new to wireless

09-30-2001

Hi,
I've been reading about all the wireless/wardriving etc and I've decided to take a crack at it. I've got a laptop running Win2k (acer 520i travelmate, p3 550, 128mb ram) and I've got a few questions before I fully get into this.

1 - I got NetStumbler for the wireless 'mapping', What software do I use for a Windows-based GPS, and sniffer?

2 - What's a good wireless NIC to get that alot of OS's support?

3 - What other software will I need?

-- cwrite.

09-30-2001

you don't need any additional software for the GPS, netstumbler grabs the GPS data itself, all you need is a GPS that does NMEA. as for wireless cards i can't promote the avaya orinoco gold enough. i'm a hardware test engineer for a competing networking company and we test several brands of wireless cards. the avaya has the strongest signal, simple use, useful software, external (standard orinoco) antenna port and it works with netstumbler. =) it all works on win2k too, that's what i'm running, so you should be good to go.

10-02-2001

if I get an orinoco gold card, what type of antenna would work best with it, and give me a good range?

tia.

-- cwrite

10-02-2001

Get the ORiNOCO Range Extending Antenna: The ORiNOCO Range Extending Antenna is a quality antenna for increasing the range of your ORiNOCO wireless PC Cards. It will improve your range up to 30%, and sometimes even more.

The antenna is a 5DBI omni directional indoor antenna.
Price: $ 74.95 at www.wifidirect.com

10-03-2001

I use the Orinoco Gold card too. It is by far the best purchase I have made in cards. I chose not to use the Orinoco internal antenna though. Instead, I bought an external base antenna for $60.xx that is 7.18dbi or 5.0 dbd. It came with a bracket suitable for a pole mount but I ended up making my own bracket for mounting to my van. The same antenna is available for about $50. without the mounting hardware. I didn't get this because they were on backorder at the time.

The antenna itself is 9 inches tall and has its own groundplane. It is black in color.

I'll look up who I bought it from and post.

The cable for the orinoco I found for $30.00 for 5 feet. I'll look that up too and post.

Tron Of Borg

10-05-2001

I do not see anywhere on Lucents website that talks about allowing an external antenna on the GOLD card. I assume this is the same one right?

10-05-2001

The Silver uses 64 Bit WEP and Gold uses 128 WEP. The rest of the card is the same including the antenna support.

Tron Of Borg

10-09-2001

I purchased the Gold Version, this will mark my 3rd card.

10-09-2001

"Orinoco Gold Card...don't leave home without it." LOL

You won't be disappointed.

BTW ppl, the Cabletron is the Orinoco also. Just in case someone finds it cheap somewhere.

Tron Of Borg

10-10-2001

I had a soho wireless system, returned it the next day. Couldn't get out of the office in the back of the house. Spent $318 for a card and AP.

Found an Orinoco RG with silver card on Ebay (new) for 250. Got it, and talked to the guy and he gave me another silver for 64. I had already purchased a silver USB under Trons advice so now I have 3 cards and a RG.

Now, I can surf at my neighbors house. I borrowed an Orinoco AP from a friend, and it was securable (well, you know) but expensive. The RG I got does not send the SSID and I could not stumble it. Interesting. Plus, it runs encryption by default. VERY sweet. I figure for home use, I am pretty OK. I change encryption once a week out of habit.

So for less than the Soho crap, I got a good Orinico with high power. At my neighbors house, I get about 20% degradation over there, so I say between walls and outer housing, at about 250 feet, I am still in the green, barely. And pretty solid also. Freaked my neighbor out.

I loaned him a card and said, "this will get you started"..." It makes you feel good, try it. Come see me when you really want the good stuff"...LOL he just looked at me funny and laughed.

I have the guys e-mail address, he said he would make deals with anyone I send to him. Like I said, 64 bucks for a silver card, he will probably go 72 for a gold, easy, maybe less, and he ships fast and cheap. Good guy. The addy is at my house, I will post later if yall want, or yall can mail me @ axe-2-grind@ziplip.com

Hope this helps some. Wireless rocks for a small solution.

10-11-2001

Here's what I have in the Netstumbler compatibility testing lab.

Access points
1 Linksys AP
1 borrowed Lucent AP-1000

Cards
1 Dell truemobile 1150 (orinoco OEM) + pigtail
1 borrowed Linksys WPC11
1 Symbol Spectrum24 LA-4121
1 Orinoco gold + pigtail
1 Cisco AIR-LMC352 + pigtail
1 Addtron AWP-101

Antennas
1 Cushcraft S2403B
1 Maxrad BMMG24005 (magnetic mount)
1 magnetic mount antenna that came with the AWP101
2 Orinoco-style antennas that came out of Macs
1 Pringles can under construction

All this helps you, the happy user, to have a happy user experience.

