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Hi Peter,
There are a couple of approaches to consider:
1) Use a higher gain antenna. There are many choices out there ranging all the way up to 25 dBi and beyond. I picked up a 25 dBi "Bar-B-Q grill" reflector for about $45.
2) Increase the power of the device. The WRT54Gs run about 79mW (19dBm). While amplifiers can be had, they are not preferred. There's a lot trashy stuff out there. The suitable amps cost a lot of money and still often require outboard filters to clean-up their spurious emissions.
With a high gain antenna the WRT54G has been used successfully at a distance of up to about 10 miles... of course, your mileage will vary.
If you are considering either of these options to increase range, then you should weigh the cost/benefit of going to a Ubiquiti device, such as the NanoBridge M2, for example. This device comes packaged with the router and an 18 dBi dish antenna in one device. This device runs about 200mW (23dBm) and can be had on eBay for about $80.
For more on how much power and and gain you'll require to cover a given distance, you should research the term "link budget." There are several link budget calculator tools available on the Internet: ( http://www.afar.net/rf-link-budget-calculator/ ). If you have a remote destination in mind, then you'll also want to take advantage of a propagation prediction tool such as Radio Mobile ( http://www.cplus.org/rmw/rmonline.html ).
Andre, K6AH |
