Setting up a network in open place.

The place is:



With red is the building where the Access point will be, with blue are buildings, Circle green is a very big tree and green grid is the place i want to cover and it has no objects inside it (open place). I want a true speed of about 2-5mbps. It will be used to share internet for up to 20 people (maximum!). I have a low budget...

Thx

Trees are usually a big problem for radio waves, especially 2.4GHz (802.11b/g/n). It just happens to be the same frequency that vibrates water (one of many), so any leaves in the way will distort the wireless signal.

Any way you can cut the tree down/mount an antenna on the other side of the tree?

A cheap panel antenna mounted outside the building in the order of 7-12dBi gain would do the trick nicely. Just check the spread on any antenna you consider buying to make sure the angle is wide enough to cover the entire area.

It is hard to say whether the single tree will present a problem as it depends on its size and foliage. Noodles pointed out a few good points on this.

Once you have an antenna, its often a good idea to mount it in several locations and see how performance is affected by using a laptop running Netstumbler or similar to check the strength.

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Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project