[sclug] Long distance Wifi

[Roland Turner SCLUG]

On Mon, 2006-02-27 at 18:16 +0000, Peter Brewer wrote:

> antenna to do wifi from our friends.  I've seen loads of commercial and 
> 'pringles can' antenna on the web but nobody seems willing to put a 
> distance on their performance.

Unamplified distance records are already at 200Km[1] (further, when
balloons are involved).

> First, is this actually possible?  How far can these antenna work?  Our 

Distances vary with antenna systems and placement. Pringles cans will
provide a little gain but there are far better alternatives, even if
you're not willing to go to 4m dishes.

> closest friends are about 1km away in direct line of sight.
> Second, is it legal?  How do people like BT view sharing a broadband 
> line like this?

BT may sputter a bit, but if they're not able to supply service to you
themselves, presumably they'll be less annoyed about it. You'll have
bigger problems with local councils (building permits) and spectrum
licensing; high gain antennas achieve their enormous gain by narrowing
the cone of their emissions, but there's still some risk of interfering
with others. You'll definitely want the services of a radio engineer.

- Raz

1: http://www.wifi-shootout.com/