Good and bad wifi news. Good: I’ve succesfully tested a wifi-antenna, extending my wireless network to the park across from where I live. Bad: It’s freezing outside. (Pictures from a quick trip to the bus shed across the street)
And once the outside temperature rises, the sun will keep me from seeing what’s on the screen. Ah, well. I’ve purchased a Microwave Concepts Patch Antenna and hooked it up to a Linksys WRT54G acting as an extra access point. The antenna comes with about 3m of wire, the connector and a wall mount. Further experiments will show if I have to get on the outside of my building to mount it or if it can stay in the window. I also need to play a with different firmware. Ideally the AP would handle authentication, but for now I’ll settle with a fancy splash page. I’ll probably look into NoCatSplash/NoCatAuth.
That is if I survive the radiation coming from the two Linksys access points and the two Airport Expresses. I have a nagging feeling that in 20 years time, we’ll look at wifi, mobile phones and all the other goodies we play with the same way we look at smoking now: “You mean lighting up tobacco and taking it all into my lungs are bad? Why didn’t you tell me?”. Well, at least now my local community can share my pain…