10-11-2001

I am a newbie (electrical engineer but in building systems design only) and want to get started with a wireless network at home for my home business. I just bought a Linksys access unit and bid on an Orinoco gold card for my laptop. I assume that is relatively good equipment?
Question #1: Can you confirm the gold PCMCIA card has an external antenna port?

Question #2: My local school district has a point-to-point 2.4 MHz microwave link (shared T1 line) that I may be permitted to link to. What is involved, and is it possible? I believe they are using Western Multiplex equipment if my memory serves. They have a very tall antenna mast nearby my house for its use. How do I determine if I can connect to it?

Thanks for any help!
Bill K

10-11-2001

Marius,

Quick question for you. You list:
Cards
1 Dell truemobile 1150 (orinoco OEM) + pigtail
1 borrowed Linksys WPC11
1 Symbol Spectrum24 LA-4121
1 Orinoco gold + pigtail
1 Cisco AIR-LMC352 + pigtail
1 Addtron AWP-101

Are these all actual tested cards that work with Netstumbler or what you have in your lab to play with and make work?

The two of serious interest to me is the Linksys and the Cisco. I am ordering a AIR-PCM342 and was thinking it would just have to be pulled for when I want to use Netstumbler.

John K.

10-11-2001

Qustion #1. A: The Orinoco Gold/Silver does have external antenna ports.

Question #2: A: We need more info for this one. The distance to the tower wasn't given. You'll need line of site at a minimum. If you are between their towers, you can probably get their signal without a problem. If you can', try a yaggie or parabolic. If you aren't in between, you better hope to be in one of the lobes of their radiation pattern. If an amp is needed, place it as close to your antenna as possible to reduce loss.

As for their equipment being Western Multiplex, you'll need to see if it is DS or FS (Frequency Hopping) to start.

My lame $.02.

Tron Of Borg

10-12-2001

John, no they don't all work, but they will (maybe not the Symbol one though).

By the way, the testing lab is not so much a lab as a large antistatic bag :-)

09-30-2001	#1 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	new to wireless Hi, I've been reading about all the wireless/wardriving etc and I've decided to take a crack at it. I've got a laptop running Win2k (acer 520i travelmate, p3 550, 128mb ram) and I've got a few questions before I fully get into this. 1 - I got NetStumbler for the wireless 'mapping', What software do I use for a Windows-based GPS, and sniffer? 2 - What's a good wireless NIC to get that alot of OS's support? 3 - What other software will I need? -- cwrite.

10-02-2001	#3 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	.. if I get an orinoco gold card, what type of antenna would work best with it, and give me a good range? tia. -- cwrite

10-03-2001	#5 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	My setup. I use the Orinoco Gold card too. It is by far the best purchase I have made in cards. I chose not to use the Orinoco internal antenna though. Instead, I bought an external base antenna for $60.xx that is 7.18dbi or 5.0 dbd. It came with a bracket suitable for a pole mount but I ended up making my own bracket for mounting to my van. The same antenna is available for about $50. without the mounting hardware. I didn't get this because they were on backorder at the time. The antenna itself is 9 inches tall and has its own groundplane. It is black in color. I'll look up who I bought it from and post. The cable for the orinoco I found for $30.00 for 5 feet. I'll look that up too and post. Tron Of Borg

10-05-2001	#6 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Lucent Orinoco Card? I do not see anywhere on Lucents website that talks about allowing an external antenna on the GOLD card. I assume this is the same one right?

10-05-2001	#7 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	The Silver & Gold are the same except for WEP Encryption Levels. The Silver uses 64 Bit WEP and Gold uses 128 WEP. The rest of the card is the same including the antenna support. Tron Of Borg

09-30-2001	#2 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	you don't need any additional software for the GPS, netstumbler grabs the GPS data itself, all you need is a GPS that does NMEA. as for wireless cards i can't promote the avaya orinoco gold enough. i'm a hardware test engineer for a competing networking company and we test several brands of wireless cards. the avaya has the strongest signal, simple use, useful software, external (standard orinoco) antenna port and it works with netstumbler. =) it all works on win2k too, that's what i'm running, so you should be good to go.

10-02-2001	#4 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Get the ORiNOCO Range Extending Antenna: The ORiNOCO Range Extending Antenna is a quality antenna for increasing the range of your ORiNOCO wireless PC Cards. It will improve your range up to 30%, and sometimes even more. The antenna is a 5DBI omni directional indoor antenna. Price: $ 74.95 at www.wifidirect.com

10-09-2001	#8 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Orinoco I purchased the Gold Version, this will mark my 3rd card.

