Extending the Range of a Linksys BEFW11S4.....BIG TIME!!!!
SteveJC
set it up, the range was horrible (30' thru walls and ceiling). I
wanted to use my laptop on the back of my deck, but the supplied
antennas would only allow me the closest point to the house (at 4-13%
signal). Very disappointing.
After a lot of searching the newsgroups and other tech sites, I came
across Pelican Bay Internetworking at
http://www.techsplanet.com/wlan/index.htm. Don Beckman over there
was very helpful and knowledgeable. I purchased 2 antennas from him,
one indoor and one outdoor.
Today, I finally installed the outdoor antenna, and I haven't found
the range limit yet!! I know it's there, but it's beyond the 300'
that I carried the laptop (neightbors thought I was nuts). The 4-13%
spot is now solidly 100% all the time, and the 300' spot is at 25%!!!
The antennas and cable were pricey, but they sure did the trick. They
even came with the correct ends on them for the Linksys.
Tell Don that Steve sent ya (no, I don't work for him, just an
ecstatically happy customer!!)
If you haven't jumped into wLan yet, give him a call. I wish I had
talked to him before I bought the Linksys and Dlink, but he done good
by me anyway.
Steve
Tom
Why did you say that you wished you spoke with Don before you bought
the Linksys and Dlink?
Thanks.
Tom
steve...@hotmail.com (SteveJC) wrote in message news:<ee440281.01070...@posting.google.com>...
Stavorous
I'm curious as to how you hooked these antennas to the BEFW11S4, which I
also have, and which has the same range limitations you describe.
I also wanted to use my laptop on my deck, but can't even make it out the
back door.
A couple of questions:
Did you hook up the new antennas via cabling to the jacks where the factory
antennas were?
Is the indoor antenna on one of the jacks, and the outdoor on the other?
What did you do with the factory antennas? Couldn't one of them have been
used as the indoor antenna at the end of your new cable?
Thanks for your message below and any help you can give me with my
questions.
Cheers,
Don
SteveJC wrote in message ...
Hal Rogers
appear to be very directional antennas, yagi type.
Does he have an antenna system to hook directly to the WAP connectors that
improves indoor coverate, and does it with a unidirectional coverage pattern?
Hal
"Stavorous" <Stav...@noyb.net> wrote in message news:FV%17.920$tJ3.1...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Donald Beckman
antenna jacks on the back, the cables we sell are made for such
operation. You are not required to take apart your access point and
void your warranty.
Check http://www.techsplanet.com/wlan/cables.htm for cables. The
Linksys uses RP-TNC connectors.
Donald
On Sun, 08 Jul 2001 16:31:33 GMT, "Stavorous" <Stav...@noyb.net>
wrote:
Donald Beckman
http://www.techsplanet.com/wlan/antenna.htm
Omni antennas are at the bottom of the page.
We also sell directional, sectoring, polarized, and specialty
antennas.
The factory antenna can be used for indoors, but, it creates a
"unbalanced" node, which causes signal loss. You can also use 1 omni
and disable the 2nd port.
Donald, PBI
Hal Rogers
How about explaining the way one would improve the coverage with an
access point indoors.
If I disable the TWO antenna setup, and go to a ONE antenna configuration,
does this work, what degrades and by how much, etc. I'd be interested in
getting one of the antennas, since two higher gain antennas with about 5
inch spacing doesn't seem like a great way to go since the antennas would
presumably both be resonant and cause lobes and nulls to appear in the
pattern if both were hooked up.
Maybe on the web page? Or explain here (which is a good starting point
before making it available on the web page).
I'd like to get the WAP coverage up by a factor of 2x the current distance,
but am not personally looking for a wide area coverage system, just
better coverage through walls and better coverage for about 150 feet.
Hal
"Donald Beckman" <rav...@usa.net> wrote in message news:omfsktsf5gbvrku4f...@4ax.com...
Tom Pringle
extend the indoor coverage. I suspect there are a # of others who are
interested in this too.
--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/
George D. Lake
what are they?
"Donald Beckman" <rav...@usa.net> wrote in message
news:omfsktsf5gbvrku4f...@4ax.com...
Donald Beckman
antenna set. we put a new page up at
http://www.techsplanet.com/specials.htm
The dual 6dbi design has the cables cut so if you spread them as far
apart as the cables will allow, you will have the optimum distance
between the antennas. The 6dbi set will get you a whole houses
coverage up to 10,000sq'
If you don't use 2 antennas then you kill the diversity mode which
corrects for the interior signal reflections…
Hal Rogers
Is the antenna based on a matching network feeding a longer,
non-resonant radiator, or a tuned antenna like a colinear,
stacked dipole, etc. ??
Antennas just aren't that complex to design, so the buyer
is paying for convenience more than technology.
At $249 for two antennas, there are two problems. First,
it will invite competitors, and second, I don't think you'll
sell that many since people can get additional coverage
by buying a second access point for $249 or less,
which is what I did and it works very well and speeds
up coverage for multiple systems since the two can
be set on different channels, and reduce the collissions.
If it were my product, I would view the antenna for
what it is, and set the price based on what will be
profitable, but make it reasonably profitable, and
try to penetrate the market with lots of sales rather
than shoot for a high margin, lower volume strategy.
My 2 cents worth. You get what you paid for it. ;-)
Hal
"Donald Beckman" <rav...@usa.net> wrote in message news:8sv1mtc9lv2di0gjr...@4ax.com...
> Indoors it works the best if you use 2 smaller antennas, like the 6dbi
> antenna set. we put a new page up at
> http://www.techsplanet.com/specials.htm
> The dual 6dbi design has the cables cut so if you spread them as far
> apart as the cables will allow, you will have the optimum distance
> between the antennas. The 6dbi set will get you a whole houses
> coverage up to 10,000sq'
> If you don't use 2 antennas then you kill the diversity mode which
> corrects for the interior signal reflections.
Donald Beckman
points. When you get into the 4dbi and higher antennas it is very
difficult to make an omni that wont cause more trouble than it is
solving, the coils must be aligned to less than a .00 tolerance, which
is beyond most home users capability. Antennas are much more complex
to design and GET FCC CERTIFIED than one may think. A person can just
start making antennas and selling them to the public, the antennas
must be certified to the equipment they are designed for. To do
otherwise invites the FCC to come knocking on your door...
The handmade antennas you mention may sound like a good deal, but if
you put them on a spectrum analyzer, you will find the gain is a lot
lower than you expected.
Now, a FCC Certified solution takes time and money to do. The extender
antennas are not a mass market item, so the cost is higher. AND, if
you are looking to use the antennas in a commercial environment, home
made antennas are completely illegal. Home made antennas are only
legal for a single home user, and the home user may only make up to 5
antennas under FCC Part 15B Rules.
Our product is a solution geared for the people who wish a solution
that will "just make it work". Most people do not wish to sink lots of
time into making a antenna, just to have it backfire on them and cause
more interference. I have several examples of a home made antenna that
looked good and were to the public designs, but functioned only at
2dbi and brought interference from bands totally away from the 2.4ghz
band.
It should also be noted that this is our "Best Seller" product, so we
must be doing something right!
On Fri, 27 Jul 2001 13:51:55 GMT, "Hal Rogers"