Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
 
Sector SWAP Identification Guide 
By : Naveed Shaikh 

RF South 

26 Febuary 2008 

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
1. Types of Sector SWAP 
1.1. Complete Cross Feeders: (GSM or DCS)

As the name suggests, this happens when the feeder cables of two different sectors are
completely crossed, which in turn leads to the fact that the coverage areas of the two adjacent
cells are swapped. Drive tester may observe a lot of HO failures and call drops.

1.2. Composite SWAP: (GSM or DCS)

In this case feeder/ semi rigid cables of two or three sector are partly swapped. Sometimes TX
cables are corrects but RX main and Diversity cables of two sector s are swapped. Some time TX
cables are swapped but RX cables are in their place

1.3. GSM-DCS cable SWAP.

In this case GSM feeder cables are connected to DCS DUAMCO or vice versa. Drive tester may
observe frequent INTRA cell handovers, handover failures and sometimes call drops.

1.4. Wrong Antenna Installation

This can be a sub case of composite swap and this usually happens on Complex expansion sites.
In this case TRX and supporting DUMACO are installed in one sector but the new antenna is
installed in the others sectors. Prior knowledge of the expansion and TRX configuration will be
helpful in quickly identifying these types of issues. The drive tester may observe a lot of HO
failures and call drops due to missing neighbors, Low RX level and Quality.

2. Reasons for Sector SWAP or Wrong Installation  
Due to very huge and fast deployment sector swap and wrong antenna installation problems are
common. The main reason behind this is the installation of Hardware is in steps. That is antennas
and Feeders are installed at one time and the Hardware is installed and powered up at other
time. Here the responsibility of acceptance team comes who need to verify these types of
problems very carefully in field.

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
3. CASE Study No.1: 4QLUN01 
Problem: The cells QLUN01-2 and QLUN01-3 had High DCR and High IHOFR.

Observed Situation & Solution:

As seen from the Drive tests plots Fig: 1 & 2; there was Swap between sector 2 & 3 in 900 band
and this can be categorized as “Complete Cross Feeders”. No Swap was found in complete cable
tracing from BTS top to antennas. But sector swap was found inside cabinet in semi-rigid cables
connecting CUs to DUAMCO resulting High number of HO failures.

 
Figure 1 

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
Figure 2

This swap was removed by the help of BSS Engineer and Rigger. The post results are shown in
Fig: 3. Here we can see that now there are no HO failures.

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
Figure 3

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
4. CASE Study No.2: 3KMKR01 
Problem: The KMKR01-2 had High DCR.

Observed Situation & Solution:

In Sector 2, GSM feeder cables and antenna was connected to DCS DUAMCO and DCS feeder
cables were left unconnected on BTS top. This can be categorized as GSM/ DCS cable SWAP.
In this type of there is no clear indication of swap but drive tester may observe frequent INTRA
cell handovers, handover failures and sometimes call drops due to low RX levels of the affected
band (in this case DCS band) even very near to BTS. Thus call was not sustaining on DCS band.

Figure 4 shows a lot of HOs with week RX levels of DCS band even very near to site.

 
Figure 4 

DCS feeder cables were connected to the correct DUAMCO. The post results are shown in Fig:
2.2. Here we can see that now HO count has reduced and call is sustaining on DCS band.

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
Figure 5

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

 
Annex-1: Siemens BTS

BS-240XL

DUAMCO 

DUVSWR 
PORT 

DULNA 
PORT 

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

ANNEX-2

TRX Testing

1. Stand in the main lobe of the sector whose TRXs are to be checked. Don’t be very close
to the SITE keep a distance of 100 meter so that the call is not handed over to some
other cell.
2. Establish a call on the test number and wait for approximately 30 seconds
3. Disconnect the call and establish a call again using the same procedure to check all the
TRXs of that sector.

Note: There are two ways to check every TRX in a particular cell

a) Ask NOC or BSS person to lock all other TRX except the one you are testing, so that the 
faulty TRX becomes the BCCH TRX (if not so already).  
. 
In case of Dual band site with common BCCH on 900, if you need to check 1800 TRX, then one
900 Radio need to be kept unlocked for necessary signaling and you need to stand near to BTS
around 100 -200 meters so that your call is established on 1800 TRX.

b) If you have no access to NOC or BSS person then test by Hit and trial method
recognizing the MAIO assigned to every TRX. Keep trying until you have tested every
TRX/MAIO in that particular cell. Here 900 MHz band can be locked to quickly test the
900 TRX only.

4. Compare  the  RX  power  level  of  the  current  TRX  to  the  other  to  check  if  it  is  same  to 
other TRX when they are made BCCH TRX. If the deviation is too high that is more that 
15‐ 20 dBm then report O&M for low power TRX.   
 
Note:  To  compare  the  DCS  TRXs  RX  level,  DL  power  control  should  be  disabled.    that 
particular cell contains 1800 TRX.  Once the problem is identified than DL power control 
must be enabled again.  
 
5. Also check the RX Quality for any degradation 

6. If call cannot be made on any one of the TRXs try for at least 20 times. If still you can’t
make a call then report this to NOC or O&M.
7. Repeat the procedure until all the TRXs have been verified

Tips:

The drive tester might experience a scenario in which the call establishes on the 1800 MHz band
but fails to do on the 900 MHz band. This occurs due to low traffic on a particular cell site. To
suppress the 1800 MHz band one has to uncheck 1800 from the band control properties of the
Mobile Station. This would lead the mobile to make calls only on the 900 MHz band.

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 Sector SWAP Identification Guide

References:

1. Drive test log files, Telenor South Nework

2. Product specification Siemens BTS “BS240_BS241XL.pdf”
3. DRIVE TESTING USING TEMS by ACE Telecom

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