DLink 2100AP with external antenna

gb67 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-05-2006, 01:52 AM

I am about to install 2 x DLINK 2100 AP with external grid antenna. Does anyone have a way of measuring the signal strength to align the antenna?
Netstumbler will only use the internal Wifi card on my laptop and can't see the DWL2100 when it is connected on the LAN port. Distance is about 6.5km so alignment is going to be critical.

NZLamb · #2 (**permalink**) 06-05-2006, 05:17 AM

Hook up a laptop with a wifi card that supports an external antenna. This will give you a pretty accurate result as to where the best signal can be obtained.

If that's not possible the DWL-2100AP will display reception when performing a site survey. You could try doing this to align the antenna although I wouldn't expect it to be nearly as reliable or accurate.

lokeynz · #3 (**permalink**) 03-28-2007, 04:14 AM

Wavedale.net has a utility called AP Monitor for the DWL-2100AP, allows you to monitor the signal level of any connected clients or WDS links. Unfortunately their latest update won't install on english language PC's so I have extracted and zipped the files here.
Unzip to a folder, run "AP Monitor.exe"

See this thread for more info on long range with the 2100ap: http://www.wirelessforums.org/wirele...00ap-5272.html

mike-p · #4 (**permalink**) 04-09-2008, 12:29 PM

Have you ever tried to establish a long distance WiFi link using Dlink's DWL-2100 with external outdoor antennas? Long distance antenna alignment seems to be easy to handle for distances up to two kilometres but longer links may require very sharp eyes

or a kind of antenna alignment tool.

Well I've tried much since 2005 and I've no sharp eyes

so I had to create an antenna alignment tool. This tool reads signal levels from a DWL-2100 wireless client and access point/repeater also DWL-2100 and speaks the measurement. Another cool feature is the client signal graph from the access point side.

More info/download free: Dlink DWL-2100 Antenna Alignment Utility