Setting up an extended wireless network

Hello all,

I discovered your forums and thought someone here would most definitely be able to help me.

I am currently trying to set up an extended wireless network that needs to go ~100 meters through some brush and hopefully some building walls.

I currently have a Linksys E4200 that sends the signal ~60ish meters.

So, I bought a TrendNet 14 dBi directional antenna, which I'm pretty sure is overkill, but wanted to make sure it got the job done.

I intended to hook it up this weekend, expecting it to be easy. However, I quickly discovered the E4200 does not support antenna upgrade as it has internal antennas... I didn't really even think about this as I assumed a ~$120 router would have an antenna jack.

So, I have surmised that I need to get a cheaper router that supports external antenna upgrades. That leads to two questions:

1. Should I use the famous WRT54GL flashed with DD-WRT or is there something else out there (preferably cheaper) that would work?

2. What is the best way to go about keeping signal in house 1 (where the E4200 currently resides) as well as powering the gain antenna to send it to house 2? Will this require using two routers (I.E. Leave the E4200 and then add the second, cheaper router)? Or can you use both antenna jacks on a WRT54GL with the stock omni antenna in one and the directional antenna in the other?

Thank you for your time.

-MD

Q. Or can you use both antenna jacks on a WRT54GL with the stock omni antenna in one and the directional antenna in the other?
A. No. The second antenna is a second receive only antenna for spatial diversity.

Q. Should I use the famous WRT54GL flashed with DD-WRT
A. No reason to. While you can use third-party firmware to increase the Linksys' stock 50 mW (or so) to 100 mW, or even a damaging 200 mW...It won't appreciatively increase the range.

Best solution is a pair of $49 Ubiquiti Loco M2 radios for a point-to-point link set on a channel far apart for your indoor routers. At the far end you can add a second wireless router configured as a simple bridge.