Media for Home made antena's

Home made antena's

I have been reading about some of the home made antena's with great interest.

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I live on the top of a hill and I presently have great internet access from a wireless ISP. We can't get ADSL as are rural. The rest of my street can't even get the same wireless access that I can because they are too far down the hill and can't get line of vision. What sort of antena would I need to cover these neighbours houses from my place. There are around 10 houses and the street is only a few hundred metres long I guess. With the directional antena's how wide a beam do they cover? I know they are all going to be different but for example a antena which is good for 5k's how wide a area would it cover?

I am new to this so please bare with me. I have a wireless access point in my house already and connect to it with my laptop through a PCMIA wireless card. The USB wireless dongles will connect to the same system right?

Thanks for any help.

Regards Wal