outdoor - Jiri Brejcha

How to enable site survey mode on Cisco Wireless CW9179F large public venue Wi-Fi 7 access point

The fact that you are here most likely means that you already have the AP on your desk, and you are readying for a site survey. Let’s skip all product detail this time and go straight into the survey part.

Choose the right site survey mode

All Cisco Wi-Fi 7 APs, including the CW9179F, support cloud-managed (think Meraki Dashboard) and controller-managed mode (think Catalyst). You can easily switch between them. This gives you access to Catalyst Site Survey mode, or Meraki Site Survey mode.

As of September 2025, the Catalyst Site Survey mode supports all software-configurable beam patterns – Boresight, Wide, Front-and-back. That’s what we are aiming for.

Kit list

CW9179F access point
Power injector CW-INJ-8, switch, or PoE battery back and a couple of twisted pair cables
Wired internet connectivity
Console cable – the blue RJ-45 to USB-C or USB-A one
TFTP server on your laptop – Transfer on macOS is great
Terminal app on your laptop – Royal TSX, Putty, SecureCRT or the screen command
Download 17.18.1 Lightweight access point image from Cisco.com download section
No controller needed

Let’s do this

Power your AP by a switch, power injector or battery pack and connect it to internet. I am using Cisco’s 802.3bt power injector CW-INJ-8 here, and Internet Sharing feature on my Mac to get the AP online.

Create a new network on Meraki Dashboard, select the right country, and claim the AP in Dashboard using its Cloud ID (previously known as Meraki Serial Number). Make sure the AP connects to Dashboard and shows as online. The AP will set its country code and regulatory domain. Verify.

Switch the AP from Meraki mode to Catalyst mode using the Migrate to WLC button on Dashboard.

Don’t switch the AP mode using Meraki Local Status Page (LSP)! The AP might not broadcast the survey SSID if you go down that route.

Remove the grey Console port cap and console into the AP using RJ-45 console cable and your favourite terminal app.

We are now in Catalyst Lightweight access point mode. Log in using username cisco, password Cisco, type enable command, and enter default enable password Cisco.

Download the CW9179F lightweight access point image. Upgrade the AP to 17.18.1 release (or newer) which has all the survey features we need. The link is correct, this AP uses the exact same image as CW9178I.

Start a TFTP server on your laptop, and move the image file to your TFTP root folder.

Now, instruct the AP to download the image from TFTP server and upgrade its code to 17.18.1.

archive download-sw /reload tftp://192.168.2.1/ap3g4-k9w8-tar.17_18_1_8.tar

After it reboots, check its software version using show version command. Happy days we are running 17.18.1 now.

Finally, switch the AP to site survey mode using ap-type site-survey command. When asked for reboot, press y and enter.

In Site Survey mode, both the front and the back LEDs follow this pattern.

Set a static IP address on the Ethernet interface. This is important, without static IP address on the AP, you won’t be able to access its web interface.

capwap ap ip 192.168.2.20 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.1 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220

The format is:

capwap ap ip <IP-address> <Mask> <Gateway> <Pri-DNS-server> <Sec-DNS-server>

The AP is now broadcasting site survey SSID.

Connect to it wirelessly.

And access the Site Survey mode web interface running on https://10.0.23.1. Username admin, password admin. Change the password after first login and save it to your notes or print a label.

That’s where we make the beam pattern selection.

Adjust the SSID name, Tx Power, channel number, enable/disable features to your needs.

Available 2.4 GHz (Slot 0 radio) configurations

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is cw9179f-site-survey-mode-web-interface-1024x724.png — Available 5 GHz (Slot 1 radio) configurations

Available 5 GHz (Slot 2 radio) configurations

Available 6 GHz (Slot 3 radio) configurations

Or even enable WPA2 pre-shared key security.

You’ve done it! Happy surveying!

Revert to standard client-serving mode

If you need to switch the AP back to Lightweight Catalyst mode, or Meraki mode, just use the ap-type capwap, or ap-type meraki command.

