Underneath the AP we find the mounting bracket, hose clamps, and other accessories.
Let’s look closely at the acessories.
Inside the little cardboard box is a cable gland and grounding pad.
6 GHz ports A and B, along with the GPS antenna connector live on the top side of the access point.
The bottom side hosts antenna ports C and D shared by 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios, reset button, Console RJ-45 port, and up to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port.
No 6 GHz outdoors in the UK yet
Ofcom, the UK regulator, doesn’t permit 6 GHz use outdoors, at least not yet as of May 2025. The 6 GHz radio of the access point is disabled in software.
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
Cisco’s Wi-Fi 6E outdoor CW9163E access point is an external antenna only model. It requires either 4 omnidirectional dipole antennas CW-ANT-O1-NS-00, or a directional CW-ANT-D1-NS-00 antenna (note the “D”) which we covered in this post.
The CW-ANT-O1-NS-00 antenna ships in a little recycled paper bag and it includes a single antenna. Please make sure you order this CW-ANT-O1-NS-00 SKU four times and connect antennas to all 4 N-type ports.
Note: If you have no plans to use 6 GHz, or can’t use 6 GHz outdoors in your country, scroll down. You might potentially get away with 2 antennas.
Here is a detail of the label.
If you are wondering what its dimensions are, here is a small UK banana for scale 😊
Joking aside, the antenna is about 23 cm long.
And its thickest point measures 2,8 cm.
Finally, here is the AP with all 4 antennas attached.
The whole set is about 65 cm tall.
These dipoles are self-identifying antennas (SIA) and the AP automatically detects their presence, model, and gain. In my setup I have 4 dipoles connected to the AP and since I am in the UK (where we don’t permit 6 GHz outdoor use yet), my 6 GHz radio has no channel assigned, and it is disabled in software on access points installed in Europe as of April 2025.
No plans for 6 GHz? No problem.
If your country has no plans to enable 6 GHz outdoors, you could only populate the bottom 2 antennas. These are connected to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios. The top 2 N-type ports marked 6 GHz technically don’t need an antenna if you don’t plan to use them. But we must protect them from weather by N-type connector caps. Simply order CW-ACC-KIT1-00 accessory kit which includes 4 caps as well as other accessories.
Install the connector caps on 6 GHz ports A and B. Please note I am using compatible caps I already owned. The official Cisco ones might look slightly differently.
Let’s have a quick look from the front.
Just keep in mind that if you change your mind and want to use 6 GHz later, you will have to purchase the missing 2 antennas, remove the caps, and connect the additional antennas. So, expect some extra installation efforts. It might well make your life easier if you attach all 4 antennas from the get-go.
As expected, the AP will detect the bottom 2 antennas serving 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands but not the top two 6 GHz antennas.
From physical footprint perspective, CW9163E equipped with the bottom 2 antennas is nearly as tall as MR76/MR86 with all 4 antennas attached.
Note: For official Cisco guidance and information, please refer to the Cisco.com data sheet and deployment guide.
Just a very quick reminder that if you power your CW AP using an incompatible 802.3at power injector, you will likely see the AP successfully boot up, but it disables its radios few seconds later. The result is no SSID put on the air.
What to look for in the logs?
If you console or SSH into the AP, you will see this error message. Followed by radio interfaces going down.
set_sys_cond_state: condition critical state 4
condition critical state 4 error message
That’s it. Use officially supported injectors, and save yourself from the trouble I ran into 😊
Access point conversion from Catalyst/DNA mode (managed by Catalyst 9800 controller) to Meraki mode allows you to add a Catalyst Wireless AP to Cisco Meraki Dashboard, and fully monitor, and fully manage it from there.
Convert Catalyst/DNA AP to Meraki mode
Order the AP in the right mode
Order your access points in the right mode out of the box, and don’t worry about conversion. That’s the “-MR” SKU for cloud-management/SaaS model. If you wish to manage the APs by a Catalyst 9800 controller, simply find the right access point SKU and regulatory domain based on your coutry using this tool and reach out to your favourite Cisco Partner or distributor for a quote.
