Amp test results - Page 2

Scruge · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by renderman

Only one antenna? You need to think bigger.

I figured with all the money I was saving not driving I could buy lounge chair, new shades, sun tan lotion, and a cooler full of beer. Then kick back and soak up the rays (rf and sun) while occasionally nudging the parabolic with my toe to pick up another few thousand APs.

Multiple antennas would require to much work.

Mark57 · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by renderman

Only one antenna? You need to think bigger.

Never underestimate the power of multiple antennas.

http://www.renderlab.net/projects/wardrive/rig/ (needs updating)

Basically, I have 2 x 5db mag mounts (AMP'd) on the roof along with 2 x 16db directionals pointed out the sides.

I got a couple senao 200mw cards at defcon that will allow me to integrate some other gear, but budget constraints (read: house, GF, food) have limited my purchasing of new pigtails (hint, anyone got some MMCX to N-male pigtails they'd like to donate

)

In the end I'll probably have the 2 omni's on the roof, the 2 directionals on the WRT pointed at the sides and maybe a couple wide angle panels pointing fore and aft.

I'd originally consider dual omni's but opted for the amp. I may still do it. I didn't think about using a 2-to-1 concentrator. The Senao card has two antenna connectors and I didn't want to buy two amps. I know dual antennas help the card sort out and get a better signal than a single antenna.

Nice setup.

I haven't added the WRT to my setup yet. I had it working and then started getting some weird syntax type errors on the drone. Long story. I'm getting back to it when the weather cools off.

theprez98 · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by renderman

Basically, I have 2 x 5db mag mounts (AMP'd) on the roof along with 2 x 16db directionals pointed out the sides.

Any suggestions on amps other than spending $200 at Fab corp?

Scruge · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by theprez98

Any suggestions on amps other than spending $200 at Fab corp?

oh, don't forget you get a discount. I think its a Spiderman ring this month.

renderman · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by theprez98

Any suggestions on amps other than spending $200 at Fab corp?

Keep an eye open for WISP guys flogging thier gear in the buy/sell forum. that's how I got mine.

Keep in mind that the AMP changes the shape of the antenna pattern and you need to understand that or you might end up missing alot of stuff.

i.e. amp'in an omni will flatten it's signal pattern and will miss alot of stuff from higher elevations, so if your scanning alot of towers, you might want to not amp the omni's, reducing your range, but increasing the height.

Mark57 · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scruge

oh, don't forget you get a discount. I think its a Spiderman ring this month.

FYI, I'm made three big purchases from Fab-Corp and have not gotten a discount yet from mentioning this forum.

Mark57 · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by renderman

Keep in mind that the AMP changes the shape of the antenna pattern and you need to understand that or you might end up missing alot of stuff.

i.e. amp'in an omni will flatten it's signal pattern and will miss alot of stuff from higher elevations, so if your scanning alot of towers, you might want to not amp the omni's, reducing your range, but increasing the height.

That's one reason I never went to a higher gain antenna with my current setup. The vast majority of mine is residential houses or strip shopping centers.

Scruge · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark57

FYI, I'm made three big purchases from Fab-Corp and have not gotten a discount yet from mentioning this forum.

The Spiderman ring is new for this month. In the past they were mailing out pre-approved credit card apps. Perhaps you discarded yours thinking it was junk mail.

@ Renderman

How does the diversity switching function while in monitor mode? Being there isn't an active link to steer the switching. Does it just use the default antenna all the time?

renderman · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scruge

@ Renderman

How does the diversity switching function while in monitor mode? Being there isn't an active link to steer the switching. Does it just use the default antenna all the time?

As near as I can tell, in monitor mode, it does'nt give a damn about diversity and just funnels everything in from both sides. Since the WRT can't provide SNR data to kismet (bummer), I can't really test if it's doing diversity or not. Currently, it's just on 'AUTO' in the firmware.

It's working nicely for me anyways. It's nice to be able to instantly add a source to the Rendervan.

Israel Torres · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark57

FYI, I'm made three big purchases from Fab-Corp and have not gotten a discount yet from mentioning this forum.

how about using the phrase "bird is the word"?

Quote:

By the amount of orders that are placed over $200, and the lack of orders that have "bird is the word" in them, it seems that very few people like free stuff? Here is the deal - for every person that puts the phrase "bird is the word" in the comments field of any order over $200 US you will get a free gift - that is it, $200 and the phrase "bird is the word" and a gift is coming your way. The gift could be a shirt, a hat, a surge protector, a Wi-Fi card, or any number of other items that we have here! This is while supplies last, and at the rate of orders without the phrase that are over $200 are coming in, it will last a while

.

Mark57 · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Israel Torres

how about using the phrase "bird is the word"?

That was only good recently, and YES, I did use it.

Mark57 · 09-06-2005

OK, as promised, here are the pics from my post and second test this morning.

"I ran another test this morning. There's a vacant field near downtown that's surrounded by condominiums and office buildings. This field is one square city block in size so I'm a fair distance from any detectable AP but there's an abundance of AP's just past the field boundaries. I'd previously driven the entire area using the amp, street by street to get accurate GPS locations. Each of the following tests lasted 1 minute each. I parked in the middle of the field and fired up a new Kismet session without the amp. I found 5 AP's. I then started a new session with the amp powered up and at one minute I had 68 AP's. Note, it was still adding AP's slowly at one minute so it was obviously pulling out less than strong signals. I'll create and post the map here tonight. I'm interested to see it myself."

The fist pic is without the amp. I saw 3 AP's, one was two blocks away. The second is with the amp and due to building height, etc. I saw AP's as far as 4,868 ft away. The majority were within 2.5 to 3 blocks away. Sorry for the lack of map detail due to forum pic size requirements.

Israel Torres · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark57

OK, as promised, here are the pics from my post and second test this morning.

Thanks! Geesh that is quite a difference... but not sure why you are getting so few in the first place.

Strange stuff. The amp idea is getting more tempting though...

Mark57 · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Israel Torres

Thanks! Geesh that is quite a difference... but not sure why you are getting so few in the first place.

Strange stuff. The amp idea is getting more tempting though...

It's because I'm sitting still. If I moved 5 feet you'd see a change. The AP's directly West of that position are from a two story condominium complex. Before I got the amp I tried stopping to snarf up AP's but the detection rate would drastically slow or stop. Even moving at 1mph was better than stopped. The only reason I need to stop with the amp is to capture the sheer number detected in dense areas. That is not typical though. Going slow is good, but moving a little is better than stopped 99% of the time.

Airstreamer · 09-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark57

It's because I'm sitting still. If I moved 5 feet you'd see a change. The AP's directly West of that position are from a two story condominium complex. Before I got the amp I tried stopping to snarf up AP's but the detection rate would drastically slow or stop. Even moving at 1mph was better than stopped. The only reason I need to stop with the amp is to capture the sheer number detected in dense areas. That is not typical though. Going slow is good, but moving a little is better than stopped 99% of the time.

That's because the diffraction zones are very small at 2.5 gig. You can move 1/2 to 1 wavelength and the antenna will pick up a signal that before was cancelled out by multipath.

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