Does an antenna increasing distance TO the AP also?

jgoggan · 06-06-2003

Sorry if this is a newbie question, but I'm just not sure and couldn't find the answer...

Does adding a 5 dB antenna help with the laptop/pda singles reaching the AP also or just receiving singles (i.e. to detect them only).

In other words, let's say that I currently pick up an AP while wardriving, but get like a 20% signal that drops all the time -- and that's as close as I can get to it at this point. Will adding an external 5 dB antenna help me establish communication with that AP? If the problem is from the laptop not being able to transmit enough to reach the AP before the antenna -- will adding the antenna help?

I'm just confused as to if the antenna just helps bring in signals stronger -- or if it will help with the "upstream" to the AP also.

Thanks!

- John...

Thorn · 06-06-2003

Yes the antenna increases the gain of the transmitted signal. However, these are two-way radios. So there are four factors here:

1. TX power of the AP
2. TX power of the card
3. RX sensitivity of the AP
4. RX sensitivity of the card.

Adding an antenna to the card, effectively helps with 2 and 4, but it does nothing to help with 1 and 3.

06-06-2003	#1 (permalink)
jgoggan Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 8	Does an antenna increasing distance TO the AP also? Sorry if this is a newbie question, but I'm just not sure and couldn't find the answer... Does adding a 5 dB antenna help with the laptop/pda singles reaching the AP also or just receiving singles (i.e. to detect them only). In other words, let's say that I currently pick up an AP while wardriving, but get like a 20% signal that drops all the time -- and that's as close as I can get to it at this point. Will adding an external 5 dB antenna help me establish communication with that AP? If the problem is from the laptop not being able to transmit enough to reach the AP before the antenna -- will adding the antenna help? I'm just confused as to if the antenna just helps bring in signals stronger -- or if it will help with the "upstream" to the AP also. Thanks! - John...

06-06-2003	#2 (permalink)
Thorn Did you do the math? Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Villa Straylight Posts: 10,361	Yes the antenna increases the gain of the transmitted signal. However, these are two-way radios. So there are four factors here: 1. TX power of the AP 2. TX power of the card 3. RX sensitivity of the AP 4. RX sensitivity of the card. Adding an antenna to the card, effectively helps with 2 and 4, but it does nothing to help with 1 and 3. __________________ Thorn "Read Altas Shrugged. Compare it to today. Repeat as necessary"

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