Dear Friends
As a result of my question regarding AirPort Extreme problems in our
new Augusta home, here is a compendium of replies, suggestions and
solutions, for your information, gleaned from GMUG, UberMug, WAMUG and
MacEd mailing lists. Thank you for your advice.
As a result I took Robin Belford's very basic advice and turned off
"Extreme" speed as I didn't need it. This gave basic Airport range
approximately 25% greater than with the Extreme setting. We've put the
Base Station back in the second bedroom, shortened the cables and now
have 3 out of 4 bars in AirPort Menu icon. Why is the Extreme setting
so range insensitive?
I tested Onno's suggestion of plane alignment but it didn't make
noticeable difference in the 1-2 m range we have here.
I am interested in Kathy's alert about aluminium insulated Gyprock. I
don't think we have that here but it's worth boring a hole in the
landlord's wall perhaps!
I'd like to build my own transmitter thanks to Edwin's advice. Maybe
one day with enough time I'll try. (Simon Collins - here we go)
Also I'd like to try the Galaxy TV antenna trick one day. Does anyone
know if this will really work?
BTW it seems we've "won" a Dr Bott ExtendAir antenna on eBay, so when
(if?) it arrives, we'll let you know if it's really effective.
Many thanks
Reg and Elaine Whitely
Augusta, WA
____________________________________
Robin Belford wrote:
Turn off the "extreme" speed on the ABS. Just stick to 803.11b
Steven Tan wrote:
Another idea (which I just did recently) is to install Ethernet and
phone line ports to the place where the base station has the best range
and the room where the iMac/Phone line is. I don't know if a USB port
can be installed, but if an ethernet port can be done, i don't see why
not.
So the iMac can be ethernet to the base station and internet phone line
can still reach the base station without ugly cables running across
rooms. Not sure how much it will cost, probably a hundred?
Check if you can do USB wall installation too. (just using a long
female-female USB cable?)
Chris Murray wrote:
I've had little problem running my AP extreme / ibook 700Mhz in a
brick house and easily getting about 30- 50 meters range -well across
the road and three houses up- A friend running a Ti PB on my system has
much worse reception- but we all know about the shielding problems on
those Ti books.
I bought a Dr Bott for another client but for various reasons ended up
with it my self. HOWEVER the increase in range in not a lot in my
opinion.
They claim 4dB but every-time you have a 'connection' plug or join,
you loose 3dB or so i am told by engineering friends..
Incidentally you have to do a power unplug replug to the base station
to get it to recognise the new aerial --- this is not mentioned in the
Dr Bott literature !!
Neil Blake wrote:
Hope you get the Airport problems sorted - I know
it may not be much help, but I have a snow airport base station
upstairs in
the office which sends a fine signal throughout the house to a variety
of
Macs, through timber and mudbrick walls - so being in the same plane
isn't a
problem for us. I guess the iMac is too old to fit an Airport card -
that
would be the cheapest solution!
PS - I believe summer will start on Thursday on the south coast!
Edwin Togami wrote:
Based on these two replies, I'd try angling the Base Station so that
the horizontal plane coincides with the lower "loungeroom". If that
doesn't work, then perhaps an access point would be better than another
antenna.
Constantin von Wentzel
USA
If you have to attach an external antenna, I'd stay away from Apple's
AEBS. The proprietary connector+sensing circuit limits you to a small
number of external antennas either from Dr. Bott (I.e. OEM) or 3rd
party folks like Hyperlinktech. Considering Hyperlinktech's hostile
attitude towards hobbyists, I cannot recommend them any longer.
Instead, I'd go with a pigtail adapter and then chose among the wide
universe of antennas that offer N-Female connectors. The one thing I
would check out is the RX sensitivity of whatever accesspoint you're
considering as there can be considerable differences.
See my antenna article for more info on antennas in
general:http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/Antenna/index.html
Considering the low cost of many access points these days, it may be
more cost effective (and better performing) to sprinkle low-cost access
points throughout your house rather than attaching unwieldy antennas
and/or amplifiers. Plus, it's safer too as a high-gain
antenna/amplifier will focus/increase the microwave energy into
uncomfortable territories (at least for me).
