Got my neighbour onto my wireless network - thanks everyone!

Hey folks,

I just wanted to say that I have successfully connected my neighbour of
500ft away to my wireless network using a USB 802.11b dongle inside a
cantenna. My greatest thanks and appreciation go out Jeff Liebermann and
Bob Alston for their advice and ideas - I would never have thought that a
$25 USB dongle and an old can would have been able to do this for us... That
is just too cool. :-)

I will try to post take some pictures the next time I am at the neighbour's
house, so you can see the rig we have set up. It's interesting that we are
just on the fringe of being able to use just a cantenna with no AP-side
antenna's... we often get "low signal" or "no signal" but enough bandwidth
for good downloading (the Network control panel settings show 11Mbs
connection - not sure if it's lying or not, since we have such poor "signal"
readings) and that's all that matters to us. I am still amazed that it
worked at all!!!

So, thanks again guys!

Tim

Tim Haynes wrote:

> Hey folks,
>
> I just wanted to say that I have successfully connected my neighbour of
> 500ft away to my wireless network using a USB 802.11b dongle inside a
> cantenna. My greatest thanks and appreciation go out Jeff Liebermann and
> Bob Alston for their advice and ideas - I would never have thought that a
> $25 USB dongle and an old can would have been able to do this for us...
> That
> is just too cool. :-)
>
> I will try to post take some pictures the next time I am at the
> neighbour's
> house, so you can see the rig we have set up. It's interesting that we
> are just on the fringe of being able to use just a cantenna with no
> AP-side antenna's... we often get "low signal" or "no signal" but enough
> bandwidth for good downloading (the Network control panel settings show
> 11Mbs connection - not sure if it's lying or not, since we have such poor
> "signal"
> readings) and that's all that matters to us. I am still amazed that it
> worked at all!!!
>

Let's not go off the deep-end with pictures. <g>

Duane

Tim Haynes <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I will try to post take some pictures the next time I am at the neighbour's
> house, so you can see the rig we have set up. It's interesting that we are
> just on the fringe of being able to use just a cantenna with no AP-side
> antenna's...

You could put a free reflector on the AP.
http://www.freeantennas.com The EZ-10 takes a few minutes to make with a
piece of cardboard and aluminum foil. Jeff thinks my rendition is too
wrinkly, and should be smoother, maybe made from a flat sheet of metal
instead. My setup was better with two reflectors. One reflector and one
bare antenna caused some "toggling" between the antennas.

< http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/S...0-strength.htm >

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cnaop9$6s1$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Tim Haynes <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > I will try to post take some pictures the next time I am at the
neighbour's
> > house, so you can see the rig we have set up. It's interesting that we
are
> > just on the fringe of being able to use just a cantenna with no AP-side
> > antenna's...
>
> You could put a free reflector on the AP.
> http://www.freeantennas.com The EZ-10 takes a few minutes to make with a
> piece of cardboard and aluminum foil. Jeff thinks my rendition is too
> wrinkly, and should be smoother, maybe made from a flat sheet of metal
> instead. My setup was better with two reflectors. One reflector and one
> bare antenna caused some "toggling" between the antennas.
>
> < http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/S...0-strength.htm >
>
> --
> ---
> Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5
>

Hey, that is awesome - I will definitely add that to our setup and see if my
neighbour gets a better signal. He works in a metal fabrication shop, so
maybe he can even make one of those backings out of stainless steel or
aluminum or something.

Thanks!!
Tim

Tim Haynes <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> You could put a free reflector on the AP.
>> http://www.freeantennas.com The EZ-10 takes a few minutes to make with a

> Hey, that is awesome - I will definitely add that to our setup and see if my
> neighbour gets a better signal. He works in a metal fabrication shop, so
> maybe he can even make one of those backings out of stainless steel or
> aluminum or something.

The "support" portion should not be metal, just the back.
If he's a metal fab guy, maybe one of the other designs would be simple to
make. I never got the "original" reflector to stay formed correctly, it
always twisted off kilter.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cnb4dh$gif$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Tim Haynes <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >> You could put a free reflector on the AP.
> >> http://www.freeantennas.com The EZ-10 takes a few minutes to make with
a
>
> > Hey, that is awesome - I will definitely add that to our setup and see
if my
> > neighbour gets a better signal. He works in a metal fabrication shop,
so
> > maybe he can even make one of those backings out of stainless steel or
> > aluminum or something.
>
> The "support" portion should not be metal, just the back.
> If he's a metal fab guy, maybe one of the other designs would be simple to
> make. I never got the "original" reflector to stay formed correctly, it
> always twisted off kilter.

Good point about the support. Maybe he can create the slots for the support
and then we can cut a piece of wood or something to use as the actual
support.

Thanks again!
Tim