I have 2 houses on my property and am about to set up a wireless
receiver in the other house. Since the Gateway and network adapter
will be about 75' apart through thick adobe walls, and since there is
another network adapter in a completely different direction, I figure
that a few dB omni directional boost might help. But there is quite a
few antennas out there to choose from and I KNOW that not all are as
good as they advertise.
Can anyone recommend a good omni directional 2.4 GHz antenna for my
Linksys network? eBay antennas are fine . . .
On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:49:57 -0700, MrBill <NoSpam@NoSpam.Com> wrote in
<1t9nl2th1ibh89fsp33jtqfm6rq20ldrih@4ax.com>:
>I have 2 houses on my property and am about to set up a wireless
>receiver in the other house. Since the Gateway and network adapter
>will be about 75' apart through thick adobe walls, and since there is
>another network adapter in a completely different direction, I figure
>that a few dB omni directional boost might help. But there is quite a
>few antennas out there to choose from and I KNOW that not all are as
>good as they advertise.
>
>Can anyone recommend a good omni directional 2.4 GHz antenna for my
>Linksys network? eBay antennas are fine . . .
I think you're going to have trouble getting through those Adobe walls,
so buy antennas with a solid return capability.
Bear in mind that high gain omni antennas trade vertical beam width for
gain, so the more gain the more necessary it will be to have all
wireless units at a given elevation.
My own recommendation would be to go with the same manufacturer as your
wireless devices; e.g., Linksys HGA7S or HGA7T (as appropriate).
--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>
"MrBill" <NoSpam@NoSpam.Com> wrote in message
news:1t9nl2th1ibh89fsp33jtqfm6rq20ldrih@4ax.com...
> I have 2 houses on my property and am about to set up a wireless
> receiver in the other house.
are there only 2 houses on this map - or 3 houses ?
a single line between 2 pts, or a triangle ?
if just 2, then why omni, go with a gain reflector at each end..
On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:09:27 GMT, John Navas
<spamfilter0@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>Bear in mind that high gain omni antennas trade vertical beam width for
>gain, so the more gain the more necessary it will be to have all
>wireless units at a given elevation.
Good tip - I can see that putting an omni at a higher elevation won't
help at all.
>My own recommendation would be to go with the same manufacturer as your
>wireless devices; e.g., Linksys HGA7S or HGA7T (as appropriate).
Sounds good. Obviously the 7S or 7T relates to the connector. Mine
looks like a BNC connector, but it's screw-on rather than bayonette
mount. Would this be the "S" or "T"?
On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:20:18 GMT, "P.Schuman"
<pschuman_NO_SPAM_ME@interserv.com> wrote:
>are there only 2 houses on this map - or 3 houses ?
There are 2 houses on my lot.
>a single line between 2 pts, or a triangle ?
The network will consist of 3 PC's. One is connected directly to the
Gateway and the other 2 will be connected by wireless network
adapters. The network adapter is only 15' or so from the gateway so
no help is needed. The network adapter in the 2nd house will be about
75' away, it is not set up yet. When it is, lines drawn between the 2
adapters and the gateway will form a triangle.
>if just 2, then why omni, go with a gain reflector at each end..
Sounds good, of course I should need a reflector in the 2nd house
only. Can you recommend a good 2.4 GHz gain reflector?
MrBill <NoSpam@nospam.com> wrote:
> I have 2 houses on my property and am about to set up a wireless
> receiver in the other house. Since the Gateway and network adapter
> will be about 75' apart through thick adobe walls, and since there is
> another network adapter in a completely different direction, I figure
How far is it to that "other" adapter? I run about 60 feet through a
couple of sheetrock/pressedboard siding walls with one reflector and a
normal laptop card, which gets "excellent" signal according to WinXP.
Another laptop card, not in the nominal direction that the reflector is
aimed, is still quite serviceable. Directional antennas are not absolute
beams. There are side lobes and back lobes.
What is on the far client? Can you put a directional antenna or reflector
there? 75 feet of free air would be easy. Adobe is not so easy, but there
might be some windows. My best shot is not a straight line, but offline
through a window, and then also off line through a sliding glass door.
I have used the "Hawking HAI6SDA Directional 6dBi 2.4GHz Antenna" with good
success on a Netgear WG311 PCI card. $20-30.
<http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=32&FamID=58&ProdID=122>
Hawking and others have USB clients built in to antennas. That might be
handy.
