[TriLUG] [OT] long range WAPs

[Greg Brown]

1000' shouldn't be a problem though I would suggest going with an amplifier
out of the gate rather then a high(er) gain antenna and no amp.

As for amps I've had great success with Luxux almps.  Get a wrt54gl unit and
flash it with OpenWRT.  Telnet into the box then set you "lan_dns" to
whatever your lan dns server is then run 'ipkg update'.  That will download
package headers to the unit.  Once that is done install the 'wl' package
(ipkg install wl).  Once that is done cd to /etc/init.d and create a
networking script (mine are all S61network).  Set the transmit and recieve
antenna to the primary (wl txant 0, wl antdiv 0) and *DROP* the power to 20
mw (wl txpwr 20).  Once you are done with that hook up the antenna and
amplifier to the antenna closest to the power plug and you are off to the
races.

Check out Fleeman, Anderson, and Bird for good prices on antennas, LMR 400
antenna cables, and amps.

http://www.fab-corp.com/



On 4/23/07, Joseph Mack NA3T <jmack at wm7d.net> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 23 Apr 2007, Chris Bullock wrote:
>
> > I have a relative that has finally decided to get broadband, only
> because
> > there is no DSL or Cable in their area, they are getting
> satellite.  There
> > 6 people (all family) who want to connect to this connection, the
> drawback
> > is that the 2 farthest people away are about 1000' from the
> > modem/satellite.  What are my options for shooting a signal about 1000'
> in
> > 2 directions.  There are several tall poles so line of sight is already
> > there.
>
> (I have not done this but I've thought about it, since I was
> considering doing the same thing myself
>
>
> http://www.austintek.com/astro/wifi_in_the_wilderness/wifi_in_the_wilderness.html
>
> ).
>
> 1000' is just about the range that could be covered by a
> line of sight wap without any modifications. You might want
> to try it first. The next thing to try is a gain antenna.
> Whether you want omni or directional will depend on the
> relative location of the other people involved. An omni is
> simplest - much radiation is not directed horizontally and
> an omni will send it all out horizontally. Say you need to
> move the wap 3 times closer to get a decent signal, then
> you'll need a gain of 3^2=9 from the antenna for your
> preferred location. Just get adapters for the antenna to fit
> your wap. Use coax rated for that frequency and keep it
> short (about 1 foot) as even good coax at that frequency is
> lossy.
>
> The next alternative is a 1W amplifier at your wap.
>
> Joe
>
> --
> Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
> jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map
> generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml
> Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux!
> --
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