WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for 2.4 GHz.

Is there any reason to not go for the greatest gain antenna, given that cost
is not too important (within reason)?

There are scads of these on the 'net. I'm looking for someone who has
experience with one or more of them and can make a recommendation for one.

Thanks,
--
DaveC

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WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

DaveC wrote:
Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for 2.4 GHz.

Is there any reason to not go for the greatest gain antenna, given that cost
is not too important (within reason)?

There are scads of these on the 'net. I'm looking for someone who has
experience with one or more of them and can make a recommendation for one.

Thanks,

There are 1/2 wave antennas on the market which do a decent job. I have
found their biggest problem is the coax the manufacturer ships with
them--too low of quality and too short.

Here is an article on one you can homebrew yourself, from ANY USB wifi
card:
http://tinyurl.com/6xdfav

-- or --

How about one of these?:

http://tinyurl.com/5ocovb

used with a 25 ft. USB extension cable, I use it when traveling. Plus,
you bypass the need for expensive/lossy SHF coax ...

Regards,
JS

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

DaveC wrote:
Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for 2.4 GHz.

Is there any reason to not go for the greatest gain antenna, given that cost
is not too important (within reason)?

There are scads of these on the 'net. I'm looking for someone who has
experience with one or more of them and can make a recommendation for one.

Thanks,

To be complete, here is an example of a 1/2 external with sma connector
and 9 ft. length of coax. Notice, they DO NOT mention what the
attenuation factor for the coax is ... :-(

http://tinyurl.com/653n5y

Regards,
JS

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

DaveC wrote:


There are scads of these on the 'net. I'm looking for someone who has
experience with one or more of them and can make a recommendation for one.

Thanks,

And, these are probably what you are looking at on the net?

http://tinyurl.com/5kg4cz

or

http://tinyurl.com/5gtjmg

Regards,
JS

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

DaveC wrote:
Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for 2.4 GHz.

Is there any reason to not go for the greatest gain antenna, given that cost
is not too important (within reason)?

There are scads of these on the 'net. I'm looking for someone who has
experience with one or more of them and can make a recommendation for one.

Thanks,

Hi, not actually 2.4 Gig WiFi but cellular wireless modem card. I
bought one of the small verticals with a magnet mount and cabling for
about $15 ppd as I recall. My situation is that my house is built with
concrete/rebar construction, metal 'persiana' windows and screens and
its hard to get a signal out of here even on the various cellular bands.
I think the highest band there is 1.8 GHz.

I didn't go for gain since the path to the site is only about 1.3 miles
away so I opted for the little guy, about 7 inches tall, that just sits
on the roof. On the other hand, a friend in a different location got
himself into all sorts of problems with reflections and multiple tower
sites and is now looking for a directional antenna to minimize the clutter.

Another consideration is the vertical angle between you and the site.
The "high gain" verticals (I've seen ones claiming 14db) have a rather
flattened omni pattern so that if you have to look upwards to your
intended site you might find the gain to be considerably less, if any.

GL,
Bill
Vieques, PR

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

"DaveC" wrote in message
obal.net...
Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for 2.4 GHz.

Whip antenna? What is this, for a vehicle? For a stationary location it
seems like it'd be an extremely bad idea to use an antenna that 'whipped'
around.

Is there any reason to not go for the greatest gain antenna, given that
cost
is not too important (within reason)?

Alligator effect. Wide mouth receiving everything. If you don't need to
pickup everything then why bother? It just makes it harder for your WiFi
router to cut through all the noise of distant stations it doesn't
communicate with. Get the right antenna suited for your installation, no
more, no less.

Which leads to the constant request, when you ask a question POST WHAT GEAR
YOU'RE USING.

In your case it would also help to define what sort of connection you're
trying to make. Point to point, metropolitan, etc.

-Bill Kearney

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

Bill Kearney wrote:
"DaveC" wrote in message
obal.net...
Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for 2.4 GHz.

Whip antenna? What is this, for a vehicle? For a stationary location it
seems like it'd be an extremely bad idea to use an antenna that 'whipped'
around.

Is there any reason to not go for the greatest gain antenna, given that
cost
is not too important (within reason)?

Alligator effect. Wide mouth receiving everything. If you don't need to
pickup everything then why bother? It just makes it harder for your WiFi
router to cut through all the noise of distant stations it doesn't
communicate with. Get the right antenna suited for your installation, no
more, no less.

Which leads to the constant request, when you ask a question POST WHAT GEAR
YOU'RE USING.

In your case it would also help to define what sort of connection you're
trying to make. Point to point, metropolitan, etc.

-Bill Kearney


Short Pringle's can, 1/4 wave probe, 1/2 wave from closed end, soldered
to female TNC.

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

Bill Kearney wrote:

...
In your case it would also help to define what sort of connection you're
trying to make. Point to point, metropolitan, etc.

-Bill Kearney

His original post began, "Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for
2.4 GHz. "

Now, why can't I make any sense out of your post, in relationship to
his? "Omni" has more than one meaning?

Regards,
JS

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

"John Smith" wrote in message
...
DaveC wrote:
Looking for outdoor omni "whip" antenna for 2.4 GHz.

Is there any reason to not go for the greatest gain antenna, given that
cost
is not too important (within reason)?

There are scads of these on the 'net. I'm looking for someone who has
experience with one or more of them and can make a recommendation for
one.

Thanks,

There are 1/2 wave antennas on the market which do a decent job. I have
found their biggest problem is the coax the manufacturer ships with
them--too low of quality and too short.

Here is an article on one you can homebrew yourself, from ANY USB wifi
card:
http://tinyurl.com/6xdfav

-- or --

How about one of these?:

http://tinyurl.com/5ocovb

used with a 25 ft. USB extension cable, I use it when traveling. Plus,
you bypass the need for expensive/lossy SHF coax ...

Regards,
JS

I concur. I like the Huntgate solution but prefer to use Ethernet for the
run. However, there is a problem with using a high gain omni antenna in an
urban area where there is a lot of channel loading. Your throughput drops
because you are spending a lot of time with collision avoidance. This might
work at night, but not if everyone leaves their wireless up all the time.

WiFi was meant to be short range. When you improve your range, you compound
your interference problem exponentially. If you use a Pringles can you have
a big advantage because it is as if you moved your low gain antenna closer
to the AP but you still have the problem of the connections the AP hears but
you don't hear and can't avoid colliding with. At least you aren't being
bombarded with broadcasts.

Simply put, there are limitations to performance when you put yourself in a
crowded situation.

WiFi antenna recommendations?
 

JB wrote:

...
I concur. I like the Huntgate solution but prefer to use Ethernet for the
run. However, there is a problem with using a high gain omni antenna in an
urban area where there is a lot of channel loading. Your throughput drops
because you are spending a lot of time with collision avoidance. This might
work at night, but not if everyone leaves their wireless up all the time.

WiFi was meant to be short range. When you improve your range, you compound
your interference problem exponentially. If you use a Pringles can you have
a big advantage because it is as if you moved your low gain antenna closer
to the AP but you still have the problem of the connections the AP hears but
you don't hear and can't avoid colliding with. At least you aren't being
bombarded with broadcasts.

Simply put, there are limitations to performance when you put yourself in a
crowded situation.


Taking in your text, "overall", I fail to find anything I would nit-pick
at ...

But, you know, as well as I, we are going to attempt to expand range to
and even beyond "its' limits", like a mountain--just because it is
there. :-)

I mean, "That is what we do!" grin

Regards,
JS