 |
Frequently Asked Questions
General
Who is Trilogy Communications Inc.?
What are all the products that Trilogy manufactures?
Why would I want to try Trilogy's cable?
Who are some of the companies, currently using Trilogy's
products?
Where does Trilogy manufacture cable and what is the
size of their manufacturing facilities?
What is Trilogy's lead-time?
What kind of support is available from Trilogy?
Products
What are the sizes of Trilogy's AirCell® cable?
Why does Trilogy's AirCell® cable has a lower
attenuation?
Why would I want to try Trilogy's cable?
How long is the warranty period for Trilogy's AirCell® products?
What are the advantages of using aluminum for outer
conductor?
How hard is Trilogy's AirCell® cable to bend?
What is the weight of Trilogy's AirCell® cables
in comparison with other manufacturers?
Is there anything I should be aware of when installing
the AirCell® radiating cable in the tunnel?
What is Attenuation and Coupling Loss?
What are parameters that will affect the performance
of AirCell® Radiating cable?
What is a Link Budget?
Are any connectors or accessories applicable with
Trilogy's Transline cable?
Are any connectors or accessories applicable with
Trilogy's Radiating cable?
Can other manufacturers' (e.g. Andrew) connectors
be used for Trilogy's corrugated AirCell® Plenum cable?
|
General
Who is Trilogy Communications
Inc.?
Trilogy Communications designs, manufactures and markets a full range of cable products for wireless communications. The company was founded in 1985 after the purchase of a business unit from General Cable. For nearly two decades, Trilogy has been providing the communications industry with the most technologically advanced coaxial cable products in the marketplace. With superior technology, quality and service, Trilogy delivers a reliable solution that is the best in the business, Trilogy Communications' corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities is located in the Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan area.
What are all the
products that Trilogy manufactures?
Trilogy's advanced cable products are uniquely designed with fully bonded air dielectric. Such design enhances Trilogy products' technical performance in velocity of propagation and signal attenuation. It also yields a lighter weight product and the best protection against water migration. Furthermore, these high-performance products come with the best warranty policy in the industry.
Trilogy’s AirCell® product line includes the following:
•
AirCell® Transline Cable – Wireless base station solution for Cellular, Paging, PCS, SMR, and Satellite applications.
•
AirCell® Radiating Cable – Wireless communication in restricted environment such as metros, tunnels and mines.
•
AirCell® Plenum and Plenum Radiating Cable – In-Building Wireless Network for hotels and hospitals.
Why would I want
to try Trilogy's cable?
Trilogy offers a more efficient product that has:
•
Better (Higher) Velocity of Propagation
•
Better (Lower) signal attenuation
•
No water migration
•
Lighter weight
•
Ease of installation and connectorization
•
Best warranty against water migration in the industry (15 years)
Our customers are our first and foremost concern and our management
team is committed to providing a first class product and exceptional
customer service.
Who are some of the
companies, currently using Trilogy's products?
To name a few: Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, Motorola, Powerwave Technologies, InnerWireless, Bell West and many other major service providers. Our products have been installed in the Washington D.C. Metro, the Beijing Metro, the NY PATH Tunnel (NY/NJ Port Authority), the Toronto Airport, the Georgia World Congress (Atlanta), the AOL Time Warner Building (NYC), etc. Trilogy's products are also sold in the international market to over 40 countries.
Where does Trilogy
manufacture cable and what is the size of their manufacturing facilities?
100% of Trilogy’s cable product is made in the U.S.A. The plant is located in Pearl, Mississippi, and has over a quarter-million square feet.
What is Trilogy's
lead-time?
It varies, at the present it is from one day to two weeks for regular standard products. Call us to check on a specific product so that we can provide an accurate lead-time. Overnight shipments are often available upon customers' request.
What kind
of support is available from Trilogy?
A member of our applications engineering group is available to provide
installation training and certification on site at your first install
to insure proper training of your technicians or for your contractor.
After that, we will train other individuals on how to correctly
install a connector as needed. Classes are offered at our facility
in Mississippi should you wish to train a number of individuals
at the same time. We also have connectorization instruction CDs
available upon request.
Back to top
Products
What are
the sizes of Trilogy's AirCell® cable?
They are available in the following sizes: Transline - 1/2",
5/8", 7/8", 1-1/4", and 1-5/8"; Radiating -
1/2", 5/8", 7/8", 1-1/4", and 1-5/8"; Plenum
and Plenum Radiating - 1/2".
Why does Trilogy's
AirCell® cable has a lower attenuation?
Our AirCell® cable has a 91% Velocity of Propagation which makes
the attenuation lower than that of the competing foam corrugated
products at 88%. This is accomplished by a unique design which uses
the perfect dielectric - AIR. AirCell® Transline 1-5/8"
has the lowest attenuation in the market, 1.02dB/100ft @ 2000 MHz
versus corrugated foam's 1.13dB. The attenuation of AirCell®
Transline 1-5/8" is almost equivalent to foam's 2-1/4"
which is a much bigger cable.
