USB Wi-Fi antenna with built in wireless card

D

DaveNTL

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 Aug 2004
Messages
10,147
Location
Lake District (closed for maintenance)
Visit site
Typical! Just when I sign up for a monthly account via a cell phone network to get on the internet they bring out THIS nice little package.

Thought it might be of use to some of you. There are some nice antennas and / or card cominations there too.

I like the new setup I signed up for which works off the cell phone network so I can get online all down the coast, but the ISP blocks some ports which can be a bit of a nuisance, so I might put one of these on my list to Santa.
 
Can we have any techies on-line look at the spec and see if the kit is legal for the UK and Eu please ?
 
Does that mean approved for use in the EU, or just manufactured to comply with EU standards in term of - eg. - electrical safety, radiation output ?

Not my area of knowledge...
 
Yes, its approved for EU use.... the CE means this, as well as the fact that its tested to death to comply with the 14 squillion bits of EU legislation from RoSH/WEE (reduction of hazardous substances) through to having a pretty picture on it telling you not to throw batteries in the bin....

Network availability is however an entirely different matter....
 
CE mark means it has been tested and approved for all mandatory EU tests for that category of equipment, which means it's passed the tests for sale in the EU
 
It is illegal for use in Europe as the transmitting power is four times the allowed maximium. 100 mw not 400 mw.

Nobody will put you in jail because of it. It will run down a laptop battery a good bit quicker if it is away from mains a lot.

Nick on Fairwinds has a similar device but it has a directional panel aerial rather than an omini directional here.

While it is better than the built in laptop solution it does not always get the connection you would think it would. It has a similar overal gain to this solution as his has a higher gain aerial but 100mw transmiting power.

The receiving sensitivity will of course not be any higher than any other device so only the transmit is better.

Eddie
 
Please enlighten me on Wimax. I am very interested in any good, easy solution to WiFi on boats and am still waiting for the best way to go.
 
Wimax rollout is totally dependant on who's got bucks to spend. Basically it will give quite a few megs bandwidth up to 50kms from the sites so for coastal cruising it'll be great. The business model is good because you need a reduced number of base stations and for sailing you are likely to be within range of a base station for much longer..

Phone companies are thinking of using it for backhaul with IPTV.

see for more info
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4462167.stm
 
I was told by the concel gerneral hear in France that they are looking to instal wimax very soon (2008)
But when i said how wonderful that will be they said you dont accsses the main antenna but a smaller sub antenna so it will depend on where the local sub antennas are!And those could take years to arrive???
 
I'm currently using a Repeatit PS/3 USB wifi booster here on the boat in Tenerife and it's working fine - I'm picking up a useable signal from maybe a third of a mile away, and on Porto Santo I was getting a weak signal suitable for occasonal e-mails at well over a mile, although I had to have it up at the crosstrees.

- Nick
 
"The receiving sensitivity will of course not be any higher than any other device so only the transmit is better."

I beg to differ- if the antenna has a directional gain, this will be apparent in both transmitted and received signals.
 
The aerial has an equal gain in both transmit and receive of approx 8db the aerial in a laptop screen would be approx 2db.

The radio transmitter on the USB unit has a gain of 26db as opposed to 20 db of a normal wireless card in a laptop so you have 6 db more transmitting power.

The sesnsitivity of the card is approx equal to an ordinary wireless card say -88db.

Therefore the normal laptop transmit 20 plus 2 equals 22db.
Laptop with usb unit 26 plus 8 equals 34 db. Overal increase in gain compared to normal laptop 12db

Receive normal laptop -88db plus 2 equals -86db
usb unit -88db plus 8 db -80 db or -8 db over a normal laptop.

Therefore if the hot spot you want to reach needs the full gain of the usb transmition to work it is using the 12db extra. Under those circustances the receive is 4 db less so you can transmit further than you can receive.

The real winner here is the aerial for both transmit and receive.


eddie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top