| Extend Range - LinkSys WAP 11 2.2 and 10db Omni I'm going to try and describe this the best I can, so please let me know what I may have missed.
I'm helping a friend set up his home network. He has a main house and a guest house. We decided to go with WiFi because there are no lines (telephone or otherwise) running to the guest house. The guest house is around 600 ft from the main house. There are two oak trees side by side that are directly in front of the guest house, say 50 ft away. The guest house is solid oak (6") with finished walls inside.
At the suggestion of LinkSys, I connected a 10 db external Omni antenna to a WAP11 v2.2. I set the WAP11 to only use the right antenna connection, which is where the 10db omni is attached. I have line of sight with the Omni right to the point of the Oak trees.
Problems:
First and foremost, the addition of the Omni Antenna ruined the internal reception in the main house. So I added another WAP11. That solved the main house problem.
The other problem is that I only get around 60% signal strength up to the oak trees. I would think the strength would be much higher as it is only 500 ft from the antenna. Once inside the guest house, signal strength drops to 0% unless I'm directly in line with a window. Then signal strength fluctuates between 25-40%.
So, are there ways to tweak the WAP11 to improve signal strength? What are all those custom settings and what do they do?
Thanks |
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| Well here is my 2 cents...
Instead of the 10db omni you should have used a more directional antenna like a yagi. This will drastically improve signal strength and allow you to "point" the signal in a specified direction. Also, change back the settings of the WAP11 to use "diversity" for the antenna selection, or leave it at the default setting, this will improve the signal in the main house and you shouldn't notice to much decrease in the antenna's signal.
If you can't get a yagi antenna then my only other suggestion is to hack the WAP11 to 100mw if it's the older version. I believe the newer versions are already @ 100mw.
So in a nutshell: return the other WAP11, purchase a yagi, and change your antenna settings for the WAP11 back to the default. You should then be all set.  G00d luck |
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 fredsimonTruly YoursPremium
join:2001-07-02
Ardmore, PA | reply to itry2hide
You could think about Ethernet over powerline to bridge the house to the guest house then do a wireless inside the guest house.
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Without the spice of risk,the taste of victory is bland.~FRED~ |
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