They work best when near one end of the path, as opposed to the middle.
They've been used in microwave work (and other frequencies) for many years, with varying degrees of success. Also a corrugated panel, with both antennas pointed at it from an angle also makes a fairly respectable passive as well, but surface area of the corrugation affects signal strength. Ive used steel buildings as a reflector in this manner. (See diag below)
Point a:
\
\
\
corrugated reflector
/
/
/
point b:The corrugated steel/aluminium looks like a sine wave when viewed from the edge. Its almost a perfect reflector, as it has all angles available, for any intercept angle. It 'does' have polarity, you'll notice this immediately.
Remember, angle of incidence= angle of reflection.
As far as the trees, the only negative is they move in the wind, and change absorption as foliage comes and goes. They also move in the wind, making RSSI's change.
Lightning?
When it comes to lightning, paranoia is warranted. It will eventually find you.
Ground the thing. #6 minimum. 10' ground rod. Nothing less.
Also I'd invest in a lightning arrestor for the cat 5 or whatever cable comes in. Winding a couple small loops in the cable on the house side (tape or tie-wrap them) of the arrestor gives the cable a small amount of inductance, and allows more time for the arc-over to happen, dissipating the energy at the arrestor.
I have heard that it's possible to use passive repeaters, built from two antennas of some kind, connected by a piece of coax. It's supposed to work, but cut the signal strength in half.
Has anyone tried this, and will it actually work? We have anyone tried a passive repeater before?
Oh, and one other ting.. Is it safe to put an antenna with accesspoint up in a tree, higher than the highest point of the house. And then connect that accesspoint to your home network. What happens when a lightning strikes? Should I try to make some sort of ground connection, by driving a metal pole into the ground and connect that to a wire that goes up the tree, higher than the antenna? Or am I just being paranoid? :)
Comments appreciated..
Oh, and also feel free to comment on this antenna design :) http://gargamel.insomnica.net/div/outdoorDoublequad/
Best regards, Christian Moen, Norway
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