Decision to buy

[autodafe]

Hi everybody,
I am new on this forum and not really expert in wi.fi and wireless technologies. I surfed on internet and googled before post this message. I really need to clarify my mind before buying some Ubiquiti products.
Mainly my needs are to empower the wireless range of two laptops.

The needs I have are mainly to connect my laptops trough access points, hotspots and other wifi routers during my frequent trip across Europe for business necessities. Equipments that are often too far from my laptops internal wi.fi chipset and cards.

I was oriented to buy:
1 Super range Xpress for one laptop with Xpress connection
1 Super range cardbus for one laptop with PCMCIA connection
Now the questions:

1) Is the Super range Xpress coming out-the-box with just a integrated Antenna?
If yes, which type of external antenna do you suggest? I already describe my main needs.

2) what I need to empower these two cards I want to buy, to be sure to achieve a very good connection quality even if I am in different type of environment? Mainly indoor but also outdoor (not long distance)

3) Which is the best antenna that suite my needs?
4) do I need to buy just an omni antenna and connect it straight to the Xpress card? How many gain dB should have?

5) Do you suggest to add even a Bullet?
If so, How I can connect the bullet to the super range cardbus?
I understand it is possible to connect the bullet from one side directly to the antenna
But what type of connection does it have from the other side?
Just a network connection for the POE? I didn’t see any pictures or specific of the bullet from that side…..

Thank you
Autodafe’

[WHT]

REF:
I was oriented to buy:
1 Super range Xpress for one laptop with Xpress connection
1 Super range cardbus for one laptop with PCMCIA connection

Two different animals - If you laptop has the older PCMCIA slots, then only the SRC SuperRange PCMCIA Cardbus will work. If you have an ExpressCard slot, then only the SRX SuperRange ExpressCard will work.

1) Is the Super range Xpress coming out-the-box with just a integrated Antenna? If yes, which type of external antenna do you suggest? I already describe my main needs.
Ans: Both cards come with antennas, but from experience the MMCX jack won't last very long before it pulls off the thin coax. So on to the next answer.
The Cantenna http://www.cantenna.com with its included tripod base might work for you. There is only about one dB of loss in the LMR-100 skinny coax cable.

2) what I need to empower these two cards I want to buy, to be sure to achieve a very good connection quality even if I am in different type of environment? Mainly indoor but also outdoor (not long distance)
Ans: Both cards have similar performance. It all depends on what kind of card slot your laptop has.

3) Which is the best antenna that suite my needs?
4) do I need to buy just an omni antenna and connect it straight to the Xpress card? How many gain dB should have?
Ans: No sense in using an omni, you'll get much better gain with a directional antenna...just aim it until you get the best signal. On the other hand, an omni is less obvious and would work fine if you're inside the hotspot building.

5) Do you suggest to add even a Bullet?
If so, How I can connect the bullet to the super range cardbus?
I understand it is possible to connect the bullet from one side directly to the antenna.
Ans: The Bullet still requires an external antenna and power supply. Which takes us to some suggestions.

Suggestions:
* The Cantenna approach is the easiest to use. If you need to place it more than the two foot (appx length) of the included coax, get a thinker LMR-200 jumper of about ten feet.

* Use a Nanostation 2 radio and connect it to the laptop just as if it was a wired ethernet connection. While it require an AC power source (which may be an issues traveling across Europe), it lets you place it at least a hundred feet from your laptop.

Personally...I go with the Cantenna approach because you don't need external AC power.

[autodafe]

Hi WHT,
thank you for the fast answer
You gave me some good ideas to work on
I will review these tips!

Regars
Autodafe