I am pushing for everyone in our county ARES to add a Bullet to their shack and maybe add some type of node in their vehicle. When I am not doing demos with the "lightsabre" (the Bullet attached to the 15db antenna), I have it mounted on the side of my house with a Linksys in my shack attached to a couple PCs.

And I am all for testing other units. After all, the old, cheap Linksys units will eventually be gone.

Smaller form than Linksys is a definite plus for me. I currently have a Motorola WR850V2 (only V2 have detachable antenna) hooked up in my trunk. If I can find a unit that is smaller and will run on the 12V line, personally I would pay $10 more. I am already running out of space with the radios back there.

I do have an Ubiquiti Bullet flashed with a 15db antenna. The cost of it was about $150 total. Plus, it needs an injector for the POE. My 300 watt inverter didn't seem to have enough juice to power it, but my 750 worked fine.

But originally I was just asking if two units were significantly different and if the higher priced one had something unique about it. I didn't have some sort of motive or axe to grind for some reason.

We are setting up a MESH of permanent and mobile nodes for emergency situations. Since it is ALL out of pocket from only a few of us, the difference of $10-$15 per unit adds up when you are looking to purchase 12 or more of them plus some system to power each node off the grid.

eBay prices are probably a reflection of there being a LOT of WRT-54G's out there, and there being more people who are selling and buying the old ones.  More of a "fair market" price. 

I'm not sure about any other hardware differences, but I believe the WHR has one external antenna and one internal antenna.

I solved my problem by upgrading to DD-WRT. I was then able to install the wideband.hamnet firmware. Thanks to Erik, WB0NIU, for the suggestion.

Have you looked at the Ubiquiti Gear?

Ubiquiti was added as OFFFICIALLY SUPPORTED with several 2.4ghz models and many more 2.4 and 5ghz models to be added in next release (and chances for. 3ghz and 900mhz since the gear is avaliable)

Cost may be a bit more new than a used Linksys but after you get done putting a Linsksys unit in a weather resistant  box, buying adapters, cooling fans, heaters etc the costs for a Linksys unit adds up.

The Ubiquiti gear is outdoor rated (temperature range as wide as -40 to +80c compared to Linksys 0-40c) meant to be installed in mixed weather. They have higher RF output (as high as 10dbm more than Linksys at 600mw) and up to a 10db more sensitive receiver(giving you a 20db extra link budget).

I was actually going by prices on eBay. Although I am always hip to having an alternate to the Linksys, which is the point of this thread.

I was just hoping they had higher output or some other advantage.

On a slight off topic, is there a chart that shows routers and their max output on this site? I haven't found one yet.

I have 2 nodes ready to go into service.

They are the Linksys WRT54G dual antenna Nodes.

They came with the high gain antennas. (that is what is on them right now.)

I have ordered a vertical antenna and a directional Yagi.

Here is my question:

Can I leave one of the high gain verticals that came with it on and use the other antenna connection to feed both the Yagi and external vertical when I mount them to my outside tower?? (Just use a splitter on the tower)

Bob

I have 2 nodes ready to go into service.

They are the Linksys WRT54G dual antenna Nodes.

They came with the high gain antennas. (that is what is on them right now.)

I have ordered a vertical antenna and a directional Yagi.

Here is my question:

Can I leave one of the high gain verticals that came with it on and use the other antenna connection to feed both the Yagi and external vertical when I mount them to my outside tower?? (Just use a splitter on the tower)

Bob

It's probably a question of what you happen to acquire surplus vs. buying them outright.

Ok,

Just don't plan on seeing adhoc links show up anything you have will need to be cordinated as your out of default auto link mode.  Nodes do NOT discover nodes running under a diffrent SSID.

If you do aim to other nodes (as I see you plan to do) you will need to match their SSID to link up.

kc6ssm de  kj6dzb

Is your node still active, Im up and running at kj6dzb-10, and will try over the week end to point my node out in the flat lands up at the hill your way. dose your aprs node accept messages I will send you a not if It meshes!

73 kj6dzb   

The Buffalo seems to be at a higher price point than a Linksys. Is there an advantage to it over a Linksys?

I've created BBHN->ticket:42 to track this feature request.

*This message written on Emergency Power -- Sudden transformer explosions in your front yard --- just another reason to have a Mesh node and a backup power source.*