Expanding personal wireless network

[pcampbell]

I live in the Suburbs of NJ where it is pretty hilly, and there are a decent amount of buildings and trees. I want to expand my own wireless network. The purpose is mainly only so that I can travel about a little bit and still stay on my network for work. Let me just give a scenario. I go to the deli to grab lunch, one mile up the road and want to stay connected at least while I am in the car.

There is no particular direction that I would be in more than another (although West is pretty much out, North, South and East are all possibilities).

I am trying to figure out which equipment would make the most sense. Either Pico HP or Nano HP seem to catch my eye.

For a client, I am thinking a vehicle mounted antenna... so to have the best chance of a strong signal, although of course a laptop w/ small card mounted external antenna would be more versatile.

I would be mounting this about 35-40 feet above the ground on a mast, and my home has pretty good LOS as I am up on a hill ... Any thoughts?

[WHT]

Considering that you can drive around a building a mere 1,000 feet from your single access point and possible loose the signal altogether, I don't think there is anything that will meet your expectations.

But if you can mount an access point every 1,500 or 1,800 feet along all the roads you drive, then it would work.

[pcampbell]

OK thanks for the reply. I guess I will need to reconsider my wants and needs more specifically.

[pcampbell]

I was thinking about getting involved in the Speakeasy "Netshare" project. Basically they are providing bandwidth and I would route customers through my A.P., make sure they get a good signal and onto the internet. Speakeasy handles billing and gives me a cut. Since the area has plenty of FIOS and cable covg, I am not expecting a huge amount of interest (cost and ease of connection would be a selling point), so was thinking about going with one of the CPE devices for my A.P. I think that the Pico is a bit to omni directional in that most of my potential base would be in a 180 degree field. By looking at the Nano it looks to be quiet directional and I've seen 60 degrees mentioned throughout this website. What does "multi polarization" mean? In this case, should I be looking into a 3rd party antenna that covers 180 degrees or look into putting up multiple 60 degree APs?

[WHT]

"multi polarization" means you can software select VPOL or HPOL with the Nanostation and Loco radios. It only applies when using the internal antennas. Selecting external antenna deactivates the Nano's internal antenna.

"adaptive polarization" with the Nano means the client can automatically find the best POL to talk to the AP (APs should have one or the other polarization, not adaptive). Adaptive is not a feature with the Loco.

[pcampbell]

I am having a hard time figuring out what type of antenna would be good for this suburban surroundings with lots of trees and buildings, where my antenna will be at a good height, above, but barely, most of these obstructions. A low gain omni as I comes to mind but I am not sure if I'm understanding the concept correctly.

[WHT]

They do make antennas with two directional lobes, but by the time you spend the money for them...you could install two AP radios with sectored antennas.

With lots of buildings, you might want to consider HPOL as buildings tend reflect vertical waves more than horizontal waves.

[pcampbell]

Cool OK. I ordered a Pico 2 HP. We'll put it up and do some testing and take it from there. At worst I will have great reception in my backyard :)