[Scottish] Wireless range

[gordonjcp at gjcp.ath.cx]

> How feasible is a wireless network connection over a range of around
> 250-300m, with "almost" a line of site. Looking at a house or two being
> in the way. Will one of those omni things go that sort of distance
> through/around houses (sandstone/slate/brick)? Can the gear be
> boosted/directed and is it legal?

Houses will probably completely block the signal.  If it really is only
250m or so, you *might* get away with it if you have extremely good
aerials.

> If the answer is yes or probably, how much would I expect to pay for the
> kit required to get that sort of range? Ideally it'd be reliable and not

How long is a piece of string?  Buy lowloss cable, and a couple of APs
that you can seal into a weatherproof enclosure on the aerial mast.
Losses down the RF feed will kill any chance of getting this working.

> require pringles tubes mounted to rooftops. I'd only need a speed of ~
> 600kbps[1].

Pringles tubes suck.  They really do.  Apparently the Tadiran link units
used by Atlantic Telecom work well - I haven't really played yet.
Homebrew aerials using bean tins (or better still, sugar cane tins - same
diameter but longer, which gives a narrower beam) seem to work really
well.  Ideally you'll need to get up high.  If you can actually see both
ends of the link, you may not even need external aerials.

HTH,
  Gordon