Cisco’s Wi-Fi 6E outdoor CW9163E access point requires an external antenna. It has no built-in Wi-Fi antenna. The antenna is a separate purchase and is not included.
You can choose between either omnidirectional dipoles (make sure you order 4 of them), which we covered here, or an external directional patch antenna CW-ANT-D1-NS-00. That’s what we are going to talk about today.
CW-ANT-D1-NS-00 is a 2×2 self-identifying antenna (SIA). The AP detects its presence, model and gain automatically. No more manual antenna configuration needed on your part anymore, yay!
Here is what’s in the box.
After opening all little paper bags you will find these accessories.
Coaxial cable length is about 60 cm and it uses N-type connectors. On the antenna side, all coax cables are permanently attached and are not removable.
The thickest part of the N-type connector measures about 2 cm.
Don’t judge my cable management, please. Also, colour of the AP and antenna is the usual “Cisco outdoor AP grey”. White balance in these two photos is slightly misleading, my bad.
The cable length allows you to achieve about 20 cm distance between the AP and the antenna.
Ultimately, this is how the final setup looks like.
Note: For official Cisco guidance and information, please refer to the Cisco.com data sheet and deployment guide