From: Ellen K. 

Well, the laptop must have a PCMCIA card because I can certainly pick up
wireless if an unsecured network is within range.

Suppose I got one of these USB transceivers and put it on top of my roof, I
would just plug the other end into the USB port and voil…? (Laptop is XP
Pro if that matters.)  Sure, I'd be willing to do that (well, I'd get
someone else to go up on the roof), but since the laptop doesn't belong to
me I don't think I should fool around with anything inside it.

On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 23:36:15 +1200, black.hole.4.spam{at}gmail.com (Don Hills)
wrote in message :

>In article ,
>Ellen K.  wrote:
>>The photo in the article looked like they plugged the antenna into their
>>laptop, in the location where mine has a couple of USB ports.  So, such
>>an antenna plugs into a USB port, or that was a coincidence?
>
>Wireless networks need a "2-way radio" or
"transceiver" to convert the
>digital signals to radio waves and back, just as you need a "modem" to
>convert digital signals to tones that will travel down a phone line. This
>transceiver can take a number of forms. For a laptop, it will either come
>built into a PC Card (PCMCIA card), or into a USB "dongle"
about the size of
>a USB memory stick.
>
>The one in the Pringle can article was a PCMCIA transceiver. They usually
>have a small antenna attached to the card, or you can unplug the antenna and
>use an extension lead to a better antenna which is what they did with the
>Pringle can antenna. Antenna extension leads aren't very efficient at Wifi
>frequencies, so they become self-defeating - as you extend the lead to put
>the antenna where the signal is better, so you lose more signal in the lead.
>Again referring to the Pringle can, if he extended the antenna lead by 20 or
>30 feet so he could sit inside with the laptop while leaving the antenna
>outside, he'd get poor results.
>
>The clever way around this is to use a USB transceiver. You can put the USB
>transceiver where the signal is good (such as at the focus of a dish
>antenna) and run a relatively long USB lead back to the laptop without
>losing signal. Hit Google with the words "wok usb wifi" and you'll get
>dozens of hits showing how to use a cheap USB dongle and a wok to achieve
>multi-mile ranges. Here are some suggestions:
>
>http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/>
>http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/g.mckenzie/Radio%20Dish/Radio%20aerial.htm>
>
>I can understand if you don't want to go to this much trouble, but it does
>illustrate what can be achieved with only a few dollars and simple hand
>tools.

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