Hot-swappable tripod adapter for Cisco Aironet 1560 outdoor access points

If you have followed my hot-swappable series, my goal was to find a solution to swapping multiple outdoor AP + antenna combinations and a variety of AP models on the same tripod. What is the use case? I only wanted to carry a single tripod on the site survey day while still having the flexibility to survey with variety of antennas and different AP models.

After making the adapter for MR86 and MA-ANT-20 dipoles and MR86 with two MA-ANT-25 directional antennas, I realised I needed one for Aironet 1560, which, at the time of the writing, is my go-to outdoor AP.

Please excuse the DYI approach. I did this during UK’s second COVID-19 lockdown. Shops were closed, access to tools was limited and I had no access to my lab.

How it turned out?

It went surprisingly well this time as I’ve already built a similar adapter for Cisco Meraki MR APs and this time it was even easier. Same as last time, the alu tube slides inside the top tripod tube and we are ready to roll.

The actual steps

I stocked up on M6 x 30 mm bolts, cut the 16 mm aluminium tube to the right length and reused the last bit of decking from a different project.

M6 x 30 mm bolt

I thought I will try making a template, which I then transferred onto the wood. That wasn’t the best idea and it seems to work best when you watch someone using this “trick” on YouTube. Next time I will go for an analog pencil and ruler, lesson learned;-)

That trick did not go as well as I thought :)

The decking is quite thick so I ended up shaving few millimeters off it. And here is the final adapter.

Ready to go on a tripod

Did you say tripod?

Yes, here is more about this 4-meter tripod I use.

How to achieve down tilt?

Thanks to Alan Wang, who suggested I use the official articulating pole mount AIR-ACC1530PMK2 and attach it to my “back board”. Obviously azimuth you can adjust by rotating the tripod, and this allow you to change the elevation angle.

Articulating pole mount
Articulating pole mount

Published by

Jiri Brejcha

Jiri is passionate about mobility ranging from Wi-Fi to folding bikes;-) He is a Wi-Fi Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco UK, proud member of the Cisco Live Network Operations Center deployment team, and WLAN Pi development team. If he is not working, he is most likely riding his Brompton bike.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *