A few questions re wireless connections...

[G0AOZ]

Looked at wireless lans some considerable time ago, and had a disappointing experience with them. However, want to give 'em another go. Perhaps members of the forum would be kind enough to give me some info:-


(1) Am I correct in saying that here in the U.K., 802.11b has 11 separate channels allocated within the 2.4GHz band?

(2) Is the channel number user-selectable when the software is installed? Or does the system automatically allocate it? And if so, can it then be changed?

(3) I understand that the system uses "spread spectrum" transmissions. Is it correct to say that a wireless card operating on say, Ch 2, would only be "spreading" its transmitted signal within the bandwidth of that single channel? And roughly how wide is that channel likely to be in Kilohertz (KHz)?

(4) Do all the well known wireless cards and APs etc., all have signal strength indicators within their driver software?

(5) What type of coaxial cable (RG-???) is generally used for connecting say, a dish antenna to an AP?

(6) Currently, the D-Link PCMCIA wireless card is the only one I've seen to have an external antenna connector. Do any other cards offer this facility?

Would appreciate any information, thanks.


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[rbryan]

Hello,

My experience is only with Cisco products. See

http://www.cisco.com

for lots of info - no need to have an account.

1) I believe in the UK there are 13 channels ... However, to avoid interference you can only use 4 simultaneously.

2) The channel can be set manually or can be set to search for the best.(least interference)

3)DSSS (Direct sequence spread spectrum) devised to avoid jamming of torpedoes during WW II.
That's all i remember, see also 1)

4) No, but the Cisco drivers are good.

5) RP-TNC - Reverse-Polarity Threaded Naval connector. You want to be using low loss cable and keep the run as short as possible.

6) The AIR-LMC35x and early Cisco 340 PCMCIA had a variant with pigtail connectors. Isn't having external antennas defeating the point of wireless clients??

 

[G0AOZ]

Thanks rbryan, I'll check out what info Cisco has to offer...

In an ideal world, I agree that an external antenna on a laptop could amongst other things, be somewhat cumbersome. However, the very small internal antenna may not always have sufficient gain in certain locations, so I want to give myself options to cover different scenarios. D-Link, incidentally, offer a small external antenna that can be plugged into the PCMCIA card and stood on the desk at the side of the PC, should signal levels be rather low.

ROGER - G0AOZ.