[kismac] Re: wireless equipment

>i'm looking to acquire a pcmcia wireless network card AND an external
>directional-antenna to go with it.. I use a powerbook/1ghz/osx10.2.6 and
>would like the benefit of being able to modify my mac-address, as well
>as superior uhm.. range with the aid of said antenna. any good ideas?
>of course, the card must be supported by the glorious kismac!

As far as the directional antenna goes (pun intended) I found the 
easiest to do yourself antenna is the patch antenna.
<http://www.geocities.com/lincomatic/wifipatchantenna.html>
A piece of copper sheet and a can lid plus connector suffices to make 
this design, which is very easy to reproduce.
I've tried many others and they usually have similar characteristics 
but they are generally way larger and much harder to reproduce. A way 
to make this antenna very directional, is to put it in front of a 
satellite dish; that will narrow the opening angle down from 60 
degree cone to a few degree beam. You won't be able to walk around 
with it unnoticed however ;-)

Personally, I made four support poles, one on every corner, by 
putting a 'slug' of silicone mounting paste between the 'lid' and the 
copper sheet and minimised the thickness of the whole contraption by 
mounting the socket on top of the lid, having it 90 degrees tilted 
with respect to the images on the URL above and having its coaxial 
axis in a direct line with the plane of the sheet.

It then all fits nicely in the lunch box, with the wire extending 
from the side of the box. The whole can be put in a backpack; the 
computer sits on your back, the card sticks out on top, the wire runs 
down the powerbook and enters the lunchbox from above, which is 
bottom to bottom with the powerbook. An earphone plugged into the 
powerbook emerges from the backpack under your arm and makes things 
clearly audiable.
Plug in the USB-GPS and your walks are mapped too.
The directionality of the thing as described is hindward, in a 120 
degree cone or donut pattern. This makes a very comfortable 
war-walking in densely populated areas, and it is especially fun to 
walk past side streets: bells and whistles all over you.

ard

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