Old Symbol AP antennas...

DaClyde · 09-03-2002

I've got a couple of Symbol antennas lying about, and was wondering if anyone could render and opinion on them:

http://www.symbol.com/products/wirel....html#rddipole

This one offers a whopping 1dBi gain. Would this one give me any noticable difference?

http://www.symbol.com/products/wirel...nal.html#plane

0dBi gain....would that really be any better than the Avaya silver card I'm using by itself?

All I need are the two connectors on either end of a wire to hook these up to the card. With the 2nd one, I'm thinking more of just being able to get the antenna outside the car while driving, and that that alone might help.

I'm finding it curious that all of Symbol's omni-directional antennae deliver some absolutely pitiful gains when compaired to the $10-$15 homebrew stuff.

Entropy42 · 09-07-2002

Easy explanation for the crappy gains (at least for some of them)

They're taking into account coax cable losses.

Still, even with 20 feet of cable, the specs on that 27-inch antenna seem very low. Even the worst cables I've seen are on the order of maybe 12-15 dB/100 feet, given their specs, they seem to be claiming losses of 28 dB or so/100 feet in the cables to their antenna.

(Look at the specs for the antenna that comes with either 20' or 30' cables - 10 feet difference is a difference of 2.8 dB - That's a LOT for a 10-foot cable...)

DaClyde · 09-07-2002

In the Symbol installation I have experience with, there's not a single antenna that's more than 3 feet from it's access point, yet the installers brought about 5000' of cable with them. Maybe they just have some insane distance over-estimation built into their specs.

Firebird · 09-07-2002

Ugh symbol antennas sicken me and their price is even more outrageous!

09-03-2002	#1 (permalink)
DaClyde Stumbling Luchadore Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Alabama Posts: 73	Old Symbol AP antennas... I've got a couple of Symbol antennas lying about, and was wondering if anyone could render and opinion on them: http://www.symbol.com/products/wirel....html#rddipole This one offers a whopping 1dBi gain. Would this one give me any noticable difference? http://www.symbol.com/products/wirel...nal.html#plane 0dBi gain....would that really be any better than the Avaya silver card I'm using by itself? All I need are the two connectors on either end of a wire to hook these up to the card. With the 2nd one, I'm thinking more of just being able to get the antenna outside the car while driving, and that that alone might help. I'm finding it curious that all of Symbol's omni-directional antennae deliver some absolutely pitiful gains when compaired to the $10-$15 homebrew stuff.

09-07-2002	#3 (permalink)
DaClyde Stumbling Luchadore Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Alabama Posts: 73	What's the point of all that antenna cable? In the Symbol installation I have experience with, there's not a single antenna that's more than 3 feet from it's access point, yet the installers brought about 5000' of cable with them. Maybe they just have some insane distance over-estimation built into their specs.

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09-07-2002	#2 (permalink)
Entropy42 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 32	Easy explanation for the crappy gains (at least for some of them) They're taking into account coax cable losses. Still, even with 20 feet of cable, the specs on that 27-inch antenna seem very low. Even the worst cables I've seen are on the order of maybe 12-15 dB/100 feet, given their specs, they seem to be claiming losses of 28 dB or so/100 feet in the cables to their antenna. (Look at the specs for the antenna that comes with either 20' or 30' cables - 10 feet difference is a difference of 2.8 dB - That's a LOT for a 10-foot cable...)

09-07-2002	#4 (permalink)
Firebird Registered Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 18	Ugh symbol antennas sicken me and their price is even more outrageous!