will maximize the base station
coverage area, but limit the repeater coverage area.

The optimum configuration is for the base station and repeater coverage areas to be at or near full
coverage. We recommend using a gain that will cause 2 +/-1dB of noise floor rise at the base station.
To determine how much the noise floor at the base station will increase, follow the steps below.

1. As a starting point, set the reverse path gain 4dB lower than the forward gain (i.e. set attenuation
4dB higher).
2. Using a DM (Diagnostic Monitor), drive to a location well within the direct coverage of the base
station (not in or close to the repeater coverage area).
3. Call back to the technical advisor located at the repeater.
4. With the repeater turned OFF, watch the mobile transmit power on the DM. It’s normal for the
reading to fluctuate within a couple of dB. Note the average reading.
5. Have the technical advisor turn on the repeater. If the repeater is contributing enough noise to have
a measurable effect at the BTS, the average mobile transmit reading on the DM will increase
proportionally to the noise increase at the base station. Therefore, if the average mobile transmit
power increases 2dB, the noise at the base station has increased 2dB.
6. If the noise floor jumps too high, lower the gain (increase the attenuation), power down the
repeater, and repeat steps 4 and 5. If there is no recognizable increase in noise, increase the gain,
power down the repeater, and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Note: It is important to make sure there are no other potential users in the repeater coverage area
during this measurement. The goal is to find the amount of noise contributed by the repeater alone, not
additional mobiles.

Important! For both Diversity and Non-Diversity installations, follow the guidelines above.
However, if the repeater was optimized in the Non-Diversity mode and later switched to Diversity, the
reverse path gain will need to be decreased by 2dB (attenuation increased by 2dB), because diversity
allows twice as much signal and twice as much noise back to the base station. As mentioned above,
too much noise can cause a considerable reduction in base station coverage and decrease in capacity.
Antithetically, if the repeater was optimized in the Diversity mode and later switched to Non-Diversity,
the reverse path gain will need to be increased by 2dB (attenuation decreased by 2dB).

EMS Wireless 2850 Colonnades Court / Norcross, GA 30071 / +1.770.582.0555