Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
I'm extremely sceptical of these cheap external aerials. If it were an expensive one from a specialist supplier then I might have higher expectations, but I'm pretty sure a customer of mine used one similar to yours, and they used to use a book to balance it at an angle to try get reception. This was between offices on adjacent floors, almost one right above the other (surely less than 20' sideways). ... Can you recommend a specialist supplier, especially in the US? I had to google for recommendations to pass on to you, but found: I've had great results mesh networking with 15dbi omnis available from http://www.wlanparts.com. With line of sight I can connect to these from over 1/2 mile a way with my laptop. Watch your transmit power as with high gain antennas its easy to venture in to illegal power levels. See: http://www.rflinx.com/help/calculations/ Remember high transmit powers only increase range if both ends increase their power. In most cases increasing power does little good at just one end of the link. https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=35766#p35766 Indeed wlanparts.com would appear to be the kind of folks I had in mind (they look to me like the kind of people you could email for advice - if you were to email them the question you originally posted to this list, maybe they could suggest a replacement?) but it might also be worth searching openwrt.org it's forum for aerial or antenna and take a look at few more of the results there (i.e google aerial or antenna site:openwrt.org will include the forums). Stroller. Thanks a lot, plenty of info there. - Grant
Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
I travel with a USB wifi dongle and one of these directional antennas: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 Lately I've noticed there are some APs that my laptop's internal wifi connects to perfectly, but the external antenna can't find whatsoever, even after a lot of directional experimentation. I've tried 2 different USB dongles with the same result. Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm baffled because the external antenna is able to make strong connections to some APs, but it can't even find others that the laptop's internal card finds and connects to no problem. Maybe the USB dongle doesn't support as many bands as the internal WiFi? eg. Dongle is B/G only, while internal is A/B/G? -James That's a good idea, but I'm actually able to pick up the difficult AP's with the same dongle when its normal omnidirectional antenna is attached instead of the strong directional one. Could a failing antenna exhibit this behavior? - Grant
Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
On 8 Jan 2010, at 15:49, Grant wrote: ... That's a good idea, but I'm actually able to pick up the difficult AP's with the same dongle when its normal omnidirectional antenna is attached instead of the strong directional one. Could a failing antenna exhibit this behavior? I'm extremely sceptical of these cheap external aerials. If it were an expensive one from a specialist supplier then I might have higher expectations, but I'm pretty sure a customer of mine used one similar to yours, and they used to use a book to balance it at an angle to try get reception. This was between offices on adjacent floors, almost one right above the other (surely less than 20' sideways). If this is important to you, look at building your own directional aerial - there are plans on various guerilla wifi sites, and it seems like it's not hard to build an aerial which will get you very good results indeed. Stroller.
Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
That's a good idea, but I'm actually able to pick up the difficult AP's with the same dongle when its normal omnidirectional antenna is attached instead of the strong directional one. Could a failing antenna exhibit this behavior? I'm extremely sceptical of these cheap external aerials. If it were an expensive one from a specialist supplier then I might have higher expectations, but I'm pretty sure a customer of mine used one similar to yours, and they used to use a book to balance it at an angle to try get reception. This was between offices on adjacent floors, almost one right above the other (surely less than 20' sideways). If this is important to you, look at building your own directional aerial - there are plans on various guerilla wifi sites, and it seems like it's not hard to build an aerial which will get you very good results indeed. Stroller. Can you recommend a specialist supplier, especially in the US? - Grant
Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 5:37 PM, Grant emailgr...@gmail.com wrote: I travel with a USB wifi dongle and one of these directional antennas: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 Lately I've noticed there are some APs that my laptop's internal wifi connects to perfectly, but the external antenna can't find whatsoever, even after a lot of directional experimentation. I've tried 2 different USB dongles with the same result. Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm baffled because the external antenna is able to make strong connections to some APs, but it can't even find others that the laptop's internal card finds and connects to no problem. A lot of laptops now have wireless antennas in the display, so the internal wifi may be using better antennae than you expect.
Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
On 8 Jan 2010, at 21:09, Grant wrote: ... I'm extremely sceptical of these cheap external aerials. If it were an expensive one from a specialist supplier then I might have higher expectations, but I'm pretty sure a customer of mine used one similar to yours, and they used to use a book to balance it at an angle to try get reception. This was between offices on adjacent floors, almost one right above the other (surely less than 20' sideways). ... Can you recommend a specialist supplier, especially in the US? I had to google for recommendations to pass on to you, but found: I've had great results mesh networking with 15dbi omnis available from http://www.wlanparts.com. With line of sight I can connect to these from over 1/2 mile a way with my laptop. Watch your transmit power as with high gain antennas its easy to venture in to illegal power levels. See: http://www.rflinx.com/help/calculations/ Remember high transmit powers only increase range if both ends increase their power. In most cases increasing power does little good at just one end of the link. https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=35766#p35766 Indeed wlanparts.com would appear to be the kind of folks I had in mind (they look to me like the kind of people you could email for advice - if you were to email them the question you originally posted to this list, maybe they could suggest a replacement?) but it might also be worth searching openwrt.org it's forum for aerial or antenna and take a look at few more of the results there (i.e google aerial or antenna site:openwrt.org will include the forums). Stroller.
[gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
I travel with a USB wifi dongle and one of these directional antennas: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 Lately I've noticed there are some APs that my laptop's internal wifi connects to perfectly, but the external antenna can't find whatsoever, even after a lot of directional experimentation. I've tried 2 different USB dongles with the same result. Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm baffled because the external antenna is able to make strong connections to some APs, but it can't even find others that the laptop's internal card finds and connects to no problem. - Grant
Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Laptop wifi find more than external antenna
On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Grant emailgr...@gmail.com wrote: I travel with a USB wifi dongle and one of these directional antennas: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 Lately I've noticed there are some APs that my laptop's internal wifi connects to perfectly, but the external antenna can't find whatsoever, even after a lot of directional experimentation. I've tried 2 different USB dongles with the same result. Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm baffled because the external antenna is able to make strong connections to some APs, but it can't even find others that the laptop's internal card finds and connects to no problem. Maybe the USB dongle doesn't support as many bands as the internal WiFi? eg. Dongle is B/G only, while internal is A/B/G? -James
