Problem is the walls diminish seriously the signal quality and I need to install a little antenna either out the window to connect it with a pigtail to the card (preferred) or straight to the card, amplifying the signal. An omni, that is.
I could do with a crappy one at the moment, but I would rather go for something a little more versatile so it will still be useful in the future.
I want to reach far keeping quality of reception, but I have no idea what companies to look for nor which specific models. Neither I have a clue on pigtails.. are there different qualities? can they be very long or they're just short converters? any specific producers I have to avoid / look for?
Hi there the Orinoco 8470WD PCMCIA card has MC card antenna connectors on it. You will first need a short pigtail to convert the connector type to a N-type connector. The reason for this is the MC card connectors are quite small, and mainly use a thin high loss coax. Once you have a N-type connector you can then use a much lower and durable cable to run outside. You should keep cables as short as practical to avoid too much loss, normally I try to keep under 6 metres with LMR400 style cable. If you just want to pick up any available wireless network then a 8dBi or up to 12dBi Omni antenna would be fine. You would mount it as high as possible, while trying to keep it away from metal and concrete. If there was a particular network you wanted to connect to you would then go for a directional antenna like a 12dBi or up to 18dBi panel antenna. Remember to seal all outside connector joints with coax seal tape as any water in them will kill your connection.
Hope this is of some help.
Cheers, Dale.
Help on choosing antenna. 
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