Can I move antenna of WRT54G to outside?

J

JasonWW

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Aug 4, 2003
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What I would like to do is remove one or both antennas from a WRT54G and mount it outside. I have no wireless stuff in my house and I want to keep the RJ45 cables inside for a simple network. My brother lives 2 houses down and our backyards are directly in site. I would want him to get a wireless card (recommendations please) and remove the antenna from the back of the card and mount it outside as well. Are the antennas even removable? Would you need a special cable to extend them?

Would something like this work? I'm a total network noob so advice would be helpfull. I haven't bought anything yet, but heard the WRT54G was a good unit.

PS, this is to share a high speed internet connection. There will be no file sharing or true networking involved.
 
yes it will work, but make sure the cable running from the router to the antenna is as short as possible to prevent as much signal loss as you can, set the router to only xmit/rcv on the specific jack the antenna is plugged into. Also, you might want to use a yagi style antenna between houses, it will minimize loss and should help out over the distance between yalls house....
Also, with the WRT54G id download the HYPER WRT firmware and boost output power up a little, make sure that the signal makes it that far. Another thing, make sure his wireless card has an external connecter or you will have to run a WAP at his location to pick up the signal from your router and then run to his computer.
 
basically his antenna will need to be outside as well to keep signal degredation to a minimum...
 
I figured both ends would need a removable antenna. Do the Linksys PCI wireless cards have removable antenna's? Or should I look at another brand?
 
At those frequencies, attenuation is going to kill you with a cable more than a few feet long. Try to keep the cable length between the device and the antenna as short as possible. If the cable is going to be more than few feet long, make sure you get some good, thick coaxial cable(not the thin shit that comes with most antennas).
 
i believe linksys has removable antennas, however something you might think about, putting a wireless access point at his location, then running ethernet from the WAP to his computer...
 
Well, I would extend the antenna on my end and his end by at least 30 feet. So I guess you think it won't work, huh?

Is there an inexpensive WAP? Most I've seen are integrated with a router and cost more than a router. I was hoping to spend maybe $70 for the router and $70 for the card. What would it cost to actually get this setup to work?
 
they do indeed make a fairly inexpensive WAP....
the 30 feet on each end is doable via cat5 so you might consider running WAPs on each end....especially if you already have a router...if you dont alreay have a router, then you might consider building an outdoor box for the router on your side, running ethernet to your compies, then running a WAP on the other end, possible in an outdoor box, and then run from WAP to the computer on his end with cat5...
fairly inexpensive to do, only thing that would be a problem would be the annoyance of wiring
 
For a 30 foot run of coax you'd be looking at LMR400 or Beldin 9913. BOth are about 6-7 dB of loss per 100 foot. For reference LMR400 is about 1 1/2 to 2 times as thick as RG-6, the cable typically used for the cable run from the wall to your TV for Cable TV. Not paticularly easy to work with and if you aren't experienced making your own ends then buy extra ends. Took me several times, and several wasted ends before I got proficient at crimping N, or especially TNC connectors on LMR400. Since it doesn't sound like that you are experienced with this I'd recommend putting the bridge's as close to the antennas as possible. Like in the 3 or 4 foot range. That way you might be able to get away with RG-59. LMR-240 at the worst. Again, crimping, while not an art, is not something you do well intially, typically anyway. So I highly suggest getting your pigtails crimped by the same people that you get your antennas from. If you do it yourself expect major loss by those connector ends. A link killer by the way. I believe there is firmware that allows the newest Linksys Router/AP combo to bridge and that would probably be the cheapest solutions. Dedicated AP's that bridge are in fact usually more expensive than AP/Router combo's as you mentioned. How do you plan to mount your antennas?
 
A) mount the wrt54 router outside you house. (water proof it)
B) upgrade firmware
C) 2 make a canantennas
D) Dont listen to the other guys ;) JK


Done deal!

EDIT: On netstumbler I can see access points over 2 blocks away and still strong enough to connect to... (But i don't)
 
I don't want to mount the WRT54G outside. That creates more problems than it's worth. What are some cheap WAP's?
 
I hadn't seen it mentioned by the OP, but just like KoZLop said, I can connect to stuff a ways away... I've taken my laptop out to our apartment pool (I would guess about the distance of two houses) and connected at "excellent" signal strength.

Have you tried yet to see what kind of signal / connection you get? It might be worth trying before you start getting in to some of the more complicated ways of doing things.

Cheers.
 
Even if I cranked up the signal on the WRT54G, it's not going to travel through 2.5 houses, is it?

I may just take the cheaper way out and run some black cable along the back fence when no one is looking. :)
 
Well, one that I connected to that was a ways away had to go through my apartment building, the intervening 400 feet, and into the office building that was higher than my apartment was. I am thinking that it was close(!) to level with me, which helps, but I don't see any problem with it going through the buildings like that.

If anything, give it a shot and see what happens. If you are already getting the hardware, it can't hurt to try before trying something more drastic. You may be surprised at the range that some of this wireless stuff has.

Cheers.
 
you could always make your life a little bit easier and go to compussr and burchase a pre-n router, the signal range is very good. If it doesnt work there is a 14 day return policy.

b
 
I just bought a cheap omni antenna and mounted it right outside my window to share my net connection with my friend. He lives about 150ft away in the next apartment building from mine.

As far as the other end, I think I'd just get another WRT54G and use that. Their dirt cheap these days and it would most likely be more stable than using a PCI card anyways.
 
Wait...so you can grab another WRT54G, put it in another house, plug a computer into it, and have your original WRT54G talk to the new one and share the connection? Thats pretty cool.
 
Milenko said:
Wait...so you can grab another WRT54G, put it in another house, plug a computer into it, and have your original WRT54G talk to the new one and share the connection? Thats pretty cool.
Click to expand...

Yes, you just have to put one of the routers in client mode(I think that's what it's called). That way you can run your cat5 connection right to the WRT54G and have a short run of coax, and keep most of your power from going away with a long cable run.
 
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