[Wylug-help] OT: 200m Wifi Link

[Roger]

James Holden wrote:
> Not Linux related as such, but I'm planning on setting up a wireless
> link between two buildings.
> There's direct line of sight roof to roof, and they're 206m apart.
> There's no obstructions such as trees, and any road traffic would be
> well below the link level.
> 802.11b is fine.
> So, questions:
> 1) Does this type of installation need licensing or planning permission?
> 2) Circular waveguide antennas should be OK? (ie: Professional Pringles
> Can type of thing)
> eg: http://www.wirelesspro.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=73
> 3) A couple of decent wireless bridges should do - any recommendations?
> Linksys WAP54G's look OK.
> I'm not averse to homebrew or warranty-voiding :-)
> I've got a budget of a couple or three hundred quid and a weekend.
> Any advice appreciated...

Hi James,

I'm a "WiFi God" (to quote the site you cite) - I've just done some for 
the very first time, so assume this is coming from the rear entrance... 
  <vbg>

I just bought an Edimax/Wireless-G wireless switch/access point from CCL 
for £30.55.  That claims an unobstructed range of 100m with the supplied 
aerial (an omni-directional dipole), so I'd guess that with directional 
ones, 200m would be fine (in theory, 12 dB should multiply the distance 
by about 4).  The other advantage of the directional ones is that the 
signal should be harder to sniff by hackers.  The same supplier and 
manufacturer do the same thing, but without the 4-port switch, for 
£28.55 inc. VAT.  They both have web-based configuration, WEP and WPA2 
and MAC address security, so stand a chance of being reasonably secure.

That would absorb about 50% of your budget...

Details at 
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=5376&category_id=155&manufacturer_id=0

Hope that helps...

Roger