Bridging

[Ste73]

Hi all, this is my 1st message here.

I dgt from Italy, so i have to say i'm sorry for my school-based english.

Here's my request:

i want to connect two of my offices with wireless lan 802.11b The distance is about 600 meters, but i have a problem: exactly in the middle there's a little hill that does not allow a direct connection

what i'd like to do is to place a "repeater" at top of the hill. Is it possible?

Can somebody tell me how to "build" a repeter? Should i use two antennas connected one to each other? Or an access point? Or there's specific products?

Thank you very very much to who will help me.

Stefano

p.s.: i'd like to use CISCO products.

[oshea85]

It's possible to build a passive repeater with two Yagi antennae connected back to back. You need to calculate the received signal strength at the first Yagi, deduct cables losses, add the gain of your second Yagi, and calculate the received strength at the far side. The good thing about doing it this way is that you don't need power for equipmetn.

Cisco will tell you you to buy (3) bridges; the one in the middle would be configured as a 'root' bridge, and the two on the ends as 'children' of that root. You'd need AIR-BR352's to do it this way.

Depending on the quantity of users at each site, you could also hook up an AP at one end, a repeater AP in the middle, and a workgroup bridge at the far end. Your effective bandwidth in this scenario will be 1/2 of the standard rated throughput.

Keep in mind, Cisco limits the abilities of its workgroup bridges and APs via software. They do this to make you buy more expensive products. For instance, you can't have two APs talk to each other via RF, and talk to clients via their Ethernet connections at the same time. The ability to do this is commonly implemented by other vendors.

The downside of building an active repeater site is the need to power the equipment.

If the LOS is not "very" obstructed" I'd try to blast the link through with Yagi antennae at each end and see what you get.