Wireless Design - Long Distance Rural Application

[Sundown]

Quite some interesting stuff on this site. I've scrolled through the messages, but I can't find anything that DIRECTLY relates, and I'm overwhelmed by what I find on vendor's sites, so I'll ask here.

Here's what I would like to do:
I'm in the boonies where the best I can do is 2-way satellite (:barf:). A local business with a T1 has offered to entertain the idea of an 802.11 network from his site. There is roughly 10 miles between the business and my home. What would a typical hardware setup look like to make this senario work?

I've had several people tell me this can be done for < $5000, but at the same time, these same people couldn't tell me how it was done...so...

Thanks for any help!

[droz]

Sundown,

Did you ever get a reply? I, too, have the same question.

Droz

[Sundown]

Droz -
Nope - not really. I've got some experience with wireless local lans (internal, using SMC equipment, with a range of roughly 300 ft w/bridges inbetween). I'm just not sure of the difference between those "normal" access points (the SMCs) and, say, the Aironet/Cisco stuff...? Is the Aironet/Cisco more powerful, or is it all up to the antenna? It's about 10x more expensive, but I've grown acustom to that with Cisco's stuff...

Any help here would be greatly appreciated -

Droz - I'll let you know if I hear anything from any of my other resources...

[koates]

Look at an Orinoco/Lucent AP500 2.4GHz and 2 directional antenna's or an Omni Antenna and a directional antenna. The AP500 will support 1 antenna and has an ethernet interface that will hook into the network of the business. Obviously on your end you will have a wireless client and a directional antenna. On the business end you can either do a point to point with a directional antennas or us an omni and this would allow other people within range to connect to it as well. ($$$ get the idea). in both situations you will need an at least a 250mw amp on the business side to reach that distance. You are looking at about $1500 to $2000 to set this up. I have had success connecting users up to 15 miles with a 500mw amp indirect line of site. Good luck.

[droz]

Koates,
How about some brand names and prices for the amplifiers?

[Sundown]

Koates -
Thanks for your reply - I really appreciate it. This gives me a direction to go and research. One other quick question: When you say "indirect line of site", what exactly does this mean? Right now, the only gating factor for me doing this is the potential for not having clear line of site to his business. Do we even have a small chance of this working w/o a clear line of site to the host station?

Thanks!

[koates]

Any large obstructions, buildings, dense trees or mountains. I use topographical maps for terrain elevations between any point to points that I setup to varify if there are any ridges or small mountian between them. Also if you use 2 directional antennas between locations it can be a little tricky at that distance getting them lined up, I would suggest using a GPS to get compas directions.

if you need some assistance let me know.
ken.oates@globalmtn.com

[koates]

Almost forgot, here is a link to Young Design Industries site that has some good drawings for situational setups. Equipment is getting easy to find now, online search is your best bet.

http://www.ydi.com/drawings.asp