Antenna advice

h0stn0tf0und

I have a problem with the range of a wireless router due to heavily insulated walls. Moving through the house the signal strength falls rapidly (tested with a friends router). I need to boost the strength and would be grateful if anyone could advise me regarding an indoor antenna, its range through walls and any other factors I should be aware of. Is there a generic antenna that would fit most models? The router will be a D-Link DSL-G604T or a Linksys WAG54G.

Thanks in advance.

BigEejit

In that kind of a case would you not consider putting the router in the center of the house? .... as for external omni antennas, make sure your router can take them, you may have to open it (warranty voided most likely) .....
The other thing that may work is putting the router in the attic (highest point in the centre of it), that way you are not going through walls but though wood/plasterboard/carpet etc in the ceilings and floors.... just experiment with positioning before shelling out for an antenna

h0stn0tf0und

Thanks for the reply.

I am unable to put the router in the center of the house as the model I am getting has a built in modem and it will have to be where the phone socket is (bye bye usb modem). Your idea of the attic sounds good but this would mean buying a dsl modem and running cable to the wireless router in the attic. Ideally I would like to avoid wires but this may not be possible. To do the attic it will require a modem so I will have to buy HW no matter what option I choose and the peeps in the house would rather I didnt have to run wires but I understand I may have no other option. I dont look forward to having to open up the AP to work on it

From what i have been looking at online its hard to get spec on how much the antenna(s) will boost the signal. I am a total newbie when it comes to this.

oscarBravo

Every antenna should give you a figure for gain, measured in dB. Each 3dB of gain effectively doubles signal strength, at the expense of increased directionality. If you use a 6dB antenna, it will quadruple your signal strength, but mostly in one direction. If you have your AP at one end of the house, this is exactly what you need.

Neither of the devices you've mentioned have detachable antennae. A router like the D-Link 624 has a reverse SMA connector, so you'd need to make sure your antenna has an appropriate connector: something like this should work.

Buzz_Irl

ok - just so h0stn0tf0und feels like an expert.....



1. I have same setup - using a WAG54G on 3rd floor - I need max signal on 2nd and ground floor - does that mean I should have the aerial pointing Down?

2. It's reallt difficult to identify what type of extra aerial to buy - if I have a weak signal on the 2nd floor can I boost it up to full power so that I can link to ground floor?


thks

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Buzz_Irl
1. I have same setup - using a WAG54G on 3rd floor - I need max signal on 2nd and ground floor - does that mean I should have the aerial pointing Down?

Fiddle with it until you get the strongest signal downstairs.

2. It's reallt difficult to identify what type of extra aerial to buy - if I have a weak signal on the 2nd floor can I boost it up to full power so that I can link to ground floor?

As I said above, it seems the WAG54G doesn't have a detachable antenna, so you'd have to open it up to attach an external antenna to it. I'm open to correction on that.

Try positioning the antenna horizontally and placing a folded metal reflector above it. Experiment with different reflector types, positions, antenna positions... it's all about whatever happens to work in your situation.

Buzz_Irl

hmmmmmm - u might just be right !


turned linksys upside down and signal strength improved very much

still need to find a way to boost the signal strength using a booster/router than send above 18dBi

any ideas?

thks

oscarBravo

I'm serious about the reflector. A while ago, a friend and I were experimenting with a laptop and a wireless card. The wireless card had a little wire dipole antenna attached, about 4 inches long. I held an angle bracket behind the antenna, and we were able to establish a solid connection with an access point 10km away.

Buzz_Irl

i'll try anything - would tinfoil act as a reflector?

thks

jmcc

Originally posted by Buzz_Irl
i'll try anything - would tinfoil act as a reflector?

Anything that is metallic will act as a reflector.

Regards...jmcc

h0stn0tf0und

oscarBravo, thanks for all your advice, I am so better informed now

Just a question regarding the long range wireless mentioned. I have a mate who is about .55 - .75 KM away as the crow flies. He is on higher ground than me and from his roof top he would be high enough to see my roof. There are a few trees, about 10 max and they are spread apart, with outdoor antennas on the roofs on of both homes could a connection be possible?

Thanks

oscarBravo

Originally posted by h0stn0tf0und
Just a question regarding the long range wireless mentioned. I have a mate who is about .55 - .75 KM away as the crow flies. He is on higher ground than me and from his roof top he would be high enough to see my roof. There are a few trees, about 10 max and they are spread apart, with outdoor antennas on the roofs on of both homes could a connection be possible?

If you have line-of-sight (LOS), almost certainly. It's possible to accurately calculate the link budget, but the simplest thing is to see if you can see one roof from the other. If so, at that kind of range, it should be pretty simple to do. Had you any particular equipment in mind? What would you want to do with the link? How much do you want to spend on it?

h0stn0tf0und

A line of sight check will be done! Even if we dont have complete LOS due to trees does the nature of the radio waves not allow them to 'bend' (i forget the correct term) around obstructions? I'm probably complete wrong but would it be down to the signal strength to over come something like trees?

The link would be handy for several reasons. He is close to a lot of other mates and such and it would be great for gaming, filesharing and even sharing some net access (not totally legal I know) Security would be an issue but his line has failed for dsl and mine didnt. tho Eircom are working on it. As for equipment I hadnt really thought about it till you guys mentioned it, it was kinda the next project but then someone mentioned it! Money wise I dont really know, how far would 250 per person go?!?

oscarBravo

Originally posted by h0stn0tf0und
A line of sight check will be done! Even if we dont have complete LOS due to trees does the nature of the radio waves not allow them to 'bend' (i forget the correct term) around obstructions? I'm probably complete wrong but would it be down to the signal strength to over come something like trees?

Hm. You're probably thinking of multipath, and WiFi is not very tolerant of it. It might work through trees, and there again it might not. Clear LOS is always your best bet.

The link would be handy for several reasons. He is close to a lot of other mates and such and it would be great for gaming, filesharing and even sharing some net access (not totally legal I know) Security would be an issue but his line has failed for dsl and mine didnt. tho Eircom are working on it. As for equipment I hadnt really thought about it till you guys mentioned it, it was kinda the next project but then someone mentioned it! Money wise I dont really know, how far would 250 per person go?!?

Should cover it completely, tbh. For less than that kind of money you could get two OSbridges that would do the job completely: outdoor boxes with built-in antennae, and power-over-ethernet so no messing with lossy coax.

LoBo

Anyone know if there's anyway to increase the reception for a WiFi network at the client end? IE, not fiddling with the output from the router, just say extending your antenna at the client PC. Can you just attach a wire to the antenna?

Just moved into a new place and getting poor coverage at the far end of the apartment from my telephone line (lead lined walls?).

Cheers