<http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=32&FamID=60&ProdID=280>
MrBill <NoSpam@nospam.com> wrote:
> adapters. The network adapter is only 15' or so from the gateway so
You can go directional. The adapter that's only 15 feet away should still
get fine signal. My laptop gets good signal 15 feet behind my EZ-12
reflector through an outside wall.
--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5
MrBill <NoSpam@nospam.com> wrote:
> Sounds good. Obviously the 7S or 7T relates to the connector. Mine
> looks like a BNC connector, but it's screw-on rather than bayonette
> mount. Would this be the "S" or "T"?
>MrBill <NoSpam@nospam.com> wrote:
>> I have 2 houses on my property and am about to set up a wireless
>> receiver in the other house. Since the Gateway and network adapter
>> will be about 75' apart through thick adobe walls, and since there is
>> another network adapter in a completely different direction, I figure
>
>How far is it to that "other" adapter? I run about 60 feet through a
>couple of sheetrock/pressedboard siding walls with one reflector and a
>normal laptop card, which gets "excellent" signal according to WinXP.
That's not terribly meaningful unless the wireless adapter is under
heavy load -- it's common for a wireless adapter to report
good-excellent signal until it actually tries to transfer data,
whereupon the signal level is downgraded to match reality.
--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>
John Navas <spamfilter0@navasgroup.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 01:16:35 +0000 (UTC), dold@XReXXOmniX.usenet.us.com
> >normal laptop card, which gets "excellent" signal according to WinXP.
> That's not terribly meaningful unless the wireless adapter is under
> heavy load -- it's common for a wireless adapter to report
> good-excellent signal until it actually tries to transfer data,
> whereupon the signal level is downgraded to match reality.
I find a good indicator to be "Current Bandwidth" in perfmon.msc.
Just now, my WG511 shows "excellent". That's a little hard to monitor,
because I only see the popup balloon. Open the status monitor and I have 5
bars, and a speed of 54Mbps.
ftp upload at 36KBpS, the current bandwidth stays at 54, ballon pops up as
excellent. ftp download at 300KBpS, same.
Walking around, network idle, I see a momentary drop to 48, then 36. At
that point, the balloon says "very good", then back to excellent, and the
bandwidth is back to 54.
I would say that the balloon is a good quick indicator, your experience
noted. Perfmon is better, and available to almost any user.
>John Navas <spamfilter0@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 01:16:35 +0000 (UTC), dold@XReXXOmniX.usenet.us.com
>> >normal laptop card, which gets "excellent" signal according to WinXP.
>
>> That's not terribly meaningful unless the wireless adapter is under
>> heavy load -- it's common for a wireless adapter to report
>> good-excellent signal until it actually tries to transfer data,
>> whereupon the signal level is downgraded to match reality.
>
>I find a good indicator to be "Current Bandwidth" in perfmon.msc.
>Just now, my WG511 shows "excellent". That's a little hard to monitor,
>because I only see the popup balloon. Open the status monitor and I have 5
>bars, and a speed of 54Mbps.
>
>start-run-perfmon.msc
> + Performance Object = Network
> Numbers agree with dslreports.
> + Performance Object = TCP "current bandwidth"
>
>ftp upload at 36KBpS, the current bandwidth stays at 54, ballon pops up as
>excellent. ftp download at 300KBpS, same.
>
>Walking around, network idle, I see a momentary drop to 48, then 36. At
>that point, the balloon says "very good", then back to excellent, and the
>bandwidth is back to 54.
>
>I would say that the balloon is a good quick indicator, your experience
>noted. ...
That's a sample of one, and a rough one at that. You need to look at
the difference between idle and under load, and test more than one
adapter.
My experience is based on several different adapters and drivers. Many
exhibit optimistic signal strength when idle, and a more accurate signal
strength when under load and the driver has responded to the error rate
by reducing speed, dropping from (say) "good" or even "excellent" to
"low". Thus my recommendation is to take the signal strength with a
grain of salt unless the adapter is under load.
--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>
>MrBill <NoSpam@nospam.com> wrote:
>> Sounds good. Obviously the 7S or 7T relates to the connector. Mine
>> looks like a BNC connector, but it's screw-on rather than bayonette
>> mount. Would this be the "S" or "T"?
I agree with John and Clarence. You're going to have a difficult time
going through two adobe walls. I help maintain a radio site with an
attached private residence. The house is adobe walls and tile roof.