How to power Cisco Meraki MR access point by USB-C battery pack

Battery-powered access points are typically used for site surveys. The engineer uses a professional battery pack with 802.3at/802.3bt PoE output which delivers power to the AP via Ethernet. I do love professional battery packs. Accelerator and VenVolt are your friends. I haven’t had a chance to test either one, but I’ve seen them in very capable hands of others.

Now, when you don’t have a PoE battery pack by hand and want to achieve a similar outcome, this tip might help you.

Use case and requirements

I am building a compact pocket-sized package consisting of an AP, small battery pack and I want to achieve at least 2-3 hours of battery life.

What am I going to use it for? I need to temporary install (and hide) an AP which we will then locate during my presentation using WLAN Pi Go – a mobile Wi-Fi tool which snaps magnetically to iPhone.

In the coming weeks, I am going to use the same setup for point-to-point Wi-Fi testing. So, this will help us kill two birds with one … battery pack I guess 😊

Solution

Cisco Meraki APs do have 12V DC input via barrel jack 5.5 mm x 2.5 mm connector. I then researched USB-C battery packs with USB Power Delivery 12V output. This part is important! Not all USB-C packs support this output voltage.

Finally, I found a USB-C PD cable which negotiates 12V with the battery pack, and outputs 12V DC to the AP’s barrel jack input.

I run the APs in Site Survey mode. To enable this mode connect to this AP’s SSID in normal cloud-managed mode, and browse to the Local Status Page (LSP). It is powered by a web server running locally on the AP. Access LSP via http://10.128.128.126/ while associated to the AP. I do recommend MR32 or newer software release which has some great survey mode enhancements.

Now, it is time to test and see if we can break things. How long does the battery last for? We get 6+ hours of battery life.

Let’s appreciate that the battery pack is nearly 7x smaller in volume than the already compact access point.

Kit list

Cisco Meraki MR20, MR78, or other AP which accepts 12V barrel jack input. Newer Cisco Wireless APs do have a barrel jack connector but they require 54V input. This approach won’t work.

USB-C PD cable with 5.5 mm x 2.5 mm barrel jack connector

Anker 533 Power Bank PowerCore 30W or any other battery pack – just make sure it supports USB PD 12V output, not all do

It doesn’t stop there

Many other devices like routers, modems, home automation hubs use the same barrel jack connector and take 12V input. The main fact to keep in mind is that this Anker battery pack can output up to 12 Volts at 1.5 Amps on its USB-C port. We don’t want to overshoot these 18 Watts.

Unboxing external GPS antenna CW-ANT-GPS2-S-00 for Cisco CW9163E access point

Cisco CW9163E has an in-built GPS/GNSS antenna, and there is an option to attach an external one if signal strength is too weak. We are talking GPS only in this post. For Wi-Fi to work, this AP requires either omnidirectional dipoles or directional patch antenna.

Let’s peak inside the book.

There is a single hose clamp to attach the antenna to a pole, and the GPS antenna itself with directly attached cable.

Before you ask, the cable is about 3 meters long.

It’s now time to remove the GPS antenna port cap.

Detail for the GPS antenna port.

The rubber seal helps protect it from the weather.

Now, the last thing to deal with is how to mount the antenna. You can either use the 2 holes and screws (screws were not provided). Or run the provided hose clamp through the loop inside the antenna mount, pole mount the antenna, and point it towards the sky.

And here is our final setup before the AP gets mounted.

Note: For official Cisco guidance and information, please refer to the Cisco.com data sheet and deployment guide.

Unboxing Cisco CW9163E outdoor access point

CW9163E is Cisco’s outdoor Wi-Fi 6E access point. It comes in external antenna flavor only, so make sure you order either 4 omnidirectional dipoles (in some cases 2 might do just fine), or one directional patch antenna along with the AP itself.

It has built-in GPS antenna. If you expect poor GPS coverage, you can order an optional external GPS antenna.

Note that there are no plastic bags anymore.

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.

Unboxing Cisco CW-ANT-D1-NS-00 directional patch antenna for CW9163E AP

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

Unboxing Cisco CW-ANT-O1-NS-00 omnidirectional dipole antenna for CW9163E AP

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.