boosting signal for 802.11b Wireless Network

i have a friend who just purchased the linksys 4 port router w\ Wireless Access Point

He asked me if their was a way to boost the range of the signal.

I told him their was, and his wireless AP will allow the antennas to be removed and replaced with bigger ones

the problem is i don't know where to get them and how big

has anyone tried this yet, and did it help? I have heard it does

I thought about trying the Shack, but i didn't know
thanks

trey

I have the same unit, same idea.

I have tried the same thing, with Radio Shack parts but I am not sure just how effective it is yet- signal strength on my most remote rig was dropping bad during large transfers and it is still dropping but not as badly.

I did have a few problems doing this, here is what I learned:

Linksys uses and ALMOST standard connector (at least by TRS's stuff!) It is a TNC connector (used for cell phone antennas) with the threaded coupling reversed, ie: on a regular TNC the rotating lock would be on the unit, not on the antenna (as Linksys has it)

What I did was open the unit and replace one of the Linksys TNC jacks with a jack from the shack - soldering 1 wire is needed.

I mounted everything back in and closed up the unit, then hooked up 1 Linksys antenna and my New Long Range Antenna (which is just a cell antenna for a car)!

Like I said before, I'm not sure just how worthwhile this is yet- its too cold outside to go TOO far, but I have not dropped the connection on my upstairs rig yet with the new antenna....

Cost: 1 hour of my time, $2 for 1 TNC jack, $2 for the antenna (Closeout!) so for the money it seems ok!

sounds sweet

i found antenna package from SMC that says its a 9 decible gain

it says it makes the range go to quite a few miles?

i don't know

also, with sandard antennas that come with the system, there is about a 50% loss on the transfer rate with WEP enabled

does the add on antennas change this to make it faster again?

i heard that, placing wireless cards in computers not even using wireless connection could spread the range
I heard but i am not tottally sure it works....

i found this antenna, and the kit is especially designed for the linksys, its plug and play

and from the information, it will great for what i want

question, as you get higher number encription number, the lower the throughput, so i was thinking that the 40 or 62 bit encrytion might be good enough, as i have heard the 128 bit cuts throughput in half

please take a look at the antenna and let me know what you think



http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/linksys_hg2408u_user_antkit.html

To tell the truth I don't know that much about radio/wireless stuff: it LOOKS like a good antenna, but to me its a lot of money unless I really need it badly.

I did mine for wicked low money, and while I'm not sure just how effective it is, it does seem to get rid of all the dropped connections I was getting.

As far as encryption goes- I'm not bothering: little or no data that is sensitive on my stuff, so I'm not concerned.

If I was going to use it I think I would go with the lowest setting for speed...and since the likelihood of anyone trying to get in is pretty low.

i have the same Linksys AP + Router w/ 4 ports Switch.

and i was also thinking to get that kit from hyperlinktech too. however, after i've relocated the AP to much closer to all my machines, it's all running fine now.

if ur friend do get one, pls let me know how it is??!! does it really help? a lot? or just a little..??

but 8db gain for wireless networking isn't a small gain tho!!

i've heard there's a guy who buy one of those 3-4feet long antenna, and aim directly to his neigbor across the street, so his neighbor could share his broadband cable.... sounds cool to me!

A 802.11b shot over a couple of miles is going to require directional antennas on both ends to get a successfull connection.

fortunatly, with a little work you can make some nice antennas from pingles cans, some all thread and washers.

http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448/

The most expensive parts will be the BNC or Type-N connector that will be used to carry the signal between the adaptor and antenna. Some soldering skills will be required to attach a pigtail to the wireless card...

I can get a shot of just over 1.5 miles pingles to pringles can. But if it rains, forget it.

my friend that lives in an apartment building behind me is about 60 feet away. we can stand on our balcony and see each other

we plan to LAN with each other

i have know doubt that my linksys AP and his can talk to each other, but i think that the transfer rate will be at a minimum

if he puts a 8db antenna like the one i mentioned before, it will surely help the bandwidth between us

you are correct about the directional antennas for the most part, and i think you are referring too building a Yagi antenna, in which they need sight to sight

i won't be going over a 1\4 mile ever, well, only if he can afford a house really big lol

but then he can afford anything

anyways, this is a omnidirectional antenna, so he will be giving a 360 degree signal

if anything, i will buy the same one. A Yagi antenna would work well with it since i could make a line of sight, but i would spend a little extra and get the omnidirectional antenna

that way i can put it in the attic of my house in the future and give good coverage throughout the house

thanks for the advice

the more the better

OK - I misunderstood your problem, for some reason I was thinking you wanted to do a link over a couple of miles. Since you are only going ~60 feet, the standard antennas should work just fine. Just place the AP as close to your apartment as possible, with as few walls in between the AP and your system, that should be close enough to get a good connection. Could could stick a single pringles Yagi on the AP to boost the signal up to good or excellent levels.

Be aware that in high density housing with 802.11b and high db omni-directional antennas you are sharing your network and everything transmitted over it with everyone in signal range. If there are any script kiddies or hackers in your building, expect problems. Enable MAC address limitations, firewall all computers and do not transmit anything you consider private unless you SSH or IPSec it.

You are correct about the security

we will at first only use 40 bit encription, as the bigger the bigger the encription, the less throughput. It will act as jsut enough to keep people from using our gateway and bandwidth

luckily, he has a router with a mac filter list that we will be watching closely

this is really for transfering things and really for LAN gaming, as he has cable and i have DSL, and they don't ix well when we try to go to each others server

basically we will have the option on the comp to click an icon and hit the gateway for the wireless Lan to each other, or click an icon to use our own independent gateway

thanks for your advice, sounds like you have done this sort of thing

BTW: according to the stats on the routers form linksys, they should work just fine with the 60 foot distance, buit people have told me that at 40 feet they have trouble

plus i don't want to have a low connection

You may or may not have range problems. If it is an apartment building then things should be pretty good. It will really depend on the number and type of walls between you and the AP. Stucco is probably the worst signal blocker, so locate the AP close to a window and you should be in better shape.

Yes, i have done this before. To cover my house here, it took 3 AP's and a Yagi to cover the yard. I also use my AP to shoor from a friends house a mile away. Also, if I lose my connection here, I can shoot a link down to my office via directional antenna's (i.e dish network castoffs) and surf unabated. Cheers!