In article ,
wrote:

Exactly two weeks ago on a Wednesday, I ordered an MFJ Wide Area High
Gain 1802 WiFi Antenna from www.MFJEnterprises.com (Hot New
Products)

Yesterday, I phoned MFJ Enterprises to check on the status of my
antenna.The lady at MFJ Enterprises told me it is on back order and she
will try to send it out this week.

That is OK with me though, I am not in a big hurry anyway, I don't know
why I ordered the antenna, sometimes I buy thingys I like and hardley
ever get around to using some of them.

What are some neat uses I can use my WiFi antenna for? As long as they
are Legal thingys, that is.

The first thing that you ought to do, is check the specs and
literature for the WiFi radio (card, access point, etc.) you're
planning to use it with. Find out whether this radio was certificated
(i.e. tested for compliance by the manufacturer) with an antenna
having a gain level of 8 dBi or more.

If it hasn't - if the radio was only certificated with an antenna with
less gain - then you cannot use the MJF antenna with the radio, and
transmit, without violating the radio's Part 15 certification. You
would be transmitting illegally.

You could still use the gain antenna with the radio in a "receive
only" mode (turning off the transmitter entirely). This could allow
you to do site-surveys, "wardriving", and signal strength evaluations.

If your WiFi radio was certificated with an antenna of 8 dBi or higher
gain, then you can use the MJF antenna with that radio. The usual
"neat uses" would be for setting up area or point-to-point links, over
distances greater than what you could achieve with a lower-gain
antenna (or in the face of interference, where the front-to-back and
front-to-side rejection of the gain antenna would help reduce the
impact of the interference).

8 dBi isn't particularly high-gain, as such things go. Even a simple
dipole is around 2 dBi. The additional 6 dB of gain will roughly
double the distance over which you can achieve a WiFi link.

People doing long-distance point-to-point or point-to-multipoint WiFi
often use gains of 19 dBi or higher... parabolic dish antennas and the
like.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!