User's Manual

Exalt Communications, Inc.
EX-5r Installation & Management
5000007 50
2006-05-17
Section 6 – Troubleshooting
This section provides information regarding troubleshooting of common issues and alarms on the
EX-5r.
Exalt radio systems have been designed by Exalt’s expert engineers with extensive experience
through multiple generations of microwave radio design. As such, these new generation systems
contain extensive diagnostic tools, alarm indications and troubleshooting aids. And, as compared
to other systems in their class, they should be much easier to install, maintain and troubleshoot.
The GUI of the radio system provides information that will substantially aid in troubleshooting.
Refer to section 5 for details.
Please feel free to contact Exalt Customer Care if you need further assistance with issues you
may have with your Exalt radio, or for suggestions on how the radio and/or documentation may
be improved.
6.1 General Troubleshooting Practices
Troubleshooting a microwave radio link can be a complex task. In many cases, troubleshooting
should be approached as a process of elimination by proving which portions of the system are
operating properly.
In a vast majority of cases, failures or poor performance of microwave links is attributed to
something other than the microwave radio hardware. In this respect, the back-to-back bench test
(as described in Appendix B) is a very important means to determine if the radio hardware is
operating properly and to eliminate many variables in the troubleshooting process.
If a back-to-back bench test fails, then the radio hardware is either broken or the radios are
configured improperly. Upgrading the radio to the most current release of firmware, and/or
resetting the radio to critical factory settings and following the original Quick Start instructions,
and the instructions in this manual, will often help confirm if configuration issues are the cause
of failure.
The most common issues with microwave radio links are:
• An improperly terminated RF cable
• Multipath propagation
• RF interference
• Path obstruction
• Misaligned antenna
• Faulty antenna
• Improper grounding
• Insufficient link margin in the design/implementation
• Moisture in the transmission system (antenna feed and/or RF cable)