Long Range WiFi Card in a 600X

[marvelousmarvyd]

There is a new wifi card out there by a company called Ubiquiti that is advertised as long range, it come in both pcmcia and pci format. Has anyone had any experience using this card in their 600? I'm specifically looking at this on Link

MODERATOR EDIT: Modified link to make for easier viewing

[rkawakami]

No, this is the first time I have seen this particular card, however I do have a couple of questions about your intended usage:

1) Are you considering this card solely for the advertised extra power? I believe that a 3x increase in power does not mean a 3x increase in distance. Has to do with some mathematical formula involving logarithmic scales; best explained in the first reference link I have listed below. From my shortwave radio/CB hobby of many years ago, I always thought that the most cost-effective way to improve your signal coverage is by upgrading the antenna system before trying to increase the power output of the transmitter. Realize that if this card does not have any better receive capability then over a "normal" one, then you will be limited in your distance from the access point (AP) because of that spec.

2) What is the average distance you will be away from AP that you are trying to connect to and are there any obstructions along the way?

3) Do you realize that the MMCX connector being used on the PCMCIA card for the antenna jack is not meant to be repeatedly connected and disconnected. That's why they recommend a pigtail in the antenna listings.

4) Have you seen the current consumption specs? It says 600 to 900mA in (continuous) transmit mode and 350mA in receive. You should probably compare that with whatever you are using to see what impact that will have on your battery life. If you are going to run this on AC all of the time, then forget about this point.

If you do try this out, I (and others here as well I assume) would like to see some real-world measurements taken on usable distance and bandwidth for your setup.

FYI:
http://www.marcwireless.org/download/Performance.pdf
http://www.wlanantennas.com/wlan_faq_fcc.htm

[marvelousmarvyd]

Rkawakami,

I was looking at this card to try to reach an Acess Point that is a mile away with obstructions. I did read some of the information that is on the internet about this card consuming more of your battery life and that is fine with me since I will be using my adapter most of the time. Also when I was reading some of the forums, there have been some users of this card that tell of reaching AP's 3 miles away with clear line of sight. Also Ubiquiti has come out with another card that is pci based that does not require line of sight see here:

http://www.wifihowto.org/?mo=HowTo;Item=36
http://microcom.us/sr9.html

I have tried in the past one of the orinco cards with a yagi attached with mixed results. This Ubiquiti pcmica card with the 3db antennas attached looks interesting. It would be really nice if the company releases a pcmcia version of the SR9 that just came out. If I decide to take the leap after doing a lot more research I'll post the results here. Thank you for all your help and the information that you've provided.

[rkawakami]

<snip>... there have been some users of this card that tell of reaching AP's 3 miles away with clear line of sight.

Parabolic antenna? Or straight Yagi?

http://www.wifihowto.org/?mo=HowTo;Item=36
http://microcom.us/sr9.html

Uh, these appear to be 900Mhz radios, not something that can be used with 802.11a/b/g equipment (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz). The card you referenced earlier (the eBay auction) is designed for a/b/g systems.

[marvelousmarvyd]

I used straight yagi and I think I read in one of the forums that the card will work in the 2.4 - 5 ghz range. I've included this link from tomshardware stating so or am I reading this wrong???

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/01/24/ubiquiti_mesh/

[rkawakami]

The way I read this PR piece, the SR9 is designed to replace the commonly used 802.11a/b/g systems with one that operates in a frequency band that allows for non-line-of-sight operation.

Its operation in the 900MHz band is intended to provide improved range over standard 2.4 (b/g) and 5 (a) GHz 802.11 solutions in obstructive environments such as downtown metropolitan areas. (Bold emphasis by me)

The 900Mhz region is basically the old analog cell phone band and cordless phones. Radio operation at those frequencies (900Mhz) does not require as much as the line-of-sight needed at 2.4 and 5Ghz. If the AP you are trying to connect to is using standard 802.11a, b, or g equipment, then the SR9 won't be able to talk to it. The article uses the term "802.11" only as a communication protocol reference and not a frequency designation. That is apparently why they say that they can use existing chips and drivers. Only difference between their system and the consumer WiFi equipment is the radio frequency (RF) output stage (i.e. the frequency at which the communication takes place). The signalling standard conforms to the IEEE 802.11 specification; the "channels" they transmit on will be different than the Netgear, D-Link and Linksys APs that you and I buy at Fry's, Best Buy and Office Max. Does this make sense?

[marvelousmarvyd]

Ray,

Thanks for the explanation, this does help me understand much, much better. I will keep looking and reading until I find more users of the Ubiquiti 300mw pcmcia card. $130.00 is expensive for a wifi card, and thats without the antennas