This page is provided ONLY AS A RESOURCE. We provide no support, and offer no liability for anything you may find though this page. Always check with the FCC rules!

General

Wireless Card Info - This page provided by Seattle Wireless gives a nice list of all the common cards and WAPs, their connectors, and an idea of their price.

Practically Networked - Networking hardware reviews. Plenty of wireless information.

TopoZone - Figure out what the chances are of Line Of Sight (LOS) between the two points you want to connect. Notice the Long/Lat is displayed in the bottom of your window as you move your mouse.
 

Calculators

Wireless Network Link Analysis - This big bad script can give you a lot of useful information. Although there are a lot of fields, it is still easy to use.

Terrestrial Distance & Bearing Calculator - Although the earth is flat with this calculator, it is really handy when used with sites like TopoZone to figure out where you should be looking for the receiver\transmitter. This is a fine calculator for short links, especially if you know you have LOS.
 

FAQs

Are trees, houses, buildings, barns, skyscrapers, hills, carnival rides, huge lead walls, bushes, and weather going to affect my range? What about birds?

Yup. For each "Layer" (Say 15ft deep) of bushes\trees that your signal goes though, you can expect it to have 1/2 the power it originally did. Houses, buildings, barns, skyscrapers and hills will have a more damaging effect on your signal. These types of structures will probably stop you dead cold. Your best bet is to climb up on your roof and establish real Line Of Sight to the other end of the link. Weather will also have a surprising effect on your signal. There are a lot of factors, but you may experience better results in different weather. Birds landing on your feed\antenna may cause problems. We suggest you put a sign nearby the antenna that says "Birds: Keep Away," if that doesn't keep them away, nothing will.

How much antenna cable can I use, and what will the results be like?

Although this gets pretty technical, let's keep it simple. Use LMR400, or a similar cable that works well for the 2.4Ghz range. Keep that cable as short as possible. Under 4ft is optimal. If you are using a WAP, and need it mounted closer to the antenna, do some research on Power Over Ethernet (POE). Although  the DIY version of POE is only for the brave, it may help you remotely mount your WAP. If you are going to try this, be extra careful about your current draw and voltage. Probably a good idea to test it before you hook up the Cat5 end of things as well! Even though this sounds like a hassle, Cat5 is way cheaper than LMR400.

This all sounds really complicated. Do I really have the skills necessary to setup a long range link?

If you know how to setup and use the wireless equipment you already have, you probably can pull this off. It is surprisingly easy. If you have no experience, and aren't very brave, you'll probably want to stick to short links (Across the street or under 2 miles) with good LOS, using good cards\WAPs that have connectors that you can get an pigtail for. This way you don't have to hack any of your hardware to bits, and you know the link should work.

This all sounds really easy. What am I missing?

As long as you understand that Line Of Sight is necessary, and you have no problem working with the hardware involved, it is really easy!

What is "Line Of Sight (LOS)"?

Line of sight means that you can stand wherever you are going to mount your antenna, and see the antenna you want to transmit to\receive from. If you can stand on your roof, and see your neighbors roof, you are good to go. If you stand on your roof, and can't see your neighbors roof, either you need to invest in some binoculars, or you don't have LOS; if this is the case, why is your neighbor so far away? Do you live out in the middle of nowhere?

What's all this garbage about antenna switching and diversity?

Another complex topic. The best answer, if you are using an external antenna, is to just turn it off... if you can. If you can't, your range may be very limited, and it may take some time to get the WAP to choose the right antenna. By making sure that the only possible link is through the antenna you want the WAP to connect to, the WAP should choose the correct side.

Do I need a better than "stock" antenna on both ends?

That depends. If you are using our 9dbi Omni, probably not. We had impressive results using this antenna outdoors with a standard PC Card wireless card. If you want to make a long distance link, you'll find better results using a good antenna on each end. What antennas you will want to use on each end will depend on the distance apart the two antennas are.