Buffalo WLE-HG-NDR

I have an access point about 200 feet away. It's a Linksys WRT54G. It has Satori firmware with the power turned up to 75 mw.

The PC has a Buffalo WLI-PCI-G54 wireless card. It came with a WLE-NDR antenna (not the "high gain" one). I also made a WindSurfer antenna to use with it (see

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With the WindSurfer antenna and the non-high gain antenna, I get a -72 dBm SNR in NetStumbler. This gives me 2 or 3 bars in Windows, but the signal drops out occasionally. I suspect this is because although my AP has the power cranked up, the Buffalo antenna doesn't have enough power to transmit data back to it consistantly. With the same antenna without the WindSurfer, I get -68 dBm.

So I decided to buy the Buffalo WLE-HG-NDR. It says on the box that it will boost my signal up to 200%. So I thought I would test this with NetStumbler. Well, I got about -74 to -76 dBm WITH the WindSurfer antenna. Without it, I got a broken signal and it didn't work at all.

I contacted Buffalo by e-mail a few days ago, and still haven't heard back from them. They haven't even sent me an automated acknowledgement e-mail. So I thought one of you might have an answer as to why the new "better" antenna doesn't work as well as the old one. Any tips as to how I can get it working better? Both antennas are indoor, omnidirectional.