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this topic is described in a grey box on page 60 of the cwna book (4th ed).
It prompted a question: can you damage an access point by using it without the antenne screwed on?

thank you.

no reply from the gurus, yet...

In reading the book (again) I came across another sentence saying "antennas should never be disconnected while the radio is enabled to avoid damage to your equipment". Is this tied to my previous question? Can someone explain?

thanks in advance

Hi,
As far as i know from my work experience, removing antenna should not damage your radio. But i have seen the circuit current usage(and the SNR obviously) going down when i remove the external antenna by mistake sometimes.

But yes i have seen wireless radio cards going bad for unknown reasons, sometimes even after i have configured them.

Also the wireless card i work on comes without a antenna, and then we add the antenna to it, so i dont know in what situation the book is talking about.

It is a good precautionary step though to not do anything to the wireless card radio when voltage is applied.( The current surge can indeed damage as the component level (capacitors and resistors) are very sensitive to it)

Thanks,
Kanwal.

Output amplifiers are not typically designed with input protection circuitry. When antennas are removed from an AP or wireless bridge, you have an open (infinite resistance). This means that all power being pumped out by the output amplifier is now being reflected back into the output amplifier. This can destroy the amplifier in some cases (depending on whether or not it has protection circuitry).

Devinator