The wireless access point is in the radio site. All attempts to get
coverage inside the house have failed miserably. The adobe acts like
a brick wall. Hell, it is a brick wall. You may find it necessary to
use some other method of connection. At 75ft, you could probably run
outdoor gel filled CAT5 cable. If there's a common power or phone
line, look into those: http://www.homeplug.com http://www.homepna.com
Also CATV: http://www.multilet.com
I'm not going to recommend a specific antenna type or model without
some additional guesswork. Take the radios you currently own, with
the stock antennas and try "drilling" through the adobe walls. If you
get any kind of signal, grab some signal strength numbers. If
possible, give an estimate of how many more dB of signal you need to
establish a reliable connection. I suggest using Netstumbler on the
client end to an access point on the other. Offhand, I don't think
it's going to work unless you have common windows through the adobe.
Think line of sight.
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> wrote:
> I'm not a big fan of Hyperlink Tech but they do have a good assortment
> of goodies. Fab-Corp is a good supplier.
> Also see:
> http://www.pacwireless.com
I knew there was one more that you liked, but I couldn't put my finger on
it.
I like the pictures of connectors and the pigtail-radio cross reference at
Hyperlink Tech. I haven't bought anything from them since they started
the $100 minimum.
--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5
> I have 2 houses on my property and am about to set up a wireless
> receiver in the other house. Since the Gateway and network adapter
> will be about 75' apart through thick adobe walls, and since there is
> another network adapter in a completely different direction, I figure
> that a few dB omni directional boost might help. But there is quite a
> few antennas out there to choose from and I KNOW that not all are as
> good as they advertise.
>
> Can anyone recommend a good omni directional 2.4 GHz antenna for my
> Linksys network? eBay antennas are fine . . .
>
> Thanks, MrBill
I had a marginal connection from one desktop to my Linksys WRT54G, using the
standard 2 dBi antenna. When I replaced one of the router's antennae to
with a Linksys HGA7T, the connection improved a lot: from flaky downloads to
solid, reliable, performance. The path is only about 50', but there are
wooden walls and a 'fridge in the way.
FWIW, the antenna I replaced was vertical, like the D-Link (USB-connected)
antenna on the troublesome desktop. The other WRT54G antenna is horizontal
in my application, and did not need more radiated power.
--
Cheers, Bob
On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:09:27 GMT, John Navas
<spamfilter0@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>My own recommendation would be to go with the same manufacturer as your
>wireless devices; e.g., Linksys HGA7S or HGA7T (as appropriate).
I haven't received the PC for the other house yet, so I decided to run
some tests using my wife's desktop PC which also uses a Linksys
network adapter. Using the PCPitstop download speed test, I ran a
number of tests with her PC in its normal location, about 15' from the
router. This was the average:
Download speed: 1283 kilobits per second
Test details: 1204 kilobytes downloaded in 7.511 seconds.
Then I move her PC into the other house and put it where the
replacement PC will be located. This was the average:
Download speed: 927 kilobits per second
Test details: 800 kilobytes downloaded in 6.91 seconds.
I don't think those speeds next door are bad at all, but one odd thing
happened - when I rotated the Linksys network adapter 90 degrees, it
lost connection to the network entirely. All things considered, I
think that the connection could use some improvement. What I'm going
to do is:
- Move the router to a location about 6' closer to the other house,
unfortunately this is as far as I can move it. What is meaningful
about this small move is that there will no longer be a comuter
monitor between the router and the network adapter next door. The 6'
reduction in distance should also help a bit.
- I'll purchase the HGA7T antenna, thanks for the recommendation John!
Yes, the router with the new antennas and the network adapters will
all be at the same elevation ASL.
I think this should take care of my problems. If not, I'll be back!
:)
I've relocated my router about 6' closer to the 2nd house and I've
installed the HGA7T antenna. Here's before and after numbers using
the download bandwidth test on PCPitstop:
First test 11/17/2006 in main house:
Download speed: 1283 kps
First test 11/17/2006 in 2nd house:
Download speed: 927 kps (difficult to hold connection)
Relocated router closer to GH, added HGA7T, 11/27/06, main house:
Download speed: 3253 kps
Relocated router closer to GH, added HGA7T, 11/27/06, 2nd house:
Download speed: 3192 kps (connection is solid)
I had considered running CAT6 cable over to 2nd house if I couldn't
get respectable wireless speed, but it looks like that won't be
needed. Needless to say, I'm VERY pleased! :)
Omni directional antenna recommendations? 
Linear Mode
