Need better wireless antenna
 

So I bought the Linksys Compact Wireless-G Broadband Router WRT54GC and the range on it is not so good, but it does have a connector to attach an external antenna.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience in terms of

1) how much gain is typical for a stock antenna that comes with netgear, linksys, d-link devices. 2.5-3db?

2) anyone know of a cheap place to order on-line?
say this place?
http://www.radiolabs.com/products/an...ibberduck5.php

3) how about brick and motar? does microcenter or fry's have these? what about radio shack?

or if anyone has replaced their stock antenna with a better performing one, I'd be happy to trade for the old one

1) the antenna gain varies pretty widely. 2dBi used to be standard, but recently I've used a number of stock products that are 5dBi or better.

2) I tend to order accessory items like what you're look for from NewEgg. . Some people don't like dealing with NewEgg, but with their broad inventory, I can usually find the odd piece or part that I'm looking for.

3) Brick and mortar stores do carry these items. However, I've never seen a broad selection. Best Buy, Fry's or Circuit City will probably only have a few external antennas. For this type of an item and a good selection, I'd recommend stopping by a MicroCenter or CompUSA first.

I did 2 things:

1) Installed Sveasoft's firmware on my WRT54 and boosted the output power to 150mW instead of the default 28mW

2) Installed the dual external Linksys antenna's which are spec'd for a 7dBi peak gain.

These antenna kits are simple off-the-shelf items at Microcenter and Fry's.

For your router I am not so sure there is a version of Sveasoft (or OpenWRT for that matter, another alternative), but here is the "official" Linksys antenna:

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

which was in the list posted by the previous poster. FWIW; Fry's DOES have the largest selection of additional antennas I have ever seen, including many really large ones, external (outdoor) ones and the famous "cantenna". Compusa only carries the linksys ones, and one or two Hawkings.

as always great suggestions...power boost here we come!
thanks!

cheaper alternative
 

For those of you who do not want to leave the house, consider the following:

1. Get a roll of aluminum foil from the cupboard.

2. Have your little kids/grandkids make you a hat out of it. If you feel like a little kid, make one yourself.

3. Wear the hat around whenever you need better reception.

4. DO NOT wear the hat during a thunderstorm.

And how exactly will this help the poster? :confused:

This site is rumored to have interesting *FREE* "upgrades" for the WRT54G. I hear they work quite nicely....... http://wrt54g.thermoman.de/

MisterNice

If you can't do the Sveasoft thing to boost power, consider an amplifier. I am no fan of Hawking products but the booster DOES work. I didn't use the itty bitty antenna that came with it however. I had a USR 5dB antenna that worked great. I was able to fill in all the coverage holes in the house and get enough signal out to the cabana to go wireless out there as well. Works FAR better than a repeater and isn't overly expensive.

If none of those solutions work, there always this

:D

How exactly will this help the poster? :confused:

:p

Has anyone used this 14 dBi anntena or something similar?

How much distance do you think I will get line of distance outside?

My laptop has an internal radio? Will that affect the preformance?

http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/...=58&ProdID=267

kanebear, what do you do the re the instructions for this that talk about "the antenna" on one's wireless access point? My Linksys box has two antennas. Do I leave one connected?

Hmmm...well you could just buy two amplifiers. :D The antennas are used for diversity so my uninformed thinking (which may be totally incorrect) is that you can get away with just leaving one connected and hooking up the amp to the other. Another fly in the ointment, Linksys uses RP-TNC connectors while this device has RP-SMA connectors on it. So, you'll need one of these.

What're you trying to achieve? If it's a point to point link this can help. However, I'm not a big fan of high gain antennas for use in the home. The problem is that you achieve range by trading off coverage. So, like cupping your hands around your mouth when you shout, you focus the RF energy in one direction at the expense of others. Depending on the area you need covered this may work for you but if you have areas that need coverage that're to the sides or behind this antenna they will be in nulls and won't have good coverage or may end up with none at all.

As for using this to reach farther with a laptop, it's unlikely to work. The higher gain the antenna, the tighter the beam focus and the more likely you won't be in the beam coverage area. Antennas like this are designed for point to point coverage, bridging two locations. So it won't work well with an internal laptop antenna. You'd be far better served to get something like the amplifier mentioned above and putting in a higher gain omnidirectional antenna. Omnis radiate in a bubble pattern. Higher gain omnis achieve range by "flattening" out the bubble into a doughnut shape.

Did I miss an announcement that occasional humor was no longer permitted on this board?