PCTech Forums

Hello all,

I need to know about any possible cost efficient ways to shoot out a 4 mile long wireless signal.(Yes,im insane)My goal is to network via wireless from my home to a friends home 4 miles straight shot.If any of you have attempted or just know any info on doing such then please share some knowledge with me.I will be using 802.11g hardware which ofcourse is only good for about 150 ft inside and 300 ft outside.I know it can be done,give me some thoughts on it.


liljim

Hey liljim ...

Extending your Wireless Range

Quote: This was quoted from here: http://winxpnews.com/

Using high gain antennas to extend the range of your wireless network or your wireless NIC. You wanted to know where to get such equipment. We use D-Link wireless equipment and have used their add-on antennas, specially made to work with their WAPs. When considering an add-on antenna, be aware that omni-directional antennas will broadcast in all directions, but the signal won't go as far as with a directional antenna, which broadcasts in only one direction. If you want to be able to move around in a circle from the central antenna and use your wireless computer, omni-directional is best. If you want to broadcast directly to a specific point (for instance, a neighbor's house across the street), directional may be the best choice.

A Yagi is a special kind of directional antenna that is cylindrical in shape. You can make a homemade version out of a Pringles can, and several readers wanted to know more about that. Here is an article that explains how it's done:


http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448

I don't know if this will help you but it's certainly something to read.

Cactus

The ones I've seen involve/utilize Dish Antennas and can work up to 32 miles. One example: . Here's another: .
There are also Wireless Cards out now that work at over 3,000 ft. i.e.

brad

so the previous post doesn't get your hopes up too much, there has to be a straight line of sight for this to work properly. If there is ANYTHING other than possibly a tree in the way, you simply won't be able to do it. If you live in a hilly area, it will simply be impossible unless you have access to the top of a hill, and had a repeater box + 2 more antennas.

if both of you have cable modems, you could create a VPN.

The only slight possibility of obstruction would be trees.We live in a flat land area and are on dial-up.The purpose of the network would be to mainly share files and maybe game a bit if we can get a strong wnough signal.Thanks alot for the links so far..it is indeed a big help.

I think the range of wireless mention in the first post should read meters instead of feet.

100 meters inside a structure (with a lot of metal) and 300 meters outside--& I think that can be streched to 400 on a sunny day.

Most people don't grab the perspective of 300 meters of range. Than can be from 6 to 8 houses away, going in four directions.

That can be 30 to 60 houses in my neighborhood