Long distance connection

Hello all!

My friend and I are looking into setting up a wireless network between our two houses. We are ~4800 ft apart. There are just a few trees and houses in the way. I am just wondering if this is feasable and what kind of recommendations people might have. We want to weigh all options before we spend some money on equipment just to find that it doesn't work. Also, we don't want to spend too much money as this is more of just a fun project just to see if it works.

Thanks!

I was thinking about getting this antenna:
Directional WiFi / Mesh Range Extender 2.4GHz 9dBi Antenna

I already have this PCI card:
Technical Specifications - Aironet 350 Series PCI Adapter with RP-TNC dipole Ant 128-bit WEP (Cisco-AIRPCI352) - PriceGrabber.com

And was thinking of trying this out in order to get more power.
Hack Attack: Turn your $60 router into a $600 router - Lifehacker

4800ft (1.5km for anyone who uses metric) is not a problem for wireless, but the key thing to check is line of sight. Microwave radio waves are significantly absorbed by almost anything that gets in the way, so if there are large buildinga in the way then this will present a problem.

If you a certain there isn't much in the way, I'd suggest some small 15dBi parabolic antennas such as these. These offer good bang for buck and are pretty easy to align.

Regarding the WRT54G hack, these work very well but I wouldn't recommend increasing the power over about 19dBm (approx 80mW) as the radio will possibly start performing in a non-linear fashion and generate lots of noise. Even the stock output should get you a perfectly reliable 1.5km link if you have good line of sight.

__________________
Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project