wifi coverage help.. large outdoor installation - trouble getting wifi over to a 2nd site

I did a wireless internet installation at a friend's restaurant, and
I'm in need of some assistance. I've now been asked to light up a
second building and a large back yard party / wedding area that are
across a street, and owned by the same folks that own the restaurant.
I figured I should be able to (pretty painlessly) share the single
cable modem service that they are paying for, between both buildings.

In this sketch that I posted http://wifisketch.notlong.com, "Point A"
is the existing outdoor antenna that I've already installed, blanketing
the restaurant and it's backyard area with wifi.

Across the street, is "site B", that I need to light up with wifi,
preferably without paying a monthly fee for a 2nd internet account.

The setting of all this is up in the hills, so there isn't much in the
way of city noise or interference.

So, to be more specific about the existing wifi setup at the
restaurant:
We have a nice speedy Cable Modem connection shared with a dlink
DI-624. I pulled off the original dlink external antenna, and am using
an inline hawking hsb1 signal amplifier
http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodList.php?FamID=72
and an outdoor Hi-Gain 9dBi Omni-Directional antenna

http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodSpec.php?ProdID=217
Anybody know if I'm going way overkill using both the amplifier and the
outdoor antenna? Is the amplifier even doing anything for me in
conjunction with the high gain antenna? I notice hawking is selling
the hsb2 now and doesn't list the hsb1 as a stand alone item (I wonder
what changed).

Also any clue what the difference between the 9dBi HAO9SIP and 8dBi
HAO8SI antenna is?

In and around that restaurant, I get speeds of 4500 kbps through
broadbandreports.com speed test, so I've got a solid cable modem wifi
setup at the restaurant.

So now for the difficult part... sharing / beaming that service over
to "site B"

I've tried the following methods:
1) I placed a DWL-G800AP d-Link repeater at the front of the restaurant
as close as possible to
"site B", I then replaced the stock antenna with a TRENDnet TEW-0A14DK
14dBi Directional Outdoor Antenna which I aimed at "site B". This
product claims on the box, "up to 5 Mi (8 KM) range". The results at
"site B" were unimpressive. Low to no signal strength depending on
where within "site B" I was testing. A broadbandreports.com speed test
gave me a 150 kbps download and a higher 400 kbps upload. A far cry
from the 4 MB/sec in and around the restaurant.

2) Since I already had a strong source at the restaurant with the
omnidirectional hawking amplifier and antenna, I decided to try placing
the repeater at site B with the TRENDnet directional antenna pointing
back at the restaurant's antenna. This greatly improved my signal
strength at "site B", since it was now picking up the wifi signal from
the local d-Link repeater, but my broadbandreports.com speed tests were
still down at 200 kbps. I assume this HUGE speed hit is the result of
the distance between the restaurant and site B, which I estimated as
250 feet (took me 100 paces to walk from door to door and I'm 5'6").
certainly the advertised range of the TRENDnet directional antenna of 5
miles far exceeds this, so I'm wondering if this antenna isn't working
well with the d-link repeater.

I'm open to any and all suggestions about how to get this 2nd site lit
up with wifi properly. I've heard you take a speed hit when using
multiple repeaters. I've heard your bandwidth gets cut in half, but
I'm only using one repeater, and my speed hit is WAY WORSE than getting
cut in half.

I must admit, I'm curious about the combo of that hawking amplifier AND
outdoor antenna (if I've thrown money away there), (and if that
trendnet directional antenna is working with the dlink repeater) but
most importantly, how the heck SHOULD I get wifi sent over and shared
properly at the 2nd site. Thanks in advance for any info you can
provide about what I should try next.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I'm open to any and all suggestions about how to get this 2nd site lit
> up with wifi properly. I've heard you take a speed hit when using
> multiple repeaters. I've heard your bandwidth gets cut in half, but
> I'm only using one repeater, and my speed hit is WAY WORSE than
> getting cut in half.
>
> I must admit, I'm curious about the combo of that hawking amplifier
> AND outdoor antenna (if I've thrown money away there), (and if that
> trendnet directional antenna is working with the dlink repeater) but
> most importantly, how the heck SHOULD I get wifi sent over and shared
> properly at the 2nd site. Thanks in advance for any info you can
> provide about what I should try next.

Consider the low tech/cheaper/works great way... I wanted WiFi in both the
house and barn (500FT and through a wooded area, trees are bad for wifi
signals)... Got a direct burial cat5 cable for (1000FT for $67), walmart has
the wap's (linksys wrt54g) for $59, and put a 2nd in the barn.. used the
same SSID (different channels).. Works great, is one big hotspot and my
laptops change to whatever WAP it gets a better signal from, and all are
full speed.

PS.. They have WiFi webcams now.. Glued it (okay duct taped it) to my
radio-controlled car, and have some real neat videos...

To me it sounds like you need to connect the two hotspots with a directional
aerial (or two)
wan link> wifi box 1> wifi box 3 with directional aerial > wifi box 3 with
directional aerial> wifi box 4
That way you have 2x rx directional independent of the last link.
Makes sense to you? you could try with 1 directional device but the
combination seems to be a little easier.
cb

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