On Tue, 04 Jul 2006 06:28:16 -0000, Dave Platt wrote:
There may be a cheaper way for you to get the gain you need, from your
existing equipment, without spending any money at all. It's possible
to fabricate a corner reflector, or (even better) a parabolic
reflector, out of material as inexpensive as cardboard (or posterboard
or something like that) lined with aluminum foil. Simply make one,
and then set it behind your existing router's vertical antenna... aim
the parabola in the direction of your shed and place the router's
antenna at the focal point of the parabola. Aim carefully, and it
wouldn't be surprising for you to get 8 - 10 dB of additional gain.

Hmm. I wonder. This is too good to be true. So, I will be a bit critical
with you (i.e., the scientific method) just to "test" the assumption so
that I can be sure I understand your position.

Assuming a 9 dBd increase in the directional gain from putting a pie tin
behind one of my existing router antennas, that equates to either 280 or
380 feet of range based on the calculations below.

a) 9 dBd = 10^(9/10) power gain ~= 8x power gain
b) 8x power gain = sqrt(8) range gain ~= 2.8X range gain
c) 100 foot range * 2.8 ~= 280 foot range

I'm a bit confused about the "range gain". May I ask if thta 280 foot range
is the total range or the range improvement?

That is, is my range with a pie tin behind the antenna 280 feet in toto; or
is the range now the 100 original feet + 280 additional feet which equals
380 feet in toto?

Beverly