What do we need?
Catalyst Wireless CW9162I, CW9164I, CW9166I, CW9166D1, CW9163E, or any Wi-Fi 7 access point joined to a Catalyst 9800 series controller (hardware appliance, cloud instance, or virtual machine)
Cisco Meraki MR access point license
Let’s start the conversion
1. Make sure the access points you want to convert have successfully joined the Catalyst 9800 controller. Head over to Configuration > Wireless > Migrate to Meraki Management Mode.
Migrate to Meraki Management Mode
2. Select one or more APs you wish to convert and click the Migrate to Meraki Management Mode button.
Select APs
3. Wait for validation to complete. Click Next.
4. Tick Agree and continue and click Yes.
Take a deep breath and kick-start the process
5. Conversion has now finished. Note that each AP has a Cisco Serial Number and Meraki Serial Number. Copy the Meraki Serial Number.
Conversion has finished
6. While you are doing that, the AP rebooted and started the Meraki image.
AP has left the controller and is about to establish connectivity to Dashboard after reboot
During the boot process, the AP logs a message about the mode change.
Reset reason – AP converted to Meraki mode
And you will no longer have access to its Console port. If you connect a console cable, <Meraki> output will appear with no option to type any commands.
Console port output after conversion
7. Copy the Meraki Serial Number and log in to Cisco Meraki Dashboard. Open Organization > Configure > Inventory. Click Add devices, and paste the Meraki Serial Number of the AP.
InventoryAdd the AP by entering its Meraki Serial Number
8. From now on, the AP now behaves like any other Meraki cloud-managed access point. All monitoring and management features of the Dashboards are available. If you ever change your mind, and wish to convert it back to Catalyst/DNA mode, here is my step-by-step guide.
If you have not used WiFi Explorer before, get yourself a copy of the Pro version here. It is absolutely worth it and extremely useful tool if you have anything to do with Wi-Fi.
The Pro version (the Lite doesn’t) supports Filters. They allow you to filter scan results and get exactly the scan results you are interested in.
Find rogue access points
Let’s say you want to find APs that use other SSIDs than yours. This filter does just that. It shows all SSIDs other than CiscoLive or CiscoLive-WPA3. It excludes 2.4 GHz and U-NII-3 band – if we allow those for non-production use for example. Simply paste this string into the Filters text field in the top right-hand corner.
dot11.net.ssid !~ "CiscoLive" AND dot11.net.ssid !~ "CiscoLive-WPA3" AND dot11.net.band != 2.4 AND dot11.net.channel < 149
Find APs using low minimum mandatory data rate
Other times you might want to look for access points that have minimum mandatory data rate configured to low – by mistake or by choice. In this example, I am interested in APs broadcasting these 2 SSIDs and using minimum mandatory rate of 6 or lower.
dot11.net.min_basic_rate <= 6 AND dot11.net.ssid ~~ "CiscoLive" OR dot11.net.ssid ~~ "CiscoLive-WPA3"
Download the cheat sheet
We have only scratched the surface. You can do so much more with filters.
Intuitibits, the makers of WiFi Explorer, published a great one-pager documenting the syntax. Get yourself a copy.
The latest generation of Wi-Fi 6E Catalyst Wireless access points (CW9162, CW9164, CW9166 series) gives you the option to either cloud-manage them using Cisco Meraki Dashboard, or manage the APs by Cisco Catalyst 9800 series Wireless LAN Controller (WLC).
They are the exact same hardware and they ship pre-loaded with the Catalyst/DNA and Meraki software image. Depending on the mode setting, they either boot one image or the other.
What do we need
Catalyst Wireless CW9162I, CW9164I, CW9166I, CW9166D1, CW9163E access point in Meraki mode
Cisco Meraki MR access point license to perform the conversion
Cisco DNA Essentials or DNA Advantage access point license if you want to use join and manage the AP by a Catalyst 9800 controller
Choose AP mode before ordering
You will have the best experience when you order your access points in the right mode.
