One heck of a mod/project.

[Shelnutt2]

OK guys here is what I want to do tell me if it is reasonable/possible with some work.

My friend lives down the street, oh a good 500 feet, he lives 5 house away in a straight line.

My house circled in red, his in Blue.

I bet someone can already guess what we want to do.

We want to build an antenna to broadcast my wireless network to his house, so 1 he can have broadband, 2) we can play each other via LAN. 3) cause it'd be cool. I am not too worried about someone hacking my connection, 85% of the people that live in my neighborhood wouldn't know how to setup a wireless network, plus I'm going to secure it and all.

So how could we go about this. Is it possible? Is it reasonable? I have a D-Link DI-624 revision "C". Oh also you can forget about the putting a big antenna on the roof, Homeowners..

Thanks in advance.

 

[Amarkarian]

well you could build a tunnel?

i belive (correct me if im wrong) to do this without using some sort of anttena on ur roof.

or even better get bicycles, print out the internet packets you want to send to you friend and put them in white folders. create a chain link of people and when u recieve the folder type the information into ur computer

 

[Shelnutt2]

well you could build a tunnel?

i belive (correct me if im wrong) to do this without using some sort of anttena on ur roof.

or even better get bicycles, print out the internet packets you want to send to you friend and put them in white folders. create a chain link of people and when u recieve the folder type the information into ur computer

So basically its an impossible task?

 

[thegreek]

basically you need a router with an amplified outdoor antenna. There are antenna's you can mount on the side of the wall, not on the roof. Look for a a high "dB" spec. The higher the better range.

 

[Komitet]

not sure if this will give you the needed range, but it's a start

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=291586&highlight=cantenna

 

[Tyreal]

I've wanted to do something similar to this. I figured that it would be very hard or an expensive venture.

I'd like to see if you actually go and do this.My firned does live closer though..

 

[itshondo]

you could each buy a Hawking 54G USB Wifi Antenna- yours as the transmitter, his as a reciever.

Point them at each other and you're all set.

I use it all the time while traveling-

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Hawkin...wireless_G_adapter/4505-3380_16-30825857.html

 

[Slayer2003]

Ditch the wifi-G. Waste of time and money. B trasfers with much better range and coverage, and goes through walls/houses much better.

I've seen old Direct -tv dishes re-worked to broadcast/recieve a wifi signal, but I think that would work only in line-of-sight. You might get lucky though with reflections off other houses.

Only other thing I would try, would be to grab a commercial outdoor antenna, like this one:
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/antennas/2.4gig/rl1000.php

....or maybe these:
Yagi:
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/antennas/2.4gig/14eleyagi.php
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/antennas/2.4gig/14elewpyagi.php

Directional Panels:
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/antennas/2.4gig/panel14.php
Extreme Directional Panel:
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/antennas/2.4gig/panel65.php


You can find MANY online tutorials on how to build your own Yagi or parabolic dish antenna, just keep in mind, the Canntenna might not be best for weather conditions.

 

[thegreek]

here you go: http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/antennas_2400_out_directional.php

 

[blkdiamond]

I have set up a wireless WAN connecting three buildings together where I work. The first connection is approximately 250 yards and the other is 100 yarrds. I use two Linksys WAP54G with a outdoor, directional antenna to create a "bridge" between the two access points (Total of four access points and four antennas to connect three buildings). Both connections have a line-of-sight to each antenna. I get around 11 Mbps between the connections.

A few things to consider:

-Anything that blocks line of site, houses, buildings, even trees, will degrade the signal.
-Any other "wireless" signal will degrade the signal, such as a neighbor using their 2.4 GHz portable phone.

Hope this helps.

 

[blkdiamond]

Here is a link to the antennas that I use.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50257806&pfp=BROWSE

 

[Chunkylover763]

I set up a Linksys router with nothing more than paper towel tube and wire to shoot a wireless signal about 700 feet from my dorm room to my fraternity house. There was actually a huge project to connect the entire US in one big wireless network using this technique, it stopped in the midwest though if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Shelnutt2]

I set up a Linksys router with nothing more than paper towel tube and wire to shoot a wireless signal about 700 feet from my dorm room to my fraternity house. There was actually a huge project to connect the entire US in one big wireless network using this technique, it stopped in the midwest though if I'm not mistaken.

Can you explain your steps?


Alright guys thank you for all the links. So it seems possible, and to go buy a commercial antenna seems cheap enough; but I think I'm going to poke around and see if there is a guide to making my own (with something larger than a can). Both end will get antenna's. I do not think he is going to by a wireless router, since he was only 1 computer but I'll mintion it to him.

 

[{ace of spades}]

Just buy a long lan cable run run it to his house. It will be cheaper, and the connection would be much better, with a little iq and time you could do it so nobody even knows its there.

 

[seadave77]

Max length for ethernet is 300ft and he would still have to run it across a road at some point.

You don't have much of a line of site considering the houses. You said you couldn't use an antenna because of homeowners. You would have to go 802.11b for range even if it cuts your bandwidth. But that puts you in the 2.4Ghz frequency range. Anyone with a 2.4 Ghz phone would interfere with the signal.

I don't see much of a chance. The only idea I see is to hook an access point to a battery and lift it up in a balloon. Then bounce the signal off the balloon to each other houses. But maybe that's the MacGyver in me talking.

Why doesn't he just walk over to your house?

 

[blkdiamond]

Max length for ethernet is 300ft and he would still have to run it across a road at some point.

You don't have much of a line of site considering the houses. You said you couldn't use an antenna because of homeowners. You would have to go 802.11b for range even if it cuts your bandwidth. But that puts you in the 2.4Ghz frequency range. Anyone with a 2.4 Ghz phone would interfere with the signal.

I don't see much of a chance. The only idea I see is to hook an access point to a battery and lift it up in a balloon. Then bounce the signal off the balloon to each other houses. But maybe that's the MacGyver in me talking.

Why doesn't he just walk over to your house?

With my experience in doing exactly what you are trying to do I would completly agree with seadave.

 

[Borgy]

what about this ?
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2005May/rev20050504029868.htm

 

[sicloan]

Just help your friend pay for broadband...

 

[Shelnutt2]

Just help your friend pay for broadband...

Well, I could when I get a job, but it'd be cooler to have a wireless network run from my house to his .

I think I am going to trying having the antenna featured here at both houses, in his back yard and then in my back yard and see how far we can get, and possible if it will work.

I'm not sure but I'm going to read up (ask my father) about the rules for home owners, and possible putting a short antenna on the back of the house were it is not visible to the neighboors from the front.

So how would I go about building a directional antenna? But a cantenna on a pole?

 

[Andor]

If there is line of sight between the two houses you could mod a couple of satalite dishes to do what you want. I seriously doubt any homeowner agreement can make it so you can't have satalite TV. So they would have no clue that you're using it to go to your friends house and not a satalite

If there is no line of sight the only other thing I could see is if you made friends with some people 5-6 houses up from you and ran a Cat 5 line or a wireless repeater to their house and then over to your friends.

Or maybe you can make some sort of anntena tower and try to convince the homeowners that it's a realy tall birdhouse