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My Wireless networking experiences
Here is a page with the latest news of where I'm at with wireless networking. The latest stuff should always be at the top, so start at the bottom if you've never been here before.
Briefly, the plan is to build a free (non-commercial) computer network in Brighton using wireless network cards and long-range antenna.
19 October 2001 - current track: None
The pringles antenna diagram below is not quite correct! (thanks to Tom Flavel for putting me straight)
An updated diagram will follow shortly. Basically the copper wire should not touch the all-thread - they
should be separated by 1 wavelength (distance from washer to washer). Also, the aluminium tube is of no
real significance, other than that it keeps the washers the correct distance apart! Wood, plastic etc
would apparently do just as well.
I intend to have an intense pringle-munching session this weekend in order to collect the remainder of the
necessary raw materials. Hopefully my Lucent pigtail will arrive early next week (£35ish from http://www.un-wired.co.uk/), then we can test the
cards out over long distances.
15 October 2001 - current track: Bjork - Play Dead
Found a tools/hardware shop (on Bond street, in the north laines) that sold me the all-thread, washers and nuts for the Pringles antenna (a bargain at £2).
Ordered a couple of N-type square chassis sockets from Maplin electronics and some high quality co-axial
cable and plugs, so we should soon be ready to rock. Still looking for the right sort of aluminium pipe though.
08 October 2001 - current track: Wide Angle - High Life
Ok, I've got a Silver Lucent Orinoco 802.11b network card. I bought it from consume.net -
they seemed to have the best price that I could find (£110 inc VAT), and it was delivered fairly quickly, although it's difficult to get a response
from the guy in charge at the moment (I think he's moving house). I also bought an ISA adaptor card (£52), which you need in order to fit
the PCMCIA orinoco card (laptop slot size) into a PC. On order are also a 'pigtail' adaptor (vital if you're fitting an external aerial -
it converts from the proprietary connector to an male N-type connector) and 6m of antenna extension cable (very high quality co-axial), which cost
£32 and £61, respectively.
We got the orinoco card working in about 20 minutes (on win2k) at a BLUG meeting on Sept 26th, and
tested it with another WaveLAN card (on linux), achieving a range of about 10ft (the WaveLAN card had a rather temporary aerial) at 11Mb/s.
Next on the agenda is the construction of a couple of antennae, probably using the Pringles can method which can be seen in action on several
websites (search Google for "pringles wireless antenna"), although I found the plans quite difficult
to understand without a diagram, so I created this one: [see note on 19th October 2001]
So I'm looking to get some aluminium tubing, an all-thread (long bolt with thread all the way along), a couple of nuts and some large washers when
I next have time to visit the local hardware stores. Apparently these antennae are rather powerful - anything up to 14dB, so we should be able
to get a range of over a mile, if not more.
Duncan Jauncey - created 08 October 2001 - modified 15 October 2001