[kismac] Re: wireless equipment
- From: ard.jonker@xxxxxxxxx
- To: Lasse Jespersen <elj@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 09:59:39 +0200
>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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