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Separating antenna from card?

  • 06-01-2004 11:54pm
    #1
    davros
    Closed Accounts Posts: 857 ✭✭✭


    I'm considering setting up a wireless network at home. The PC will be in one particular spot and the one-box dsl/wireless/hub will be in another (I mean I'm constrained as to where I put these things).

    The possible problem I foresee is that there is a metal filing cabinet between those two spots, completely blocking "line-of-sight".

    What I'm wondering is:

    - is this a big deal? The distance is only about 8m and the standard is 802.11g
    - can I separate the antenna from the PC card (on this sort of card) and connect it back to the card using co-ax?

    Many thanks for any advice.


Comments

  • #2
    joePC
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,637 ✭✭✭joePC


    I take it your out of the box "dsl/wireless/hub" is also a access Point if not then you need one.

    As for line of site I dont thing this will be a problem as far as I know these cards attenas are omnidirectional so It should be able to pick up your wireless card without line of sight.

    Thanks joePC


  • #3
    davros
    Closed Accounts Posts: 857 ✭✭✭davros


    Originally posted by joePC
    I take it your out of the box "dsl/wireless/hub" is also a access Point if not then you need one.
    It is, yes.
    As for line of site I dont thing this will be a problem as far as I know these cards attenas are omnidirectional so It should be able to pick up your wireless card without line of sight.
    It would be omnidirectional. But that means I would be relying on the signal to bounce off something or refract around something. It would refract around the filing cabinet, I guess, but the cabinet is beside the PC and that might be too close for refraction to work. All wild speculation on my part.


  • #4
    joePC
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,637 ✭✭✭joePC


    You'll never know until you try, Im sure it'll work..........?


  • #5
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 92,619 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Try it first - you might get a reflection of something else.
    also try various orientations of the antenna

    connector is reverse sma - you'd need to make up a cable or buy one see www.irishwan.org/board etc.

    note:all 802.11 connectors are deliberately difficult to get...


  • #6
    davros
    Closed Accounts Posts: 857 ✭✭✭davros


    Right, following your advice, I tried it and.... here I am, surfing the Net wirelessly! As I said, there is a metal filing cabinet beside my PC and between the PC and access point (distance is less than 10m).

    I'm getting 18Mbps, which is a fair drop from 54Mbps. But that's fine - it only needs to shift 512kbps (i.e., my DSL connection).

    So thanks for the help!

    Incidentally, I had a hell of a time making the link work in the first place. Spent a week trying this and that. Eventually found a conflict with another piece of software that I had explicitly deactivated but still did something nasty at startup.


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  • #7
    voxpop
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,800 ✭✭✭voxpop


    Im surprised your getting such a drop in Mbps - I have a 802.11b network with one computer down the hall and in another room. I nearly always get 11mbps even when all doors are shut.
    One thing that did make a big difference to my wireless conection was moving the a/p to the top of a bookshelf


  • #8
    davros
    Closed Accounts Posts: 857 ✭✭✭davros


    Well doors (wood) are transparent to radio. But my big metal filing cabinet isn't. I think the drop is quite reasonable considering I've almost completely cut off the line of sight.

    It would be an idea all right to move the access point higher but for neatness I prefer to keep it by the phone socket.


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