Why would
I want to try Trilogy's cable?
Trilogy offers a more efficient product that provides:
•
Better (Higher) Velocity of Propagation
•
Better (Lower) signal attenuation
•
No water migration
•
Lighter weight
•
Ease of installation and connectorization
•
Best warranty against water migration in the industry (15 years)
Our customers are our first and foremost concern and our management
team is committed to providing a first class product and exceptional
customer service.
How long is
the warranty period for Trilogy's AirCell® products?
Trilogy offers 15 years warranty against water migration, which is the longest warranty in
the industry versus Andrew's 10 years and RFS and Times Microwave's
5 years.
What are the
advantages of using aluminum for outer conductor?
Since the RF signal travels with a "skin effect" on the
top of the inner conductor, the outer conductor only serves as a
shield that holds the signal in the pipe. In actuality aluminum
is a better choice over copper as an outer conductor for the following
reasons:
- Aluminum is 3 times lighter and more flexible than copper.
- Aluminum is corrosive resistant. Aluminum’s corrosive properties cause an outer layer to form which protects from further corrosion whereas copper will continue to corrode creating pock marks that will affect the RF conductivity.
How hard is
Trilogy's AirCell® cable to bend?
Because our cable is smooth wall aluminum, it will be a little more
difficult to bend than corrugated copper but much easier to bend
than smooth wall foam cables. As a comparison, smooth wall copper
takes 154 foot-pounds to bend, AirCell® takes 60 foot-pounds and
corrugated foam 1-5/8" cable takes 40 foot-pounds.
What is the
weight of Trilogy's AirCell® cables in comparison with other
manufacturers?
AirCell® cable has one of the lightest weights in the industry. As a comparison, the weight of our AirCell® Transline 1-5/8" has the lightest weight of 0.70 lb/ft versus NK Cable's 0.97 lb/ft, RFS' 1.19 lb/ft, and Andrew’s 0.82 lb/ft (LDF) – 0.72 lb/ft (AVA) for their copper products.
Is there anything
I should be aware of when installing the AirCell® radiating
cable in the tunnel?
Trilogy’s AirCell® Radiating cable should be placed with a 2” spacing from concrete wall versus the competition’s 4” spacing from wall. This presents an advantage when installing cable in a tight or crowded tunnel environment.
Trilogy’s cable also requires less hanging clicks. For example, for AirCell® Radiating 1-5/8” size, a 6-foot clamp spacing is required versus the competition’s 4.9 feet.
In order to achieve the optimal performance, AirCell® Radiating cable must be placed at least 4" (approximately 100 mm) away from any metallic objects.
What is Attenuation
and Coupling Loss?
Attenuation, expressed in dB per unit length, is the sum of the
power loss along the length of the cable.
Coupling Loss is the difference between the power that is contained
in the cable and the transmitted power received by a dipole antenna
located a fixed distance away.
What are
parameters that will affect the performance of AirCell® Radiating
cable?
The two main parameters affecting the performance of AirCell® Radiating
cable are attenuation, which limits the longitudinal range,
and coupling, which determines the overall sensitivity.
Attenuation is relatively easy to measure by simple insertion loss
techniques although the accurate prediction of losses in an actual
working environment is much more difficult. Coupling is the measure
of signal accessibility at a given radial distance outside the cable
and, being very dependent on the particular installation and environmental
aspects, is very difficult to assess.
What is a
Link Budget?
A link budget is the sum of all system gains and losses between
a transmitter and a receiver. The surplus is called system margin,
which allows for unforeseen losses and/or equipment degradation.
Are any connectors
or accessories applicable with Trilogy's Transline cable?
Due to our cable's unique air dielectric design, the connectors,
tools and grounding straps are designed specifically for AirCell® Transline. All other accessories are interchangeable with what you
are currently using.
Specially designed AirCell® Transline connectors are easier to work
with and take less time to install, compared to our competitors'
products which also require their own connectors.
Are any connectors
or accessories applicable with Trilogy's Radiating cable?
Due to our cable's unique air dielectric design, the connectors
and tools are designed specifically for AirCell® Radiating cable.
All other accessories are interchangeable with what you are currently
using.
Specially designed AirCell® Radiating connectors are easier to work
with and take less time to install, compared to our competitors'
products which also require their own connectors.
Can other
manufacturers' (e.g. Andrew) connectors be used for Trilogy's corrugated
AirCell® Plenum cable?
We recommend buying our own Plenum connectors for best performance.
However, Andrew's Self-Flare connectors could be used on our cable
but we do not guarantee the performance.
Please note that AirCell® Plenum connectors are so much easier to
install than Andrew's Self-Flare connectors. Please see our flyer
for comparison. A copy of our flyer can be sent (fax/mail/email)
to you upon request.
Back to top
|
