Is there a Bluetooth PCI card that is *just* bluetooth (and not combo wifi) ?

Whomever doesn't do the math.

The data sheet claims that with the stock antennas, the range is 1km. The antennas look to be fairly typical 2dBi coaxial antennas. Range doubles for every 6dB increase in antenna gain. That data sheet claims 1km range with the stock antennas.

Range doubles for every 6dB of gain (inverse square law) or: dB = 20 log (range_ratio) or range_ratio = 10^(gain_in_dB/20) Building a table:

Antenna Claimed range gain dB over range calc km gain km 2dBi omni increase range 2dBi omni 1 0 0x 1 9dBi omni 2 7 2.2x 2.2 18dbi dir 10 16 6.3x 6.3

So, the doubling of the range using the 9dBi omni is probably for real, but the 10km range is a bit optimistic. Of course, all this depends on the original data sheet 1km specified range. There are plenty of other variables, such as the performance of the device at the other end of the link. If it's a Class 2 (10mw) device, there's not going to enough signal coming back to create a useful link. The TX power has to be the same in both directions for this to work. Same with the receiver sensitivity. Any asymmetry will result in range loss. It's highly likely that the receiver in the AIRCable device has been dramatically improved over the usual minimal designs found in most commodity BT devices. If so, then the increased RX sensitivity in the AirCable device may somewhat compensate for the lack of TX power in the GPS BT device. However, it's difficult to tell without the maker and model number of the GPS device and associated specifications.

Yep. A better receiver. -92dBm sensitivity (presumably at 0.1% BER). Minimum spec is -70dBm so this is far better than usual. The reason they get away with it is that they don't have any serious power consumption limitations and they don't have a mess of RFI and noise belching devices nearby such as inside a cell phone. Increase the sensitivity to practical BT limits and all the typical BT device will pickup is noise and junk.

Kinda looks like it will do what you want. I'm not so confident about the range increase, but with a big antenna, you will certainly get an improvement.

Incidentally, I lied. There are chips that can do simultaneous BT and Wi-Fi. See:

It was product released 2 months ago, so there may not be any products available for a while. It also targets multi-media cell phone handsets, not laptops.

Full disclosure: I did some very very very minor work for Wireless Cables when they were in Santa Cruz CA. Good people.

Ok, I've read the rest of the thread and commented on one item of interest. Enlightenment will surely follow.

Ignoring the PCI and ancient Windoze diversions, what you're really trying to do is get some real range out of a GPS receiver. There are easier ways. Most GPS receivers have a 4800 baud serial output that belches NMEA 183 protocol data. Wireless serial devices are very common. I use a mix of 900MHz and 2.4GHz boards by MaxStream, Digi International, and FreeWave for the purpose. Serial in and serial out with the added bonus of multipoint for building a network. I have one data link that sends DGPS (differential GPS) RTCM-SC104 codes for high accuracy robotic navigation. If your unspecified model USB GPS doesn't have an available 4800 baud serial output (usually TTL, not RS-232), then it might be easier to just buy one that does. Unfortantely, a new GPS plus 2 radios will be far more expensive than the Wireless Cables solution. (I cheated as we obtained a large pile of radios and GPS boards for next to nothing).

Hmmm... checking the range, one 900MHz data link is about 8km (5 miles) and another is about 3km (2 miles) through a wall of dense forest. The links actually run at 57.6kbit/sec and have weather and telemetry data muxed in with the GPS corrections.

FCC ID: SQC ACC1600 Plug that into:

I am thinking of experimenting with seeing how far I can communcate with a small bluetooth-enabled GPS logger (Photomate, model 887). Hence my desire for bluetooth hardware with excellent transmit and receive capability, the ability to connect an external antenna, etc.

I thought my only credible option was a PCI card (where size constraints would not limit the circuit design of the radio portion) and where an external antenna connection is assured.

An outboard box (not a dongle) connected via USB also fits that description.

No. I'm saying you shouldn't expect miracles out of a new dongle + antenna. Take my advice it or leave it [I think I can guess which you'll do].

What the hell bug crawled up your ass and died?

Why are you getting so bent out of shape at the concept that maybe, just maybe, it just might be possible to build a bluetooth transceiver with significantly more range than a puney thumb-nail-sized usb stub if you're not limited to a device envelope the size of a puney thumb-nale-sized usb stub?