Question regarding setting up a small WAN

09-07-2001

Hypothetically:

Let's say I had a 15dbi antenna attached to the top of a tree, hooked up to 75ft of high quality coax, into my computer with ORiNOCO card.

Let's say my friend hooks up a 15dbi antenna to the top of his chimney, on a 2 story house. He hooks this up to a 1watt RF amp, which is hoked up to an access point.

How far away can we be from each other for this to work? The terrain is relativly flat, but there are lots of trees that might not be cleared by this setup.

09-07-2001

I believe your signal will be cut in half for about every 20 feet of trees it will pass through. I have seen estimates of .15db loss per foot, so .15 x 20 ft= 3db (50% loss) I have a similar situation, a friend 1.5 miles away, and there are too many trees to get a good link going between us.

here is a site with a wireless link analysis tool

http://www.gbonline.com/~multiplx/wireless/wireless.main.cgi

09-07-2001

You should also think about how much motion you get out of the tree blowing in the wind, and if that will affect your ability to see the other signal.

09-07-2001	#1 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Question regarding setting up a small WAN Hypothetically: Let's say I had a 15dbi antenna attached to the top of a tree, hooked up to 75ft of high quality coax, into my computer with ORiNOCO card. Let's say my friend hooks up a 15dbi antenna to the top of his chimney, on a 2 story house. He hooks this up to a 1watt RF amp, which is hoked up to an access point. How far away can we be from each other for this to work? The terrain is relativly flat, but there are lots of trees that might not be cleared by this setup.

09-07-2001	#2 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	signal loss through trees I believe your signal will be cut in half for about every 20 feet of trees it will pass through. I have seen estimates of .15db loss per foot, so .15 x 20 ft= 3db (50% loss) I have a similar situation, a friend 1.5 miles away, and there are too many trees to get a good link going between us. here is a site with a wireless link analysis tool http://www.gbonline.com/~multiplx/wireless/wireless.main.cgi

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09-07-2001	#3 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	You should also think about how much motion you get out of the tree blowing in the wind, and if that will affect your ability to see the other signal.