Also, have any good links to sites to study up on these? I'd be interested to make my own but also looking to purchase one as well.

5/1/2006 10:22:19 PM

Not trolling or anything, genuinely curious: why a patch antenna? Form factor an issue?

5/2/2006 2:45:21 AM

To be truthful? I am contemplating hopping on an open AP in my neighborhood and saving that $58 a month. I watch about 1hrs worth of TV a week and surf the interweb probably 1-2hrs a day tops, at least in the summer. In the winter, both of those numbers go up a little, but not by too much. And I hate payin that much money A) for how little I use it, and B) for how much bandwidth we get compared to other countries.

I can pull in a strong signal with just the standard pole antenna that came with my card, but it's wep'd. So, I figured while I was playing around in the wireless world I'd get a strong patch (something in the 14dB range) to see how many other APs are in the hood.

5/2/2006 8:38:15 AM

1. wire (http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hg2424g.php) to one antenna port on a WRT54G
2. install DD-WRT (http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php) on the wrt54g
3. set it up in repeater mode, crank up power, etc
4. ...
5. profit

[Edited on May 2, 2006 at 10:26 AM. Reason : .]

5/2/2006 10:26:02 AM

^ haha. If I saw that on someone's roof...

5/2/2006 10:45:15 AM

Why not go with a dish antenna? Some of those get like 24-28dB gain, set it up with a motorized mount so you can remotely aim it, throw a slightly illegal amplifier in the mix, put it up somewhere high, and you should be able to pick up any APs in a several mile radius

ah, I see tjoshea has already made that suggestion... it's worth noting that those antennas are highly directional and for the purpose of "checking out the neighborhood" you'll probably want to rig up some way to manually or electronically re-orient it

http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hg2430g.php -- 30dB gain

you can get both of those for a lot cheaper on eBay though

[Edited on May 2, 2006 at 12:35 PM. Reason : *]

5/2/2006 12:24:52 PM

Yea I found that site last night, and that antenna stuck out for its sick amount of gain for the price, but you also get a very narrow beam with it. Ideally, something less directional that I can pull in several signals with would be more preferred. Of course, I found on the Cringley site (sp?) last night where he took multiple 54g's (with multiple patches of course) aimed at different APs to create a redundant (so to speak) connection with some special software.

5/2/2006 12:35:12 PM

just fucking aim the thing

[Edited on May 2, 2006 at 11:41 PM. Reason : omnidirectional = noise from all directions too]

5/2/2006 11:40:43 PM

that dish antenna is 5 fucking feet in diameter! you want that on top/side of your house?

5/3/2006 8:43:01 AM

No, not really, I think something in the 15dB range will be fine.

5/3/2006 9:15:24 AM