<http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/Antenna/index.html>
And another:
RE: Making a 5 story Boston townhouse wireless
California
You are going to have a lot of trouble trying to cover that much
vertical distance with just 2 base stations. The AEBS units seem to
focus the radio signal out on a horizontal plane. Vertically the signal
diminishes quickly. This might work in your favor though. If your AEBS
with your iMac were to be positioned vertically using the mounting
brackets, then you might get signal up to the 3rd or 4th floor. How
much space will be covered on floors 1, 2, and 3 will depend on how
much the signal spreads out.
If that much works (use your 15" PB TiBook for a worst case analysis,
and your iBook for a best case scenario), find out if you have good
signal to the 3rd or 4th floor. If so you might be able to just get one
extra AEBS to be a WDS Remote up there to repeat the signal to the 4th
and 5th floors.
I'll play around with it. Why are Dr Bott antennae being sent home (to
Dr Bott or to roost)?
Edwin researches more and writes:
If I read the replies correctly, they (Dr Bott ExtendAIR - Reg) don't
provide enough boost in signal to be worth the extra money. You'd be
much better off using an empty Pringle's container! (see point 6 on
list below!!!)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448>
<http://www.qsl.net/wk8l/>
<http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html>
I'd highly reccommend Constantin von Wentzel's site, "Sharing Apple
Base Station Experiences"
<http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/index.html> Besides being a wealth of
information about the Base Stations, he has a very good section on
antennas. (excerpt below)
Antenna Resources
How to:
€ Use Antennas to extend the range of your Airport wireless network.
€ Choose the right Directional antenna, Omni-directional antenna, or
Amplifier for your system.
€ Besides all their other great info, SeattleWireless also has a
useful antenna guide.
€ Use Antennas to enhance the security of your network (somewhat
technical)
€ Have a old Primestar dish? Recycle it into 22dbi directional antenna
for long distance networking. See Trevor Marshall's feed design below
for optimum performance.
€ Roll your own antenna using Pringles cans, coffee cans, and other
things. The folks at Guerrillia.net also maintain a nice list of
home-brew antennas.
€ Trevor Marshall maintains a really interesting web-site with great
do-it-yourself antenna information. His excellent do-it-yourself plans
for horizontally-polarized Slotted Waveguide antennas can save you $300
over commercial offerings, though owning a CNC turning machine is a
plus. He also has a very effective bi-quad feed-horn design for
Primestar dishes.
€ Own a Titanium Powerbook and hate the wireless range you're getting?
Well, now you can retrofit an External Antenna as long as you're
willing to sacrifice your PCMCIA slot. Personally, I'd just use the
excellent $60 SMC SMC2532W-B external card...
Ronni Brown wrote:
I have my Airport Extreme Base Station connected to ADSL Router
connected to Phone line upstairs, (which is the only phone line in the
house).
I have downstairs in my Study an iMacDV OSX10.2.8 which connects by
Ethernet to my iBook G4 OSX10.3.2 which connects by Airport to the Base
Station.
In another Study downstairs I often have another Airport iBook G4
OSX10.3.2 connected to the Network.
My house is Hardie Plank upstairs & Limestone downstairs.
All computers have no trouble with the range and none of them are 'in
line, or in view' with the Base Station.
I did think at first the range was not as good as my 'Snow' Airport
Base Station, which I could stay connected to over the road at my
neighbours .... (I have not tried this with my Airport Extreme).
I can stay connected outside in the back yard, front yard & upstairs on
the balconies.
Onno Benschop wrote:
802.11 does not travel well in height (unless equipped with a suitable
antenna). I've experienced the same issues in a setup I made at a client
and the resolution was to put everything on the same height.
Kathy Quinlan wrote:
*** if the Gyprock is anti mould or wet area Gyprock, it may have an
inner aluminium foil lining.
**** 15M USB cables are outside spec, so they may not work :o(
Can anyone offer any advice please? Are there cheaper alternatives to
the Dr Bott model.
Yes, just get a PC type external Antenna (you will need to modify the
unit (IIRC the plastic shell is not designed for an external antenna)
The card inside the base station is usually a PCMCIA Lucent Technologies
WiFi card (802.11 wireless LAN card).
How good are you at manual arts ? You can build your own :o)
www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/pics/2.4colinear.jpg is one such design
