stimpy

Nice idea for travel in the US even if it is too much for me to carry around. However it is terribly illegal in Europe and there is always a chance, unlikely that it may be, that you could get in trouble at airport customs.

nmenaker

okay, Misternice

is definitely a spook!

have we met?

Loren Pechtel

How picky is the aim with such things?

DLB404

You guys on here are way too smart for me! Thanks for the info.

MisterNice

The higher the dB number naturally the more directional. With the 18dB I would guess a 10 or 15 degree maximum tolerance with a "typical" signal. With a weak signal a 5-10 degree change is probably the difference between betting a signal or not getting a signal. I usually use the 14dB antenna so add about 5 degrees to each listed above. I usually scan in about 30 degree increments.

MisterNice

MisterNice

If we did I would probably have to kill you (assuming the FT TOS would permit it)

MisterNice

Loren Pechtel

Any experience with using them in Shanghai? I don't like all the smoke in the internet cafes.

MisterNice

I too really hate smokey (and grimy keyboarded) internet cafes. Never been to Asia but it worked great in Europe, South/Central America, Canada PR, US etc. I see no reason why it would not work fine anywhere as I thought the 802.11x is a world standard. The Alfa is a very powerful unit and the flat panel antennas are top of the line for compactness and power. Some cheap homemade antenna designs are at www.freeantennas.com for those do it yourselfers.

MisterNice

Loren Pechtel

The question is what the chance is of finding an open connection somewhere to use.


I've not had too much trouble with grimy keyboards but often the keys aren't as perfect as they ought to be--and the slightest problem with the touch on a keyboard really messes up my typing. I can do 80 wpm if things are perfect, *anything* wrong and there's no way I can do even half that. I have once replaced a keyboard (not one of the $10 cheapies, either) because the enter key developed a clack I couldn't cure. It was very distracting and would cause me to make errors.

MisterNice

Finding an usable signal is always a gamble but it can be a nice cost savings surprise. For example at the Hilton Brussels I can usually locate 1-2 signals on the hotels north side but none on the south side (this is a totally residential area too) . At the Amsterdam Hilton absolutely no signals were seen in any direction. At the Marriott San Juan PR I connected with a coffee shop located towards the back of the hotel but there was no signal on the front. Overall I would estimate I can connect over 90% of the time with the equipment and the connection percentage seems to be increasing.

MisterNice

nmenaker

So, here is the rub. Not really sure what is going on, but with the orinocco card in my vista LT, which worked fine pretty much everywhere in the US and works for SOME connections,. the ONE connection here that is closest, it says something like "your network card is incompatible with this connection" Which I don't really get.

With my X61t network card, I can connect FINE with the AP that I can see, when I am NEAR it, but using the network card that has the antenna on it, it doesn't work. Yes, it is an older card, but I am not sure what possible protocol it is missing that isin't allowing connection?

I have checked all the IP settings, for IP4, and IP6, they are the same, however IP6 protocols were probably not imbedded when this orinocco card was all the rage. But, I wouldn't imagine that the AP here is requiring some sort of IP6 protocol.

Any thoughts on how to trouble shoot? When I USE the orinocco card, and use the antenna, and use netstumbler to SEE AP's, it SEES this AP, and shows it with no encryption, and no other notiecable connection listing? Other than maybe an * after the Channel setting.

But, my vista networking and ibm AC cannot make the connection?

SJUAMMF

WiFi power amplifiers are mostly made of CMOS and SiGe and antennae are omni directional.

It is relatively easy to make a unidirectional antenna by narrowing the spatial diversity to improve receive and transmit signals. But the signal received or transmitted are very poor due to linearity of the amplifiers and signal to noise performance of the receive circuit. Commercial cellphone amplifiers use special wave shaping circuits or expensive semiconductors such as GaAs and GaN for transmit amplifiers. Receive chains have noise filters and high signal to noise semiconductors.

FCC also limits the transmit power and side band emission. This is the so called FCC mask. So officially there are little one can do to improve transmit signal strength and quality beyond directional antennae.

There are WiFi designs that made provisions to use better transmit circuit such as the Airgo chipset used in the 1st Belkin MIMO APs. But the better circuits were never used in store level products. Airgo itself was sold to Qualcomm and chipsets are off the market. Meanwhile the WiFi market place is still on its relentless march towards lower cost. So the hope for better but more expensive technology is a pipe dream.

But WiFi is really relegated to medium range connection. For long range connection, WiMAX or 3G/4G (EVDO/HSDPA/LTE) are made to work at longer distances. Pico cell and Femto cells are being made to improve reach even beyond the current designs. As it is, PCs have antennae for BT for short distances, 11a/b/g/n for short distances and EVDO/HSDPA for longer distances. So forcing a particular technology out of its intended use is for the hobbyists.

stimpy

Au contraire. There is some excellent better and more expensive technology. I pointed out antennas earlier in this thread. And there are some very well engineered access points too. They generally come in the mesh variety, have both 2.4GHz and 5Ghz radios and cost well over $1000. These also often support 4.9Ghz which has a very strict FCC mask.

SJUAMMF

Expensive in my sense is $200-300 for so. Which is doable with GaAs amplifiers and better antenna. But the market wants $100 products. $1000 definitely is for the hobbyists. 4.9Ghz is not an unlicensed band.

stimpy

I think you meant to say $1000 isn't for hobbyists. These devices are for professional networks mainly. 4.9Ghz is unlicensed in some countries and in the USA is it licensed for local governments to use as they see fit.

Yes you can build cheap hardware, but if you want advanced firmware and other embedded hardware, the price goes up. That is what is needed for large scale professional networks.