Hi Gain Antenna for Entry Level Wireless.

Antennae come in variety of build and quality, a better Antenna can propagate the signal better. However better Antennae (or any Antennae that can be installed on regular Wireless Instruments) are not amplifiers, they can Not boost the power of the transmission. The Antenna takes the energy from the power amplifier of the instrument's Transmitter and propagates it into the air, if it is a better quality Antenna it would propagate better and might improve the distance. Antenna can propagate better if the design is matching the impedance and the wave length of the source, or and by making it Uni-Directional and thus concentrate most of the output power in one direction. The differences in Antennae quality and build is reflected in dbi rating. Dbi is a relative measure unit, it reflects the Antenna capacity to provide a better signal than a standard dipole antenna that is cut to the measure of 1/4 size wave length of the frequency that it is designed for (or the center of the frequency in case of range). The default antennae that is usually installed on entry level Wireless hardware is rated 2dbi. 4dbi is better than 2dbi and 12dbi is better than 4dbi.

It is important to understand that the rating of an Antenna does not reflect the exact functional outcome. If a 2dbi Antenna provides a working Wireless distance of 50 feet. A 4 dbi Antenna would extend it to 100 feet.

Getting a better designed Omni Directional Antenna (which is usually in the 4-8 dbi range) might improve somewhat indoor propagation, but it is usually a minimal improvement and might results in a gain of few feet. In an Indoor envioroment there are many obstructions that absorb the Wireless signal and a better Antenna would not provide a signal to the extend that would overcome these absorptions. If you do have a Wireless connection in a remote room, but it is unstable, or and provide border line functionality, a better Omni directional Antenna might help to stabilize the connection, but it probably will not stretch the distance further more.. Getting a Real Hi Gain Uni-Directional Antenna will work better, since Uni-Directional Antenna concentrate the signal in one direction. However a Uni-Directional Antenna would restrict the Wireless availability to one specific direction, and thus might be not suitable to cover your designated area.

Uni-Directional Antennae are much more suitable to outdoor bridging. With a direct line of site and a Good Uni-Directional Antenna you would be able to Bridge Hundreds of feet (might be even few miles if the Antennae are installed on high towers).

Wireless Hardware usually come with the Antenna attached directly to the output plug of the unit. Some times better propagation might be achieved by placing the Antenna in a better location. To do so you need

to have a Wireless unit with a removable external Antenna and you need an Extension Coax cable. Unlike Network CAT5e cables that can carry the Network Signal for few hundreds feet without significant loses, a typical Coax that is used for 2.4GHz Wireless loses 4db per 10 feet In other words (as an example) if you take off the 2dbi antenna and install 8dbi Antenna using 20' of coax the total gain is Zero.

Professional installers prefer to install additional Access Points with the antenna attached directly to it and use CAT5e to connect it to the Network, and thus avoid the use of Coax.

It is preferable to put a better Antenna on the transmitting source (Wireless Router / Access Point) than on the receiving end. By putting it on the source you can improve the General coverage. If you have a stationary Wireless client computer you can enhance its reception by putting a UniDirectional Antenna pointing toward the source. To enhance stationary Bridging it is advisable to use a good directional Antenna on both end of the Wireless Bridge.

The best solution to extend the distance of indoor Wireless Network is to extend coverage by adding more transmitters. I.e. Access Point Repeaters, etc

An antenna has three main properties: direction, gain and polarization. Wireless Antenna Gain is a term used for measuring of increase in signal power, as decibels (dB). Antenna with a higher gain is more effective in it's radiation pattern. Every antenna is designed to raise the power in the wanted direction and reduce it in unwanted directions. Gain of an antenna is reciprocal, meaning it is the same for transmitting and receiving. Antenna Direction is the shape of the wireless signal after leaving the antenna. Polarization of the wireless antenna is the orientation of the wireless signal. It can be vertical, horizontal, circular or combinations of these.

