Where to Get Full Power Access Point

In the UK max Power is 100mW. I am yet to find one that actually has an EIRP of 100mW. Most are 16dBm (40mW) with 2dBi antennas.

Does anyone do one that actually transmits 100mW? I want to get a decent range in a Bath Stone house

This might help:

Sigh. I kinda like numbers. I especially like numbers that are reproduceable. I *REALLY* like numbers that came from proper bench tests, using standardized proceedures, and calibrated equipment. I'll even tolerate wrong numbers as long as they're consistantly wrong in the same reproduceable way.

I've found that the measured sensitivity of most receivers using a given chipset are about the same at a given speed and modulation. What makes a difference is the obstacle course of circuit board traces, connectors, adapters, test switches, pigtails, and coax. Such losses vary between perhaps 1dB for receivers with very little between the receiver and the antenna, and 5dB for some rats nests with lossy circuit boards. To put it in perspective, 6dB loss cuts your range in half.

However, the biggest effect is from board and chip layout noise. The way sensitivity is measured is by sending random data and measuring either the bit error rate (BER), or the packet error rate (PER). They are related but not neatly. It's easiest to measure PER. For OFDM,

10% PER is commonly used. That's 10% of all packets sent (at the MAC level) arrive with errors. All of these errors come from normal receiver noise, but there are ways to make things worse. Rotten board layout, excessive noise coupling across the chips, and locally generated garbage all add noise which will affect the sensitivity.

Of course, field testing is the ultimate determination. However, there's a problem. There's no easy way to do a one-way receiver field test. One could put an overwhelmingly strong transmitter at the receiver under test, and assume that the other end will always hear the acks. However, most test are done with the 4 unknowns (2 xmitters, 2 receivers). One never knows which end craps out first, or whether the transmitter or receiver is lacking. There are plenty of other error sources in field tests limited by the test location. For example, some receivers are more/less sensitive to reflections and multipath. If the test were conducted "down the street", reflections off the road will cause all manner of erratic results.

Not necessarily true. the connection needs to be both ways, but just as some transmitters are more powerful than others so some receivers are more sensitive. If the router has a more sensitive receiver than the other device then it may be capable of receiving a much weaker signal than the device at the other end of the connection. In that case increasing the router power may increase range.

I don't know how the receiver sensitivities compare, but it would not suprise me at all if the WRT54G had a much better receiver than a typical laptop card. A Google search finds comments such as:

"Initial tests show a much higher RX sensitivity than most cards"

or:

"The little Linksys WRT54G box is a terrific generic Linux platform to run just about any networking code on. I have found that the radio on it when cranked up to its full 84mw is better than any of my pcmcia cards including the 100mw Cisco-350 I normally use when I need to pick up some distant signal. I have this 5dbi Maxrad antenna I normally use with the Cisco card and even with that it doesn't match the sensitivity of the WRT54G with the stock antennas."

Linksys WRT54G can do it with the proper firmware.

But you should be aware that you will need an equally powerfull access point - the connection needs to be both ways.

Many thanks for these links, I did see your thread on the 500mW variant AP, however at $799 its a bit pricy.

The Link SYS looks good, also looking at

looks pretty good, If its claims are correct

TheDragon wrote: > Many thanks for these links, I did see your thread on the 500mW variant AP,

For clarity's sake, assuming you were referring to my post, I wasn't talking about one of the $800 AP's, it was $179. And Ed Williams' Signal Seeker may very well be a good or even the best solution, but he's reluctant to describe the product in actual specifications instead of advertising lingo. He has offered one to a senior "member" of the group for testing, but I've not seen the offer go anywhere yet.

Note to Ed: all your picture links are broken except the main one on your eBay ad. Might want to check on that.

Mads Bahrt wrote in news:d1rvb6$15r$ snipped-for-privacy@news.net.uni-c.dk:

The WRT54GS is probably a better choice since it has more Flash Memory and RAM.

You can raise the transmit power on both the WRT54G and GS model to 251mw!

The wrt54g might do 251mw but the radio will crap out prematurly. I read some test that 56mw is about all it can handle with long term reliability as a factor. Now you may put some extra heat sinks and fans and all on it and it may last longer.

WOW 251mW is a lot of power in the UK, Infact with a 3dBi antenna its a whole 400mW too much. I like it.

I recognised the name and remembered the 500mW AP I saw.

I was having trouble getting signals around certain areas of my house and yard, so I bought a Hawking Signal Booster (which I have turned up to

500mw), connected it to my wireless router, and put a 6dbi Hawking antenna on the booster. Let me tell you - it works fantastic at enormous distances through cinder block walls. Booster was about $100 and the antenna was about $40

Kick ass output to be sure - hide it well

For your reference, you can use a regular antenna with the signal booster and it has three settings 100, 300 and 500 mw so you do not have to be as extreme as my setup.

It might if it included the wrt54g.

You'll have no argument from me there. If we had some reasonable figures it would make it possible to work out by just how much it would be worth increasing the power since I would expect you actually want to balance the system such that both the router and the clients have a similar range.

Although their website indicates otherwise, you can buy the components seperately. Any number of computer stores or places like Office Depot sell them individually. You do not need to buy bundled sets that include pci cards or access points, etc.

For example:

?uniqueSearchFlag=true&searchTxt=antenna&x=12&y=7

If that doesn't work - buy it from Amazon in the States - they'll ship you one although it will probably cost you more than if you can source one locally

WOW thats 2W of Power, could do some real damage with that. In the UK, i would get a good slapping for that, (If caught)

>

Shame you cant get the booster seperatly, they only sell it with the AP, or PCI card

That will cause injury if used wrongy. Imagine this into a 24dBi Parabolic. OOOOOCCCCHHHHH

36KW EIRP. Enough to instantly cook yourself