A Good High Powered Wireless AP (Outdoor)

[keerkoss]

Hello Dear Hak5 friends and family.

I currently have a EnGenius ENH700EXT Access Point on my property, mounted in the center of the property up high on top of one of my garages. Signal is so so, I just bought this few weeks ago. It is a dual band, the omni antennas seem basic. Maybe you can recommend better antennas (2.4 and 5ghz)

I barely get any coverage, my lot is 5-acres so it is large, and I would like it to cover the whole premises, including the homes.

Any suggestions? I can put another one out somewhere, but electricity and ethernet is not as easy.

I was thinking of something VERY powerful to just cover that range. I wouldn't want to get more than 2 units, I would like just 1. But so far the antennas on thise ENH700EXT isn't cutting it.

Maybe just better antennas.

Thanks,

K

[Stevie]

You could take a look at one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-ANT2412D-Outdoor-Omni-Directional-Antenna/dp/B001VG1QGO/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_24

I have one but never properly tested it and still haven't mounted it outside as it should be.

[proskater123]

I was wondering about this today. What would you recommend to cover about 700 feet?

[kpoeticg]

If u really wanna get some distance u could try something like this http://www.simplewifi.com/parabolicgrid.html or these http://www.simplewifi.com/dish2.html powered by something like this http://www.amazon.com/Hawking-HSB2-HiGain-Signal-Booster/dp/B0009MYSHU or this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S3OKLK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2N1S6D8VVCNZ3 .

[kpoeticg]

Pay attention to the kind of cable your using if you're going for distance on outside mounted antennas. The cheaper the cable the weaker the signals gonna end up. I personally don't have a need for long lengths of cable cuz i live in an apt, but from my limited research it seems like 15-20+ LMR-400 is optimal. If you're using less than that then LMR-240 or CNT-240 should work. But I'm still learning alot so it's definitely worth researching urself.

Good Luck and you should definitely report back what you end up using and your experience with it. I've seen alot of people ask similar questions and offering first hand experience on the forums will always help other people that are searching the forums wondering the same thing

[proskater123]

So i am thinking of using this setup. For an access point I would use Amped High Power Wireless-N 600mW LINK

This antenna LINK with this booster LINK of course with all of the correct cables. Again I need to broadcast about 600 feet. Think this would work? or am I missing something?

[proskater123]

Any word?

[kpoeticg]

That AP would fry that booster. If you read the page it says max input power 17dbm, which is 100mw. Alot of the affordable amps i've seen including the one i recently bought are like that. If you're gonna use a Hi Power radio u might be better off with that Hawking HSB2 or a more expensive one that can handle higher input power. I'm about to get the Hawking for my Awus036H and just use the Premiertek one i bought for my Pineapple. Besides that, that antenna seems like a good choice for omnidirectional, but i can only speculate. If you need ur reception to be circular around the AP i'd probly go with that antenna. If i had the option to stick my AP/antenna on one end of my reception area and use a directional I'd probly try one of the Alfa Parabolic Grid antenna's or the pair of 19dbi parabolic dish antennas setup to cover a wider range.

I'm not positive about the effects of an amp on an omni-directional antenna like that to cover a solid range. I read a post (i think on here) not long ago about omni-directional antenna's broadcasting a donut-shaped reception area and the higher the gain you pump through it the thinner the donut is...

Edited May 30, 2013 by kpoeticg

[proskater123]

Thanks for the reply. It has really helped and also let me know I need to do a little more reading.