dbi?

Sorry I am new to the wireless realm. What kind of range will 1 dbi give me
in feet or yards? I want to put an 15-20dbi antenna on my car that will
direct a wi-fi signal into a house from my car on the street. House is
Approximately 150-200 feet deep and about 100-150 feet wide. Is that
powerful enough? Any suggestions on a product?

> Sorry I am new to the wireless realm. What kind of range will 1 dbi give
me
> in feet or yards? I want to put an 15-20dbi antenna on my car that will
> direct a wi-fi signal into a house from my car on the street. House is
> Approximately 150-200 feet deep and about 100-150 feet wide. Is that
> powerful enough? Any suggestions on a product?
dbi is a logaritmic measurement - based on the "perfect" isotrop
omni-antenna.
the strength should be enough, but you'll have to test - microwaves are
strange.

note: 20dbi is the upper limit in countries of the "etsi". which means that
you are
not allowed to go above this limit in summary. for example most access
points have a
signal strength of about 15dbi - so you are only allowed to have an antenne
with a 5dbi gain.


yours, dreamguard.

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003, Sherrard Hagabrooks wrote:
> Sorry I am new to the wireless realm. What kind of range will 1 dbi give me
> in feet or yards? I want to put an 15-20dbi antenna on my car that will
> direct a wi-fi signal into a house from my car on the street. House is
> Approximately 150-200 feet deep and about 100-150 feet wide. Is that
> powerful enough? Any suggestions on a product?

An antenna with that much gain will look very strange on a car, for it will be
either a 3-foot long yagi (a 2-foot yagi only has enough elements to be 13dBi)
or a DISH. Since both are directional (in the horizontal plane), you will also
need rotating equipment. That will probably take you over $300 quite easily.
A standard vertical mobile antenna for 2.4 is only of the order of 7dBi (e.g. a
Comet SF-245-N).

Except for wardriving, there really aren't that many moblie applications that
need such access.