[vox] Wireless antenna for 1-block radius

[MB]

Ken Bloom wrote:

>One of the big reasons I've wanted a laptop for a while is so that I
>could get wifi in the sukkah[1] during sukkot[1].
>
>Now that it's sukkot, I've been working in the sukkah with my laptop,
>and I find that the wi-fi from my apartment doesn't even reach a half
>a block to where I'm working.
>
>So I'd like to work out how to extend the wifi provided by my
>BEFW11S4, so that it has a radius of about a block. (In chicago, there
>are 4 blocks to 1/2 mile).
>
>Any ideas? What kind of antenna should I be looking for. I'd like to
>do this pretty cheaply if possible.
>
>--Ken Bloom
>
>[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot
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Ken,

The first big help is to put your antenna outside or at least in a 
window.  Low wattage radio waves are blocked very quickly by concrete, 
trees, or anything solid.  You can pick up cheap antennas and extension 
cables various places on the internet.  The other thing you can try is 
to upgrade your BEFW11S4 to a higher power unit, and put that unit in 
the window so you can see down the street.  The WRT54G ($50) from 
linksys ( with new firmware ) will run with no problem @ up to 200mw, 
and it even runs a linux distro :)

The directional antenna idea from Ryan will work but is more desirable 
on the weak client (laptop) side because laptops generally run 30mw 
cards with a small, hardly usable antenna.

-Mark