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From: NotSure on 7 Nov 2009 16:11
Thanks for all the help. Very appreciated.
Can I just get 2 high gain parabolic antennas (and cables) and use them to
replace my 2" tall screw-in wifi antennas?
I'm a little uneducated, I want to share my olds Internet connection on
their PC, I'm not quite sure how to set up the wireless connection.
Olds Vista, Mine XP2.
Or, cat 6 with a hub 1/2 way for a little boosting?
Thanks again.


From: Paul on 7 Nov 2009 18:41
NotSure wrote:
> Thanks for all the help. Very appreciated.
> Can I just get 2 high gain parabolic antennas (and cables) and use them to
> replace my 2" tall screw-in wifi antennas?
> I'm a little uneducated, I want to share my olds Internet connection on
> their PC, I'm not quite sure how to set up the wireless connection.
> Olds Vista, Mine XP2.
> Or, cat 6 with a hub 1/2 way for a little boosting?
> Thanks again.
>
>

Wifi is safer, because there is no lightning risk if the
antenna remains shielded from the outdoors. (Objects higher
in height than your antenna, have an increased probability
of being hit by lightning. But there can still be damage
from lightning, even if not hit directly, by induction.)

I'd start with the Wifi devices sitting in line of sight, on a
window sill.

My main concern with amateur antenna usage, is whether the
antenna is impedance matched to the thing driving it.
For maximum power transfer and minimum standing wave ratio,
the antenna should match the thing driving it. The best
way to do this, is with a commercial antenna.

This is the first hit I found for a directional antenna. This
happens to be an outdoor antenna kit, with various odds and
ends thrown in. The odds and ends are important, and include
adapters for cabling and the like.

http://www.nextag.com/Hawking-Technologies-Hi-Gain-531718197/prices-html

And this is the manual for that antenna. Have a look through
the manual, and you'll get a better idea of how to set it
all up. I presume this setup is for 2.4GHz (yes: see PDF page 12).
Since this one is an outdoor antenna, it even includes a surge
protector. An indoor antenna kit would likely be missing
that bit. A surge protector doesn't guarantee protection
against a direct hit by lightning.

http://www.hawkingtech.com/downloads.php?file_id=3140

Wifi comes in 802.11a/b/g. The frequency of operation can be
found here. b and g are both 2.4GHZ.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11#802.11g

So the "line of sight" is the first thing I'd be interested in.
How close to "line of sight" can you set things up ?

I have read of installations that rely on reflections. For
example, one person used a nearby mountain and an object on
that mountain, as a means to reflect a signal. So there are
other little tricks you can use. But to start, I'd be
checking for a line of sight setup, to increase the odds
it all works the first time you use it.

As directional antennas become more directional, they get
harder to aim. So if you managed to find an antenna with
an extremely high dBi rating, I bet it would be loads of
fun to get it working.

An antenna sitting on a window sill, is going to be safer
than stringing 400 meters of CAT6 over the ground, and then
waiting for the first lightning storm, to blow up the
equipment on either end of the link.

Have fun,
Paul
From: Jeff Strickland on 8 Nov 2009 10:23

"NotSure" <Donttry(a)nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:UnlJm.53000$ze1.25163(a)news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Thanks for all the help. Very appreciated.
> Can I just get 2 high gain parabolic antennas (and cables) and use them to
> replace my 2" tall screw-in wifi antennas?
> I'm a little uneducated, I want to share my olds Internet connection on
> their PC, I'm not quite sure how to set up the wireless connection.
> Olds Vista, Mine XP2.
> Or, cat 6 with a hub 1/2 way for a little boosting?
> Thanks again.
>


Wireless is easy. I'm a bit fuzzy on whether it will reach 400m, that seems
a very long way. You say "olds", is that the same as oldies (which is the
same as parents)?

How does the Internet come into the house now, cable, fiber optic? It might
be good to consider pulling TV cable from the main drop back to your
location. If you have cable already, you can get the 'net from it also.

In any case, a wireless router and a wireless adaptor (you might not need
the router) is easy to install and set up. There is a CAT5 drop somewhere
already. All you have to do is find it. In a typical cable system, the cable
will come in to a cable modem that will have a CAT5 coming out that goes to
a computer. If there is a device with an antena, it is a wireless router. If
the device does not have an antenna, it is a cable modem and you have to buy
a wireless router. Get Wireless-N, it has the greatest range and data
transfer rate.

The CAT5 from the existing cable modem to the computer gets plugged into one
of the four ports on the router that are all grouped together, and a new
CAT5 cable is connected from the port where the existing computer was
formerly connected to the port on the router that is by itself. Once the
CAT5 cables are connected, the existing computer is back on the 'net, and
the router is ready to connect to your wireless PCs or laptops, or any
combination of both. If you arleady have a wireless router, then you don't
have to do anything. You are ready to connect your wireless PC or laptop
already. And if you have a laptop, it is very likely to have a wireless
adaptor built it, and you don't have to do anything at all except enable it
through the Control Panel -- and physically turn it on if there is an ON/OFF
switch for it.








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