10-09-2001	#9 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Orinoco Gold Card "Orinoco Gold Card...don't leave home without it." LOL You won't be disappointed. BTW ppl, the Cabletron is the Orinoco also. Just in case someone finds it cheap somewhere. Tron Of Borg

10-10-2001	#10 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Tron rocks, Follow him... I had a soho wireless system, returned it the next day. Couldn't get out of the office in the back of the house. Spent $318 for a card and AP. Found an Orinoco RG with silver card on Ebay (new) for 250. Got it, and talked to the guy and he gave me another silver for 64. I had already purchased a silver USB under Trons advice so now I have 3 cards and a RG. Now, I can surf at my neighbors house. I borrowed an Orinoco AP from a friend, and it was securable (well, you know) but expensive. The RG I got does not send the SSID and I could not stumble it. Interesting. Plus, it runs encryption by default. VERY sweet. I figure for home use, I am pretty OK. I change encryption once a week out of habit. So for less than the Soho crap, I got a good Orinico with high power. At my neighbors house, I get about 20% degradation over there, so I say between walls and outer housing, at about 250 feet, I am still in the green, barely. And pretty solid also. Freaked my neighbor out. I loaned him a card and said, "this will get you started"..." It makes you feel good, try it. Come see me when you really want the good stuff"...LOL he just looked at me funny and laughed. I have the guys e-mail address, he said he would make deals with anyone I send to him. Like I said, 64 bucks for a silver card, he will probably go 72 for a gold, easy, maybe less, and he ships fast and cheap. Good guy. The addy is at my house, I will post later if yall want, or yall can mail me @ axe-2-grind@ziplip.com Hope this helps some. Wireless rocks for a small solution.

10-11-2001	#11 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Here's what I have in the Netstumbler compatibility testing lab. Access points 1 Linksys AP 1 borrowed Lucent AP-1000 Cards 1 Dell truemobile 1150 (orinoco OEM) + pigtail 1 borrowed Linksys WPC11 1 Symbol Spectrum24 LA-4121 1 Orinoco gold + pigtail 1 Cisco AIR-LMC352 + pigtail 1 Addtron AWP-101 Antennas 1 Cushcraft S2403B 1 Maxrad BMMG24005 (magnetic mount) 1 magnetic mount antenna that came with the AWP101 2 Orinoco-style antennas that came out of Macs 1 Pringles can under construction All this helps you, the happy user, to have a happy user experience.

10-11-2001	#12 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Question about getting started... I am a newbie (electrical engineer but in building systems design only) and want to get started with a wireless network at home for my home business. I just bought a Linksys access unit and bid on an Orinoco gold card for my laptop. I assume that is relatively good equipment? Question #1: Can you confirm the gold PCMCIA card has an external antenna port? Question #2: My local school district has a point-to-point 2.4 MHz microwave link (shared T1 line) that I may be permitted to link to. What is involved, and is it possible? I believe they are using Western Multiplex equipment if my memory serves. They have a very tall antenna mast nearby my house for its use. How do I determine if I can connect to it? Thanks for any help! Bill K

10-11-2001	#13 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Marius, Quick question for you. You list: Cards 1 Dell truemobile 1150 (orinoco OEM) + pigtail 1 borrowed Linksys WPC11 1 Symbol Spectrum24 LA-4121 1 Orinoco gold + pigtail 1 Cisco AIR-LMC352 + pigtail 1 Addtron AWP-101 Are these all actual tested cards that work with Netstumbler or what you have in your lab to play with and make work? The two of serious interest to me is the Linksys and the Cisco. I am ordering a AIR-PCM342 and was thinking it would just have to be pulled for when I want to use Netstumbler. John K.

10-11-2001	#14 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Hey Bill Kichman Qustion #1. A: The Orinoco Gold/Silver does have external antenna ports. Question #2: A: We need more info for this one. The distance to the tower wasn't given. You'll need line of site at a minimum. If you are between their towers, you can probably get their signal without a problem. If you can', try a yaggie or parabolic. If you aren't in between, you better hope to be in one of the lobes of their radiation pattern. If an amp is needed, place it as close to your antenna as possible to reduce loss. As for their equipment being Western Multiplex, you'll need to see if it is DS or FS (Frequency Hopping) to start. My lame $.02. Tron Of Borg

10-12-2001	#15 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	John, no they don't all work, but they will (maybe not the Symbol one though). By the way, the testing lab is not so much a lab as a large antistatic bag :-)

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