Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (
More info?)
If you can locate the antennas so they have a direct line of site to
each other then you can probably succeed, otherwise probably not.
You can get directional antennas, or even make your own. these take
the available transmitting power and radiate it in one direction
instead of all directions. Then you have to keep the pigtail from the
antenna to the radio as short as possible or there will be signal loss
in the cable and the radio needs to have receive sensitivity that is
comparable to the transmit power and both have to be adequate.
802.11b frequencies don't penetrate solid surfaces, or even leaves on
trees very well. it's the nature of the beast.
I'm no expert on this, i can't tell you what will work. You'll find
most of the equipment vendors are vague about what their products do
in the real world terms, especially non line of site problems, and the
hobbiests who might know aren't very helpful either.
What I can tell you so far, I upgraded my notebook client card, from a
linksys pcmcia card to a linksys portable USB radio that can be
located as far from the computer as the USB cable will reach and this
made a dramatic difference, so much so I could log onto neighboring
AP's I couldnt even see before.