The E-plane and H-plane are reference planes for linearly polarized antenna.
This diagram showing the relationship between the E and H planes for a vertically polarized omnidirectional dipole antenna This is the type used in our wireless repeater systems and it is intended for short range meshed networks and reaches everyone within its range.

This diagram showing the relationship between the E and H planes for a horizontally polarized directional antenna such as a Yagi antenna This is commonly used for point to point relaying of data long distances to a specific single link on each end. This kind of antenna focuses the wireless radiation pattern so much that only the two end point antennas focused at each other will actually see the signal. The focus is within a degree or two. This won't work for the regular wireless user who may be sitting anywhere in a room or

property.

NOTE: a low gain (2dB) omnidirectional antenna like this provides a strong signal in every direction. Think of the wireless radiation pattern as a really fat donut with the antenna sticking through the middle of the donut. As the gain of the antenna is increased the fat donut starts to flatten out significantly to the point where you will have a donut so flat it will resemble a CD disk - round but very flat and anything above it or below its path won't see it. A 9dB antenna can be seen at 4-5 times the distance of the 2dB antenna but it can only be seen within 5 feet of its horizontal beam path. We recommend sticking with the low power 2dB antennas and using more wireless repeaters spaced every 100 feet to properly cover an area. Laptops only transmit a 100 feet so there is nothing gained by having a high gain antenna on one end when the laptop can't even talk back more than 100 feet. Making sure that all repeaters are no more than 100 feet from each other ensures that laptops can always see a repeater or two. Contrary to common knowledge, an antenna does not add any additional power to your WLAN device. In fact, the wireless signal is only shaped in a specific pattern by the antenna. The pattern in which the wave spreads itself is defined by properties of the antenna. Indoor dipole antennae come in different gain values, namely 2dbi, 5dbi, 7dbi and 9dbi.
You have to make sure that the receiving end is in the wave-path of the antenna. Check out the 2dbi, 5dbi, 7dbi, 9dbi Dipole Wave Pattern

If your goal is to shoot your signal far, at the same horizontal elevation as the transmission point, you will be better off with a 9dBi dipole. Instead if you wish to shoot your signal over a couple of levels of a building, a 5dbi dipole is more recommendable. The 7dbi dipoles offer an optimal balance between range and elevation. If you are in a building and need to cover the rooms around you then youa re better off with the 2dbi antenna shipped with our wireless repeaters as they make suer your cover everyone equally in all directions. How are your node and client positioned?

Wireless antenna Range Radio waves travel in straight lines and do not penetrate obstacles very well Metal reflects the signal. Modern houses may also have foil backed plasterboard to meet fire regulations and modern glass has a metal content. This said, as a general rule 802.11b/g WiFi devices will cover a house quite well, not guaranteed though. Bear in mind if your wifi antenna is stuck down behind the computer case if already has two layers of steel and a wall to penetrate first.

When you replace the antenna on a wireless device with a higher gain antenna, the antenna gain acts on both the transmit power and receiver sensitivity, so you are not only sending your signal further but you are also able to receive much weaker signals within it's line of site. Remember the points made above regarding the donut shaped radiation pattern and antenna gain before you get all excited about the idea of adding a larger antenna. Bigger is not always better. What you use depends on its intended purpose. Use low power antennas for your local Wireless Mesh network. Use high power antennas to send a signal long distances to a very specific and focused point where you can then distribute the signal again using Wireless Mesh nodes with low power antennas that thransmit everywhere within their 100 foot range. Approximate "Line of Sight" antenna range in free space (outside) from a standard US or Canadian 100mw power Wireless device with antenna both ends at given gain level.

Antenna gain 0dB 4dB 7dB 10dB 13dB 16dB 20dB 24dB

Wireless range 200m 440m 620m 1.2km 2.8km 5.0km 12.5Km 31Km

The table is only a rough guide as conditions from site to site vary wildly. This assumes absolutely no objects between both ends of the range - no trees, buildings or hills. Once you add obstructions the range drops dramatically. For instance - within a building with concrete walls the range can drop to 30-50m.