Wi-Fi 101

Don't look now, but your city is going wireless, and here is some info about what you may need to capture a piece of it all. More and more cities are providing wireless Internet access to neighborhoods, airports, college classrooms and campuses, and even your local neighborhood cafe. Often the service is free, though it is not always easily accessible. The source antenna is most likely coming from a tower in your area, though reception may be poor from the area you are trying to access it from. The solution is to use an outdoor mounted antenna that is connected to a wireless adapter at the computer. Wireless adapters come in all flavors, though you will need one that has a removable antenna. You will get the best performance by using a directional antenna such as our WLANtenna Waveguide antenna. A directional antenna will work best as they focus all energy in one direction. The antenna must be positioned with good line-of-sight to the source antenna. Simply mount the antenna and aim it toward the source antenna. You will need low loss cable from the antenna to the wireless adapter. It is important to use the right cable since the signal will be delivered to the wireless adapter through this cable. The signal is not very strong to begin with as the wireless frequency operates in the same range as a microwave oven. If it were very high output we would have a lot of microwave popcorn brains (OK, enough blonde jokes). The cable will depend on the length you need, as well as what you will be connecting to. If the length you need is less than 10' our pigtail alone is sufficient as the cable loss is not significant. Though if the length required is greater than 10', the loss is much more significant and you will need the lower loss 400 type cable and a short pigtail. Why two cables? The connector on the wireless adapter is very tiny and delicate. The 400 type cable is quite rigid and the pigtail between the 400 cable and wireless adapter provides the connection using a much more flexible cable, taking the stress away from the wireless adapter antenna connector. Most wireless adapters use the RP-SMA connector, though PC-Card adapters often use the MC-Card type connector as well as other types. If you need assistance with choosing your cable, feel free to email us.

You may also want to read our wireless bridging document, as it goes into much more detail about choosing the right antenna, cable, setup and configuration of wireless network, and much more.