Signal Extender using cantenna?? Need help

[Techie333]

So I live on the 5th floor of condo style apartments and i get this signal all the way at the edge of my room comming from the free wireless by the pool room. It constantly goes in and out so I cannot use it. I've heard of using a cantenna thingie to extend the signal. If I make one, will it increase my signal strength to the point where I can use internet??? Also, will it only work with a desktop wireless pci card or is there someway I can get it to work with my laptop also??!?! Thanks for any help in advance!!

 

[Techie333]

anyone?

 

[ponyo]

People have gotten signal far as couple miles away with cantenna so I don't see why not.

You can use cantenna with a notebook but you have to have a mobile lan card with antenna hole for the cantenna. Only a few cards have it. I've an old Dell True Mobile card 1150 that has it.

 

[jpeyton]

Cantennas are okay solutions; getting a real indoor omnidirectional antenna (5-9dbi) is preferred. Cantennas are directional, so your luck will vary on positioning; and being a homebrew solution, the quality will depend on your wiring.

If your laptop uses a internal miniPCI adapter, hooking up an external antenna will be cumbersome. If you have a PC Card adapter, it must have external antenna jacks to work with an antenna. USB adapters have antennas, but not all have antenna jacks.

My suggestion, if you're looking for a fairly permanent solution, get a powerful PC Card adapter with external antenna jacks. Senao and Ubiquiti make such cards (the Senao 200mW card is probably a better buy, around $50; the Ubiquiti 300mW card is dual-band, but over double the cost). Typical wireless cards have a transmit power of 30mW, so you will see a huge increase in range. Pair that with one (or two) small stubby antennas, or one (or two) external omnidirectionals, and you'll probably discover a lot more open networks than you bargained for.

 

[Minerva]

Funny how times change!

Just a few years ago "cantenna" referred to something along the lines of this, an RF dummy load.

Ham operators know the terminology. -M

 

[Techie333]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Cantennas are okay solutions; getting a real indoor omnidirectional antenna (5-9dbi) is preferred. Cantennas are directional, so your luck will vary on positioning; and being a homebrew solution, the quality will depend on your wiring.

If your laptop uses a internal miniPCI adapter, hooking up an external antenna will be cumbersome. If you have a PC Card adapter, it must have external antenna jacks to work with an antenna. USB adapters have antennas, but not all have antenna jacks.

My suggestion, if you're looking for a fairly permanent solution, get a powerful PC Card adapter with external antenna jacks. Senao and Ubiquiti make such cards (the Senao 200mW card is probably a better buy, around $50; the Ubiquiti 300mW card is dual-band, but over double the cost). Typical wireless cards have a transmit power of 30mW, so you will see a huge increase in range. Pair that with one (or two) small stubby antennas, or one (or two) external omnidirectionals, and you'll probably discover a lot more open networks than you bargained for.

I like the senao pc card option with antenna plugin however they only support 802.11b, do you think I would need to get 802.11g for just checking email and general surfing the web?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Techie333
So I live on the 5th floor of condo style apartments and i get this signal all the way at the edge of my room comming from the free wireless by the pool room. It constantly goes in and out so I cannot use it. I've heard of using a cantenna thingie to extend the signal. If I make one, will it increase my signal strength to the point where I can use internet??? Also, will it only work with a desktop wireless pci card or is there someway I can get it to work with my laptop also??!?! Thanks for any help in advance!!

Most vendors make wifi repeaters, usually run about 50-100 bucks. Put it by the window where you do have coverage and enjoy (it will cut your max speed by 50% but on G it's not so bad)...

 

[Techie333]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Techie333
So I live on the 5th floor of condo style apartments and i get this signal all the way at the edge of my room comming from the free wireless by the pool room. It constantly goes in and out so I cannot use it. I've heard of using a cantenna thingie to extend the signal. If I make one, will it increase my signal strength to the point where I can use internet??? Also, will it only work with a desktop wireless pci card or is there someway I can get it to work with my laptop also??!?! Thanks for any help in advance!!

Most vendors make wifi repeaters, usually run about 50-100 bucks. Put it by the window where you do have coverage and enjoy (it will cut your max speed by 50% but on G it's not so bad)...

I see some Airlink wireless repeaters on ebay for around 30-40 bucks + shipping. Will these do? Can I put the repeater in a spot where wireless is in and out!??!?! Wouldn't the 200mW network pc adapter w/ omnidirectional antenna be a better solution?

 

[bsobel]

I see some Airlink wireless repeaters on ebay for around 30-40 bucks + shipping. Will these do? Can I put the repeater in a spot where wireless is in and out!??!?! Wouldn't the 200mW network pc adapter w/ omnidirectional antenna be a better solution?

The repeater would have to be in a spot with constant coverage. The reason I suggest that over the antenna is that you asked about multiple PC's and I thought it would just be easier than getting two external antens (especially for the laptop).

 

[Techie333]

Originally posted by: bsobel

I see some Airlink wireless repeaters on ebay for around 30-40 bucks + shipping. Will these do? Can I put the repeater in a spot where wireless is in and out!??!?! Wouldn't the 200mW network pc adapter w/ omnidirectional antenna be a better solution?

The repeater would have to be in a spot with constant coverage. The reason I suggest that over the antenna is that you asked about multiple PC's and I thought it would just be easier than getting two external antens (especially for the laptop).

oh no, i just have a laptop right now, i thought I would have to get a desktop to use it with a wireless pci desktop card with the cantenna, but the antenna solutions seems more resonable.

 

[Techie333]

How about the 3com wirless pc card w/ XJACK antenna?!?! Would that do the trick? Seems to run cheap on ebay and has 802.11g compatibility. 3
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