Questions
Questions Installers Ask Before Quoting.
Twelve questions an installer or a reseller asks before a rotator goes on a pole. The figures are Cellular Path's. Where we don't have an answer, this page says so.
Aiming An Antenna
How Do I Work Out Which Mast To Aim At?
Two free tools and a calculation. SignalChecker publishes a map of United Kingdom mast locations, and clicking one shows which networks use that site and what technologies have been reported there. CellMapper publishes a cell ID calculator, which works out the eNB ID from the cell identifier your router reports. CellMapper's map is built from what its own users record, so it is thin where few people contribute, a new mast can take months to appear, and a decommissioned one can sit on the map after it has gone. Neither tool tells you what your roof actually receives. SOCA reads twelve positions on site and holds the one that measured best.
How Precise Does The Aim Have To Be?
SOCA scans twelve positions through 360 degrees, which is a stop every 30 degrees. That is the resolution of the scan. It is not a tolerance for the antenna: how much a particular antenna loses off boresight is a property of that antenna, and we do not publish a figure for it. What you get instead is the reading at each of the twelve stops, so the installer can see what the aim is worth before leaving site and override it from the app if the best reading is not the right answer.
Why Does A Good Install Go Bad Months Later?
The aim was right for one cell on one day. A mast can be upgraded, decommissioned or become heavily loaded, and a directional antenna on a fixed bracket only changes on a second visit. The second visit is the cost the customer argues about, and it is the one SOCA is bought to remove. Rural 4G And 5G Antenna Alignment.
Does An Omnidirectional Antenna Avoid The Problem?
It does, and it gives up the gain to do it. A directional antenna concentrates what it receives in one direction. That is where its gain comes from and it is why it has to be aimed. An omnidirectional antenna needs no aiming and collects less from the cell you want. Both are honest answers to a weak signal. SOCA is for the installs where the gain is worth having and the aim is the thing that keeps going wrong.
Fitting A Rotator
Which Routers Does It Work With?
SOCA-02 No Modem has no modem of its own. The controller joins the router's own 2.4 GHz network and reads that router's figures while the rotator scans, so the router has to be one Cellular Path has verified. It verifies seven models from four manufacturers, and the United Kingdom variants are still being confirmed, which is why the list goes out by email rather than sitting on a page that would go stale. Ask for the current verified router list. SOCA-01-T-4G50 Smart 4G carries an LTE module of its own and needs no router to borrow.
What Does It Mount On?
Two V-bolts on a pole 25 to 57 mm in diameter. Maximum antenna weight 36 kg. The supplied 356 mm antenna pole carries the directional antenna above the rotator, and the assembly is 590 mm overall with that pole fitted. The mounting pole itself is not supplied.
What Power Does It Need, And What Cable Comes With It?
12 V DC from a 2 A supply, 24 W maximum, with the rotator drawing up to 1 A. 15 m of power and control cable is supplied on a four-pin M12 connector, and extensions of 15 m and 30 m are available. On a solar or hybrid tower, size the supply against those figures.
Can It Be Fitted Outdoors In A British Winter?
The rotator is rated IPX2, minus 29 to 60 C, and 97 km/h sustained with gusts to 145 km/h. It is IPX2, so shield the cable gland. The controller is a separate matter: it is an indoor unit and carries no ingress rating at all, so it belongs in the building, the cabinet or the enclosure and not on the pole. That last clause is the one that gets lost.
Cellular Path's two datasheets give the maximum antenna weight as 80 lb on one model and 100 lb on the other, for the same rotator. We publish the lower until Cellular Path confirms one figure.
Boosters And DAS
Can It Aim The Donor Antenna For A Repeater?
Yes, and that is the case SOCA-01-T-4G50 Smart 4G was published for. It carries its own modem, so it measures the signal for itself rather than borrowing a router's readings, and signal strength, quality and band are logged at every one of the twelve positions. Where a router Cellular Path has verified already feeds the site, SOCA-02 No Modem does the same job on that router's readings. Donor Antenna Alignment For Boosters And DAS.
Does A Repeater Need A Licence In The UK?
The licence or exemption question is about the repeater, and settling it is the installer's job rather than ours. A static indoor repeater may be used here without a licence only where it meets the Wireless Telegraphy (Mobile Repeater) (Exemption) Regulations 2022 and Ofcom's Interface Requirement IR 2102. Read them and your booster's own requirements before you quote. SOCA aims an antenna. It is not a repeater, it carries no approval for one, and it does not make an unlawful installation lawful.
Buying It
I Am An End User. How Do I Get One?
Through a reseller. We do not sell to end users: a reseller sells and installs SOCA, and is the one you call afterwards. Appointed resellers are listed on Where To Buy as they sign. Or write to us with the postcode area and what the site is.
How Do I Become A Reseller?
Apply on the Become A Reseller page: five questions, about five minutes. Limited companies and sole traders can apply, and nothing is binding until both sides sign.
Ready To Sell SOCA?
Limited companies and sole traders can apply. Five questions, and nothing is binding until both sides sign.