I've been messing about with my wireless card and I was using a 6db omni antenna mounted outside the house (size-wise it's like half a broomstick). My Windows XP PC showed 6 AP's in 'View Available Wireless Networks' , I got a couple of strong signals and the rest were weak. For comparison I then took down this antenna and put up a 15db omni antenna (bigger - 1.6meters long) in its place. What puzzles me is the 15db antenna picked up 12 AP's - which is double the previous antenna - but the signal of all AP's found was weak, not as strong as when using the 6dB. Is this normal behaviour for high gain antennas? What factors might cause this? poor wiring maybe? For the 15db antenna I use RG213 cable with N-connectors and for the 6db one I used ordinary TV coax with TNC. Cable length for both antennas is about 10 meters. Thanks for any pointers.
- posted
15 years ago