Enhancing reception of Edimax EW-7126 [?]

I'm getting around 40% signal mark. Antenna is on the level with
monitor's base. Length of the cord does not allow me to place it
higher. My LinkSys router is on the second floor.

If I to get a replacement antenna with somewhat longer cord (at least 2
Ft more) which one should I pick? Obviously would prefer from lower
price range.

TIA, Eugene

P.S. This a repost of my earlier message in a different thread that did
not get any responses. So if you saw it already - my apologies.

In alt.internet.wireless Eugene F. <pm771.am@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm getting around 40% signal mark. Antenna is on the level with
> monitor's base. Length of the cord does not allow me to place it
> higher. My LinkSys router is on the second floor.

http://www.edimax.com.tw/html/englis...ts/EW-7126.htm
That antenna might like to have a ground plane, maybe a cookie sheet or 9"
pie tin, under its base.

You could put a reflector on the Edimax antenna.
You could put a reflector or two on your Linksys.

http://www.freeantennas.com EZ-12, printed on photo paper for thick stock,
with aluminum foil glued to the sail, provides a substantial boost in
signal.
http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/EZ12-windsurfer.jpg
http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/w...fer-dining.JPG The signal with
the reflector is not only 13dB stronger, it's more stable.

> If I to get a replacement antenna with somewhat longer cord (at least 2
> Ft more) which one should I pick? Obviously would prefer from lower
> price range.

Since you already have an extended antenna, and not one buried behind the
PC, you are already in better shape than most. I wouldn't bother.
If you put reflectors on both ends of a link that already works, you should
have an excellent signal.

The "Hawking HAI6SDA Directional 6dBi 2.4GHz Antenna"
http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodSpec.php?ProdID=143

The system where I installed the Hawking antenna has a Netgear WG311, which
has a tiny antenna. The Hawking improved the signal, according to the
simple WinXP graphic, from one bar to three or four.

--
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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

<<< That antenna might like to have a ground plane, maybe a cookie
sheet or 9" pie tin, under its base. >>>

Do you mean something like this?
http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Canni...t-step-09.html

In alt.internet.wireless Eugene F. <pm771.am@gmail.com> wrote:
> <<< That antenna might like to have a ground plane, maybe a cookie
> sheet or 9" pie tin, under its base. >>>

> Do you mean something like this?
> http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Canni...t-step-09.html

Yes. To be proper, the groundplane would like to be 9.5" of flat surface,
and I think the 9" pie tin is measured at the rim, but if you turned that
one over and used the bottom side of the bottom as a resting place for the
antenna, I would think it would improve the signal.

Or maybe not... it's hard to say what that antenna is, but it looks like it
wants a ground plane. Actually, looking at the web page says that it is a
dipole, so it doesn't want a ground plane.
I thought it was similar to my mag mount, which does want a ground plane.
http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/pdf/re05u.pdf

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

<<< ... but if you turned that one over and used the bottom side of the
bottom as a resting place for the
antenna, I would think it would improve the signal.

Or maybe not... it's hard to say what that antenna is, but it looks like it
wants a ground plane. Actually, looking at the web page says that it is a
dipole, so it doesn't want a ground plane. >>>

As a matter of fact, I did try to flip it over (before I read your message)
and I lost the half of strength.

Just using the tin in "upright" position with the antenna standing at its
center does not seem to have any visible effect on the signal (as reported
by the card's utility).

Eugene

Hi

Try you find what is your actual transfer "Speed". Signal Strength is not
that important if you have clean quiet environment.
Extending the Antenna few feet in an Indoor environment might not provide a
real relief. A good Direction Antenna Might.
Depending on your specific environment the preferred method might be the use
of a second Wireless Router and placing it closer to the client.
May be this can Help.

Extending Distance - http://www.ezlan.net/Distance.html

Wireless Router as an AP - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Hi Gain Antenna - http://www.ezlan.net/antennae.html

Jack (MVP-Networking).



"E.F." <pm771@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:l4yIe.2983$9v3.2101@fe09.lga...
> <<< ... but if you turned that one over and used the bottom side of the
> bottom as a resting place for the
> antenna, I would think it would improve the signal.
>
> Or maybe not... it's hard to say what that antenna is, but it looks like
it
> wants a ground plane. Actually, looking at the web page says that it is a
> dipole, so it doesn't want a ground plane. >>>
>
> As a matter of fact, I did try to flip it over (before I read your
message)
> and I lost the half of strength.
>
> Just using the tin in "upright" position with the antenna standing at its
> center does not seem to have any visible effect on the signal (as reported
> by the card's utility).
>
> Eugene
>
>

In alt.internet.wireless E.F. <pm771@netscape.net> wrote:
>> Actually, looking at the web page says that it is a dipole, so it
>> doesn't want a ground plane.

> As a matter of fact, I did try to flip it over (before I read your message)
> and I lost the half of strength.

The end of a dipole should be more than 9" above a reflective surface. If
the desktop is metal, the antenna should be 9" above that. It should also
be 5" away from the monitor or other metal off the broadside of the
antenna.

> Just using the tin in "upright" position with the antenna standing at its
> center does not seem to have any visible effect on the signal (as reported
> by the card's utility).

Jeff Liebermann would have to model that one. I just accept oddities and
move on. I didn't expect the pie tin to be good that way. It does work as
a backing reflector for a mini-USB dongle, but that's a different thought.

Someone else suggested that the effective speed that you get is a
better indicator than just the little four bar graph.

With 54g connections, I find that watching the "current bandwidth" in the
Windows perfmon.msc is a pretty good signal indicator.
start-run-perfmon.msc
+ Performance Object = Network
Numbers agree with dslreports.
+ Performance Object = TCP
"current bandwidth"

Applying that to the windsurfer reflector test shows 54-48 fluctuations
with the reflector and 36-28 fluctuations with an occasional 54 without the
reflector.


--
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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

<<< The end of a dipole should be more than 9" above a reflective
surface. If the desktop is metal, the antenna should be 9" above that.
It should also be 5" away from the monitor or other metal off the
broadside of the antenna. >>>

Desktop is plywood. It's a computer desk.

I have barely enough cable from the back of CPU to the desktop to
position the antenna on its surface. Antenna itself is rather short:
less than 4 inches from base to top.