Layer 1 Troubleshooting Scenario

In this article I wanted to review a current troubleshooting scenario that I thought you would benefit from. The point of the article is that you should never overlook the basics.

While working onsite, I overheard a group of technicians discussing a current issue with a WiFi radio on a tower. Their management system reported that the radio was down and probably had to be replaced. One of the issues is that they have to get a hold of someone to climb the tower which means that the outage only gets longer. After they located someone I asked what was going on.

The senior analyst explained that his happens every so often and the radio just needs to be replaced with a new one. I then asked if they would mind showing me around since we were just waiting for the contractor and they said no problem.

We walked over to the bottom of the tower, opened the enclosure and noticed that smell of burnt popcorn. There obviously wasn’t any popcorn there, that’s just my way of describing the smell of burnt cable or electronics. After some poking around, I determined that they needed to replace a lot more than just the radio. In the video, I explain what I looked for, what I found and what I suggested.