802.11

[David Bandel]

On 1/5/06, Man-wai CHANG <mwchang at i-cable.com> wrote:
> > finalized (pre-n -> n) is that to provide greater availability they up
> > the power, which is not considered a good thing to do in home
> > appliances. The real odd thing is that I can sometimes connect to a
>
> I feel that having a wireless network at home is like living in a
> microwave oven. I really have no plan for it...

Which is why the power levels are so low.  At 4W, doing yourself or
others harm is not possible (boosting power is not recommended, it
amplifies noise as well as signal).  That said:

Connect a high gain antenna (24+ db) to a 200mW card and your are now
putting out 47db (approx 50 watts).  Now throw in an amplifier (let's
say a 30db or 1W amplifier -- easily accessible at HyperLinkTech) and
you're now putting out 54db or 251 watts.  (note: power doubles every
3 db, so add 3db and multiply output watts by 2).

Microwave ovens start at 600 watts.  Using the same 1 watt amp and a
30db antenna and you _will_ burn yourself (thats 1000 watts output --
definitely a microwave) or kill anyonein the house that has a
pacemaker implant.

You can buy 5W amps for 2.4GHz.  Connected to a 34db antenna and your
radiated power is now around 14,000 w.

The Government of Panama approved the above transmitter (13771 W)
within a National Park on an often visited mountain top to transmit a
signal 166 miles.  At that distance, the receiver needs an attenuator
(or deliberate misalignment of the antennas) because that amount of
power (37db taking into account free space loss and a near stone-deaf
receiver capable of only hearing -86db or stronger signals) at that
distance can over drive the receiver.  It has probably either caused
or been a factor in the deaths of some tourists on that mountain.  It
also causes 2.4GHz wifi to be unusable within miles of the mountain.

Ciao,

David A. Bandel
--
Focus on the dream, not the competition.
            - Nemesis Air Racing Team motto