[TriLUG] OT: long haul 802.11b?

[Jeremy P]

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 gregbrown at mindspring.com wrote:

> So this is a little off topic, but here it goes anyway.  Has anyone
> done and work attempting to push a 802.11b signal over a long
> distance.  I'm thinking of somewhere in the range of 200-300 meters
> (outdoors).  Some antennas claim they do this now but I would like 90%
> signal at 200-300 meters, not the reduced 1 meg signal.

We do this at Durham Tech to bring network connectivity to a small
outlying building where it wasn't worth it to bury fiber.  I believe the
distance is about 1/4 mile (400 meters).  The remote building has a
regular wired network, but to the main campus by this wireless link.  I
think the setup is two 802.11b cisco access points, both configured with
directional antennas mounted on the roofs of the buildings.  The
connection is line-of-sight, but it works very well.  This type of
configuration is supposed to support distances up to 1 mile (which is the
limit without FCC licensing).
  
NCSSM (where the last trilug/nc*sa meeting was held) has a wireless
network across the entire campus; students have had moderate success using
the network outside near some of the buildings.  These buildings have
their access points mounted inside (with omnidirectional antennas).  If
you put an onmidirectional antenna outside, you could probably get to
200-300 meters.  You might try borrowing an antenna from someone and
testing it out, as building construction and other local conditions can
seriously affect this.

--Jeremy