Setting up an extended wireless network

[Stonehawk]

Hi all,

Just installed DSL at my vollie firehouse, and am looking for a way to setup a wireless network that would cover the majority of the Village. The village is small (around 2000 people), and we are looking for ways to upgrade our emergency response, using this network.

Now, obviously a plain jane DLink or other router will not work for this by itself. Is there a possibility of using an external antenna with one of these to widen the coverage area?

If not, is there another option available to us?

Let me know if you need anymore information.

Thanks,

Jerry

 

[JackMDS]

It does not matter how many people leave in the town.

What matters is where the FD is situated in relation to the homes in the town, the max. distance that has to be covered, and whether there is clear line of sight to all Antennae???

:sun:

 

[Stonehawk]

Jack,

The FD is on the north side of town, which is above the remainder of the town. We also have a radio antenna already in place at the FD that extends up another 100 - 125 feet above the station. Most areas of the Village should have relative line of sight to the antenna.

Any other information I can provide you?

Thanks for the response.

Jerry

 

[JackMDS]

It can be done professionally for a substantial cost. However as a long shot, since it is really depending on your specific envioroment, if you can invest few hundreds dollar for the starting experiment you might be able to create a modest Network with Entry Level equipment.

I would start with getting one Good 802.11g Access Point (Buffalo or Linksys).

Since you do not want to use long 2.4GHz Coax cable, you would have to install the Access Point (AP) with the Antenna on the FD?s Antenna mast. There are special boxes to do so; this vendor is one of few that can offer some help: http://www.hdcom.com

Point the Directional Antenna to the furthest spot of reception and see what you get.

If successful you would have to buy additional APs and Directional Antennae until you can cover the whole village.

If here and there you have houses that can not receive the signal you might be able to bridge them locally to the nearest house that does receive the signal.

:sun:

 

[nweaver]

I would go with a Cisco 1200 series AP. Good strong signals, POE if you have to mount them on the mast, and reliable.

 

[blemoine]

i would suggest getting a Orinoco AP 4000. you can get information about this equipement at www.proxim.com i have used this equipement before and it is very reliable and secure. it also may be cheaper than the cisco AP's without losing the quality.