I was curious if/when the SNF port would be used? I understand from the User Manual of the Nova9 B42/43 that the SNF port is a Sniffer port. My interpretation of that is to mean a spectrum analyzer, is this correct? Any insight would be appreciated,
I am considering purchasing another 3GHz product with built in spectrum analyzer that is cheap and hanging it as a dedicated spectrum analyzer for all towers. This would be pointless if the SNF port is going to be used in the way I assume and in a relatively decent timeline, Q2 next year maybe?
As far as I know, the SNF port will be removed in the next eNodeB hardware revision to allow for more space. There are currently no plans I am aware of to embed a spectrum analyzer in the Nova eNodeB hardware versions.
The SNF port is for OTA (over the air) synchronization. Since we already include GPS, there is no real need for OTA sync. As Rick mentioned, we have plans to remove this port in future revisions.
We actually do have plans to implement a software spectrum analyzer, but there is no ETA on this yet as it is still under testing and development.
