"Highland Ham" wrote in message
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Having followed today's postings on this topic , I see that there is a
wooded area between your house and shed, hence there seems to be no free
line of sight between the house and the shed.
That's why it is difficult to calculate/predict the Gain you need to
penetrate the wooded area with a 2.4 GHz signal.

YES - exactly.

I have been able to go laptop to laptop almost a mile with normal PCMCIA
cards, using patch antennas. (Well - normal cards modified to bring out the
signal to the antenna.) These antennas can be astonishingly directional.
Indeed, at 2.4 MHz, it is pretty easy to get antennas with amazing amounts
of gain. This translates into VERY CAREFUL aiming of the antenna. Also keep
in mind that at 2.4 GHz, RG-58 ain't gonna cut it. Most of what you put in
to one end of any normal coax will be sucked up by the coax and won't make
it out the other end. You need to use cable appropriate to the frequency.

With a wooded area, not only is it very difficult to calculate, but tiny
differences in the positioning of the two ends is going to make a huge
difference, as is summer to winter. Even a windy day is going to change
things.

Because of the small size, it can be pretty simple to build a yagi for
wireless. Yagis won' t have the gain of some of the other types of antennas,
but at the same time, they won't be nearly as critical.

Depending on your situation, you may find a directional antenna a better
choice than more power. Lots of people driving by like to "borrow" your
wireless, and I personally don't like the idea of strangers roaming my LAN,
even if they aren't typical crackers. (Seems to me that salesmen are the
most common intruders. They have learned that they can find a wireless
connection almost anywhere). I find getting coverage into the back yard,
while NOT getting coverage well into the street is a bit of a challenge.
Yes, I use encryption and MAC filtering, but I'd still rather not have lots
of wardrivers trying to break in.

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