Wireless Internet: good wi-fi antenna
good wi-fi antenna
by sketer - 8/7/06 7:40 PMI was looking at getting an antenna with a stronger dbi to get the better connection in the rest of the house. Is there a brand anyone recommends. I was looking at getting either the Hawking omni-directional 6 dbi or the 7dbi model from d-link. They have TNC connectors which I need for my Linksys. It will look a little funky with the one big ol antenna and a lil small one but I want the wifi boost.
There is no "stronger" db.
by R. Proffitt
- 8/8/06 8:03 AM
In reply to: good wi-fi antenna by sketer
You can find antennas with more or less db but unless the marketing department has been let loose there is no such thing as "stronger" db. You'll want to compare the db and select the one with a bit more.
I found the 6 db antenna I picked up at geeks.com for under 10 bucks to filled in the house just fine. It worked fine before but the kitchen was a bit weak and slow which this fixed that.
Be sure to also locate the antenna in the center of the house or area you want to cover.
Bob
thanks
by sketer - 8/8/06 8:19 AM In reply to: There is no "stronger" db. by R. Proffitt
hey thanks man!
Antenna
by ruidoso - 8/10/06 4:45 AM In reply to: good wi-fi antenna by sketerDon't buy a Hawking. I had less coverage with the antenna than I did without it.
steer clear of Hawking
by u2in99 - 8/10/06 4:51 AM In reply to: Antenna by ruidosoI agree! I had to throw away a brand new hawking router and the antenna was poor as well.
Buffalo brand wireless anything seems very good. D-link has been usually very good for wireless i have used. For any wireless antenna i recommend buying it where take back to the store privileges are good.
It can be very hit or miss. Also, there is a brand of router and usb plug-in receiver called Parker Vision if you can find it that has much broader range than most others. Some Netgear advertises increased range routers i haven't tried yet.
Be Aware
by rdinning - 8/10/06 6:40 AM In reply to: steer clear of Hawking by u2in99While it is possible to increase what is called the gain of an antenna, measured in DB, this is done by increasing the directionality of the antenna's beam or flattening the beam. If your router and all your devices are on one floor or in one direction from the router, this may be an advantage.
However, if like me you have your router on one floor and devices on several floors of your house, then a higher gain will be counter productive since a higher gain antenna flattens the beam and it will only cover one floor of your house.
A better solution in that case is a signal booster.
NetGear works great for me...
by robolink - 8/10/06 8:53 PM In reply to: Be Aware by rdinningAs the previous post states, it might be because of the single-level home I live in that enables better reception with my high-gain antenna...
but with my 2000 square-foot home, I get EXCELLENT reception with my NETGEAR RangeMax (Model WPN824) at one end of the house, and my notebook at the other.
Uses 2.4 GHz 804.11 b and g
Also - has 7 INTERNAL antennae, which AUTOMATICALLY adjust for best reception. Very helpful if someone is using a 2.4 GHz phone....or the microwave is on, or if some other kind of iterference comes into play.
I don't even have the recommended MIMO adapter in my notebook - just a standard a/b/g adapter. I've had my RangeMax for approx. 6 trouble-free months. Very happy with it thus far.
no d-link
by alhurley - 8/10/06 8:51 AM In reply to: steer clear of Hawking by u2in99I would avoid the D-Link and stick with Linksys - they seem to be the most consistent. Bought a D-Link wireless last year and it's been unusable in spite of several calls to their tech support. Interestingly, the WIRED connections on the D-Link were actually worse than the wireless.
Antennas
by Kensheehan - 8/10/06 11:47 AM In reply to: steer clear of Hawking by u2in99The art of antennas work is what I call a black art. If you take a little time and use the internet you can build a good antenna for almost nothing. Depending on how your house is setup and where your coverage is weak, you could use a cornor reflector. Try this. Take some alum. foil tape it to some cardboard to make an L. Set it down now put your existing antenna in front, you will have to play around with position. Now got to the weak area and measure the signal. Keep playing around with positon until you get what you want. The Alum foil will block the signal from going in the back direction, thus increasing the signal in the forward area. It's cheap easy and a fun project.
Homemade antenna
by demon-3-6 - 8/10/06 7:46 AM In reply to: good wi-fi antenna by sketerTry this homemade parabolic antenna that you mount on your regular antenna.
http://coronin.us/wp/2005/04/07/ez-12-windsurfer-antenna/
It's easy to make (well, relatively easy-- you may need to make the tabs a bit bigger than the template to get them to hold), and costs nothing except cardboard, tinfoil, and a bit of glue. And of course a few minutes of your time.
I put a couple of 5-inch ones on my Linksys 54G, and it more than doubled the signal strength at the target computer.
And it did a much better job than the 7-db booster antenna that I paid about $50 for.
Gary+
Antenna basics
by lesbriney - 8/12/06 10:22 PM In reply to: good wi-fi antenna by sketerAs I followed this thread I noticed a basic misunderstanding of what an antenna connected to your access point will do. Bottom line: For the most part the only purpose an external antenna can serve is to reshape the coverage pattern of your access point, not truly increase its overall gain. This assumes that the antenna in the access point is halfway decent, which is generally the case.
When an antenna is rated at ''6db'' it means that it has this amount of gain in a particular direction versus what would be a perfect sphere of coverage around your access point. In other words it increases the coverage in a particular direction, reducing the coverage in the opposite direction.
The radio in your access point only generates so much electromagnetic energy. The external antenna only establishes the shape of the coverage around the access point--it does not increase the amount of electromagnetic energy generated or received by the radio.
Changing the antenna from the one built into the access point to an external antenna can have a positive effect, but the effect is wholly dependent on your specific conditions and whether your choice of the antenna happened to meet with your conditions. The bad news is makers of consumer antennas don't generally give you the specifications that describe the antenna's coverage pattern in a way that would be useful to you. You are therefore at the mercy of ''good old'' trial and error. The one that worked for your friend may not work for you and visa versa. In any case fiddling with the direction the antenna is aiming is required since any antenna with a high gain is directional.
Another point--the lead wire from the antenna to the access point introduces loss into the system, so in some cases adding an external antenna can actually reduce the ability to receive the signal.
All of this is bad news for those of you who are having difficulties with reception. I have an access point and two repeaters (duplicate access points with radios in them) in my house. External antennas did nothing for my conditions. Each repeater cost more than the original access point!
Good luck! Chances are that you will spend a lot of money and time trying things before you get the right solution.
Les
Add a bit more.
by R. Proffitt - 8/13/06 9:13 AM
In reply to: Antenna basics by lesbriney
Tell about performance in 1/4 and 1/2 wave antennas.
Can an antenna be more sensitive? (or rather have more collection area)
Bob
another idea
by ranthonyson - 8/18/06 10:52 AM In reply to: good wi-fi antenna by sketerThe Wall Street Journal ran a story this week about the use of an adaptor that would allow your home wiring to extend your network. The author, Mosberg, recommended the Netsys product.
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