I've got a better solution. Instead of just throwing something
together, you can learn all you would ever want to know about RF
propagation from books that can teach you how to build your own high
gain antennas and the test equipment to make sure that those antennas
work.
It is relatively easy to go to a Hamfest (and there's one coming up
soon in July at Cary) where there will be vendors who will have more
antenna books that you can ever read. Again this year I'm offering
to pay for space for TRILUG to come and introduce hams to Linux.
But since Tanner has left office, he has told me that someone else
will have to take over from him. Incidentally if you just study a
bit, you too could have use of WiFi frequencies which are reserved
solely for experimentation using higher wattage than what you have now.
There are books that can help you pass the multiple choice test that
can give you your FCC license which you can use for experimentation.
---- See you there, Al Johnson KQ4FP
=======================================================
On Jun 12, 2005, at 8:08 PM, Jeff Groves wrote:
Greg:
I too have been having trouble with my 802.11b network from time to
time.
I suppose what I've always heard from electrical engineering types
is true. Radio related stuff can be flaky as hell for the most odd
reasons.
I'm no RF wiz, but the things that come to mind in your situation are:
1) too much gain on the signal
2) interference of some sort
The first issue (1) may be that you're pumping too much signal and
causing trouble for the receiving side due to noise caused by
overloading the receive side. You might try pointing the two
antennas a little off center and then compare performance.
For item 2), you could contact the local American Radio Relay
League (ARRL) and see if they can do a check of the power level of
your antennas and the surrounding area. One of the more senior
Hams in the group might be able to point you in the right direction
that way.
I hope that I haven't exposed too much of my ignorance on the
subject of RF by speaking up. If I have, please let us know!
Thanks,
Jeff G.
Greg Brown wrote:
All:
I have a network on the Carolina Outer Banks. I have one wireless
link connecting two parts of the network toghether. The distance
between the two access points is roughly 300 yards. The access
points
themselves are WRT54G units running OpenWRT, one in AP mode and
one in
WET mode (the device in WET mode connects, via cat5, to a Cisco 1200
802.11b unit that the users connect to).
Both OpenWRT boxes are connected to 14 Dbi Yagi antennas (antenex
units). The problem is the signal fades out, and on a regular basis
which isolates the Cisco 1200 from the main network (and thus
isolates
the users who complain about this, loudly. I have the antennas
moved
up about 15 feet into the air and they are pointed directly at each
other. They are both on the same channel, 8, and there are ZERO
obstructions between the two antenanns. I can put both into AP mode
and I seem to get a strong enough signal from both so that they reach
each other, but clearly something is amiss.
I am thinking of swapping out the Yagis for 14 or 24 DBI
omnidirectional antenans. My hope is that the more focused signal
will carry a greater distance thus providing a reliable link between
the components of the network. At best, when the current system is
running, I can only link at 1 meg with much less throughput (for the
RF overhead). Ideally I'd like to connect at 5.5, and 11 meg would
put me into a nirvana state.
Has anyone deployed the same kind (sort-of) long-haul 802.11 link?
What kind of antenans did you use? Does my next step sound like a
good idea of throwing good money after bad?
Greg
--
Jeff Groves
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.krenim.org/
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