[vox-tech] Wireless range

[boombox]

> Oops. Clicked send instead of postpone. Meant to also include this:
> What about use of a Yagi vs OmniDirectional antenna and distance?
>
> ME said:
>> Aha! No longer a lurker! :-)
>>
>> Nice to see you on the list.

Thank you for the welcome :)

I have been using yagi and omni directional antennas for wardriving.
Before WorldWide WarDrive 4 (wwwd) I did some tests to see the effect of
the yagi. I drove a route several times to see what I caught. When using
yagis and omni directional antennas together I got a 40 % increase in
found accesspoints (APs) when compared to using omni directional antennas
alone. Of course, I can’t know for sure that this was not caused by
changes on my route, but the results have been reproducible.

During the wardrive I found that I could pick up APs from across a lake.
It happens when I drive on a hill road with nothing around that I catch
networks from houses on the other side of the lake that must be at least a
mile away.

Even in the city, the yagi has made my life easier.  By extending my range
I don’t have to drive as much to cover the same area. This is also to say
that the signals do spill out of the buildings and line of sight is not
alpha and omega.

In my house (two detached buildings) I have about half signal strength at
about 80 feet with the original antennas on the AP. Even with a small omni
directional antenna of 5.2dBi I get full signal strength all over the
house.

If you don’t get the signal strength you want, try it with a stronger
antenna.

-boombox