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The 802.11 refers to the IEEE standard that
ensures everyone is using the same protocols and
methods, so things remain compatible. The first
popular version, known as 802.11a, operated at
up to 54 Mbit/sec on the 5-GHz band. Later common standards include 802.11b (11 Mb/s on 2.4
GHz), 802.11g (54 Mb/s on 2.4 GHz) and the current commercial standard, 802.11n (up to 150
MB/s on 2.4 and, optionally, 5 GHz). There are
newer standards that run much faster, but these
are not in the popular mainstream just yet.
Today, it takes some effort to buy anything other
than an 802.11n device, although these are backwards-compatible all the way to 802.11a. Also,
802.11n devices are said to have a slightly greater
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Now lets add in the radio port Wi-Fi. Here we basically
have two devices: The ACCESS POINT (often with bridge capabilities) and the REPEATER.
The access point (AP) is basically a hub on the radio side,
with a wired Ethernet port for connection to a switch. Your
wireless router has a built-in access point for Wi-Fi, along
with (usually) a multi-port wired (Ethernet) switch and a
router. Many APs also have bridging capability, which separates the RF and wired networks into two different networks,
sometimes a useful feature.
A repeater, also known as a range extender, is just that
it takes what it hears and retransmits it, allowing the RF signal a somewhat greater range. The disadvantage here is the
loss of bandwidth: All the data has to be sent twice, first by
the originating station, then again by the repeater. If data
speed or channel capacity is not an issue, this can be a reasonable choice.
Now lets take a look as some networking cases and how
we can handle them.
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In the case where we have a small outdoor area say, a
200-foot diameter circle to cover, setting up a Wi-Fi network becomes trivial: Just place one router in the middle and
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In the case where we have a larger area say, a half-mile
by quarter-mile area we have a few choices. The first, and
simplest, is to set up a router at one point to cover part of the
area, and one or more repeaters to extend to the rest of the
area. Sure, your data rates are limited, cut in half for every
repeater, but even with three repeaters you can still see well
over 1 Mb/s, which is usually plenty fast. Just beware of HTS
(Hidden Transmitter Syndrome) where repeater B transmits
and interferes with repeater As transmission because they
cannot hear each other this can drop throughput to zero,
so be careful.
The second, and almost as simple, option is to use a router
at one point, and one or more wired access points to cover
the rest of the area. This requires running a few hundred feet
or more of Ethernet cable, but 1,000 feet of cable can be had
for under $50. Category 6 Ethernet cable can easily go about
700 feet before an active device (such as a hub or switch) is
needed to re-form and boost the signal. If the situation supports running wires, this is the way to go for speed and cost.
Some devices have a feature called 0OWER OVER %THERNET
(PoE), and it is just what it sounds like: You inject DC power
onto the Ethernet cable, eliminating the need for a separate
power supply at the distant device.
The third, more complex (and costlier) solution is to use a
pair of access points as a wireless bridge between your two
(or more) local networks (which can also be wireless). This
can be thought of as a wireless Ethernet extension, but not
every AP has wireless bridge mode available. Note that this
backhaul link is not accessible to regular wireless users; its
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A mile is about the upper limit for an 802.11 link. Wi-Fi sends
an acknowledgement (ACK) for each data packet, and expects
it within a certain time. If it doesnt get the ACK in time, it
assumes the packet was lost, and retransmits it. At distances
greater than about a mile, the speed of light is such that the
ACK wont be received in time to prevent a retransmit. Thus,
the link stops functioning. In such a case, we need to employ
some other kind of radio modem designed for longer distances.
Or, perhaps, a bunch of cellphones in Wi-Fi Hotspot mode,
sadly dependent on non-amateur infrastructure (and possibly
costing several tens of dollars in data fees).
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Considering the three cases above, the first is trivial and the
last is troublesome at best, so well focus on the middle case:
Two thousand feet of coverage, using a wireless bridge to
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The very first thing you absolutely must
do is set a unique and strong password
on every device, so only you (and trusted others) can get into the setup pages
of any device on your network. Some
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In most cases you will have electrical
power for your network, but there will be
occasions where AC mains power simply is not available or convenient. In
these cases, first know that most Wi-Fi
equipment runs off 12 volts DC. This
means a deep-cycle marine or gel-cell
battery can operate the network for
hours or days. Second, a DC-to-AC
power inverter can be your friend. A
small 150-watt inverter was recently
found at RadioShack on sale for $24.
This can power a laptop and network
device (that needs other-than-12
volts) when connected to a 12-volt battery, often for quite a long time.
3AFETY
Finally, when operating on microwave
bands at nearly a watt with high-gain
antennas, consider what that energy
might do to a person, and make a good
effort to keep RF away from people. Put
your wireless bridge antennas up high,
on a pole, so nobody can touch them.
Fence off the area to prevent someone
from knocking down your pole, or somehow getting near to it. And, of course,
any time you are using mains AC voltage (even from an inverter), take pains
to avoid a shock hazard.
In conclusion, now we know about the
many networking devices we might use
to deliver high-speed data access by
radio for several users. Wi-Fi is really
only useful for about as far as you can
shout, but with some tricks, we can
extend that range to about as far as 10
people can shout, if the night is quiet.
Weve used portable FM radios for so
many years, and they are still a great
way to communicate, but sometimes
the event calls for data. Theres nothing
as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi OK, maybe
cell phones beat that but Wi-Fi is a
great choice for interoperability and
convenience. You can even set up your
own web server on your network, or provide Internet access if thats necessary.
No matter what, I hope this gets you
thinking about a use for all this technology. Now go do it!
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.OTES
1. For more information on TARPN,
see previous "Digital Connection" column in July 2015 #1, pages 82-85.
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