[G4] 3rd-Party Airport Antennae?

[Steve Adams]

It might double your power (debatable because their dbi standards are  
from imaginary antennae) but that does not mean double your range.  
Doubling the power will only increase your range by 25 percent at  
best (because it is an omni antenna sending the power in all  
directions). Realistically, doubling the power will only increase  
your range by about 10 percent.

The biggest advantage from this or any external antenna will come  
from increasing the antenna height above ground. Think of it like  
your eyes. With you lying on the ground, you might not see very far.  
Stand up and you see farther. Stand on the roof and you will see  
farther than standing.

The next advantage is the antenna is further away from the computer  
case. Metals near the antenna will distort the way the antenna  
radiates its signal. Metals far away will block the signal from going  
to objects behind the metal.

With this antenna mounted above the screen, I see 2 big advantages -  
antenna is higher above ground, and no other metals nearby to  
interfere with its radiation pattern.

That particular antenna seems a bit on the expensive side for what it  
does. You might want to look around the internet for other antennae  
or even try some home-made antenna ideas from the internet. If you  
like the way it mounts and guaranteed to work with what you have,  
then I say give it a try.

Steve Adams




On Feb 24, 2007, at 12:46 AM, Joshua Hough wrote:

> Does anyone know about this, or other third-party antennae for Mac  
> laptops?
>
> <http://tinyurl.com/aheql>
>
> I have an older iBook with only 802.11b.  I know that nothing will  
> increase its interoperability with newer standards, but could I at  
> least double my reception power with this?
> Thanks,
> -Josh
>
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