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2 antennas on one card

PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2003 10:36 am
by ck3k
I have seen the two antenna connectors on the cisco card, but I was wondering if there was a way to add two antennas to a Lucent Gold/Silver that only has one connector. Could a pigtail be split into two differant antenna connections?

PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2003 10:53 am
by renderman
The only way to do it sensibly would be to use a proper splitter on the end of your pigtail, going to each antenna.

http://www.fab-corp.com has them. Accessories - 3rd from the bottom.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2003 2:40 pm
by ck3k
would that cuase any form of interferance, due to the ammount of data the antennas would be collecting? It seems like a good deal, cause it would be easier to have the directional and omni on the same laptop stumbling at the same time.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2003 2:10 pm
by Phoenix_down
Yes, you would have severe interference. This topic has been covered before. Your main problem is the massive db loss caused by the splitter. The quality of the signal will be degraded, making it impractical unless you have a very high db antenna.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2003 3:01 pm
by c0nv3r9
Actually, I have used the splitter in question for my 14.5dB directionals.. and the loss isn't that bad.

Another option would be to shoot for the Senao card, which has two external-only connectors ($110-125?)... it is decent, but prism-based, so netstumblers proceed with knowledge..

Your only other option would be running a second Orinoco on the box....

PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2003 8:10 pm
by razta
There are dual antenna port orinoco cards somewhere.
Might email YDI.com to see if they can get them.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2003 12:38 am
by TheSovereign
lol the splitter says it has a .4 db loss

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2003 5:15 am
by 1EZway

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2003 8:12 am
by razta
http://www.agere.com/client/docs/DS02114-1.pdf



Sweet, thanks for the link

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2003 3:17 pm
by ck3k
Sign me up for one of those. If the price is right its either one of those or the cisco for me. The splitters DB loss is a problem cause my omni is very weak, and the directional would be very strong. adidans- All Day I Dream About Net Stumbling..........:D

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2003 8:35 pm
by razta
I believe those port on that card work in diversity mode, so using two directional antennas in differant directions may not give you the results you want.

Anyone tried that?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2003 11:55 pm
by edraven
dual port cards are NOT for using 2 different kinds of antenna, it just wont work like you expect.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2003 11:57 am
by ck3k
Originally posted by edraven
dual port cards are NOT for using 2 different kinds of antenna, it just wont work like you expect.



So the only true option is to shove two cards in my lappy and run an antenna off each? but then NS wouldn't work properly, so i guess the spliter is the way to go.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2003 2:49 pm
by cstach
Read this.

Search down the page for "diversity antenna systems." Having two antennae hooked up to a splitter will screw up the signal more than it will help.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:06 pm
by razta
I have run splitters before. They dont screw things up, but do insert a bunch of signal loss.
Might have to add an amplifier to get any good range out of it.
If your just listening with netstumbler, then amp probably wont be needed.