I use a 24dB grid for a project like this. We can get to a laptop (in open air) about a mile away this way ;-). It's pretty cool.
You'd never be able to handle the volume that way though. I'd probably try to go with REALLY low powered omni or sectors with a LOT of them. 5 gig 802.11 a and b/g. I'd also run a 5 gig system over the top of it for backhaul. Unless you are doing this for free. Then put in what you've got that's cheap and go from there. marlon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Hooper" <[email protected]> To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 11:27 AM Subject: [WISPA] Internet for festival: Laptop/PDA signal strength? > Hi, > > Every year in July we have a fairly large, 3-day festival in town with > over 100 vendors and over 300,000 visitors. I'm teaming up with a local > non-profit that I'm involved with to try to provide Internet access to > those vendors, as well as any of those 300,000 people with > smartphones/PDAs who feel the need to get online. Essentially, the area > I want to cover is in green on this map (plus the pier): > > http://sailfest.org/images/page/sailfest2009_event_guide.gif > > For a sense of scale, those green sections are only about 400 feet long > and are (mostly) flat and the buildings around them are made of brick. > There will be tents and stands all along the street. This is one of the > areas: > > http://sailfest.org/images/page/vendorarea_03.jpg > > If I put a Ubiquiti bullet in that intersection of the green area with > an omnidirectional antenna, I have very little doubt that its signal > will get wherever it needs to go, but will people's laptops and PDAs > have a problem with connections at that range? Or should I put a > repeater halfway down those streets, or even for this use case use a > Mesh network design? > > Thanks in advance, > Charles > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