Order the right mode
Order a DNA persona AP and it will auto-discover your Catalyst 9800 controller using one of the supported methods. In the UK, I can order the “-ROW” AP and manage it by Catalyst 9800, and optionally add Catalyst Center (previously known as DNA Center) to get analytics, assurance and other great features. Find the right access point SKU and regulatory domain based on your coutry using this tool.
If you prefer, order the Meraki mode access point, connect it to the internet, and claim it in the Dashboard. Meraki APs use a single “-MR” SKU globally.
Conversion from MR to Catalyst/DNA mode
If you ordered a Meraki access point and your requirements have changed, you can convert the AP to DNA mode.
1. Make sure you have an active Meraki MR license. Why? We need the license to connect the AP to Dashboard, and to open a conversion request with Meraki technical support team.
2. Provide power and internet connectivity to the access point.
3. Log in to Dashboard. Navigate to Organization > Configure > Inventory and add the access point using its Meraki S/N.
Enter the Meraki S/N from the product label
4. Add your MR license to Dashboard under Organization > Configure > License Info.
5. Wait for the AP to connect to Dashboard and change its LED to solid green or solid blue. Perfect, the AP is now online.
6. Complete this checklist first. Disable Meshing feature and make sure your Catalyst 9800 is ready for the AP to connect after conversion has completed.
Disable Meshing feature
7. Open a new support case by clicking the (?) question mark in the top right hand corner > Cases > New Case.
8. Include all these details to speed up the conversion process. Find your Customer Number by clicking the person icon in the top right hand corner. To get your Daily Support Code, click the same person icon, then open My profile.
Hi,
Please convert my CW*****-MR AP with Meraki SN ****-****-**** to DNA mode. I do have an existing DNA license. I disabled Meshing in the Dashboard.
I have completed this checklist:
https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Other_Topics/916X_Management_Mode_Checklist_and_Troubleshooting
I am aware that the AP will not join Dashboard after the conversion, unless I convert it back to MR mode.
Please go ahead and start the mode change immediately.
My customer number: ****-****
My support passcode for today: ****
Have a great day!
9. If this conversion is urgent, call into Meraki support. No, don’t e-mail the support team, call them. Have the case number by hand. Find the best phone number here.
10. After the support engineer starts the conversion, your AP will reboot. It is now in the Catalyst mode. You can verify that by keeping an eye on the Console port output during its boot. Just to remind you (and myself): The new Console port baud rate is 115200 from 17.12.1 release onwards.
12. Our DHCP server assigned an IP address to the AP, which has automatically discovered and joined the WLC located in the same IP subnet.
Successful WLC discovery and AP joinFollowed by automatic software image upgradeThe AP has joined the WLC and is ready for use
To enable SSH and Console access, create a username, password and enable password in the Catalyst 9800 controller’s AP Join Profile > Management > User section. SSH protocol is disabled by default. You can enable it in the AP Join Profile.
You have full Console access and control over the AP
Need to convert the AP back to Meraki mode?
If you change your mind and want to convert the AP back to cloud-managed Meraki mode, here are the instructions.
Cisco’s Catalyst 9130AXE access point (the external antenna model) doesn’t have any antennas built-in by design. It uses a DART connector with 8 RF lines and 16 digital lines. They carry the RF signals and allow communication between the AP and antenna.
All new C-ANT9101, C-ANT9102 and C-ANT9103 antennas connect natively using their directly-attached DART connector to the Catalyst 9130AXE access point. It significantly simplifies the deployment process, allows the AP to automatically detect the antenna model, type and gain, and it doesn’t allow any room for installation errors like loose RP-TNC connectors or swapped antenna RF ports.
Here is an example of the new bell antenna C-ANT9102 with directly-attached DART connector.
And here is one connected to the C9130AXE-E access point.
Now, if your scenario requires the antenna to be installed further away from the access point (inside of a freezer for example) there is a 3-feet DART extension cable for that sold by Cisco.
The part number is AIR-CAB003-D8-D8=.
It has 90-degree 8-port plug on one side and straight 8-port jack on the other.
