Well, 802.11b may not be the fastest thing in town, but it's pretty robust. I'm currently on a hill in somerset 5 miles from the AP on a friends roof, and I'm getting several Mbits to the net. And that's only with a home-made 8dB gain antenna. Fun.

pca

Agreed, 'tis good fun. We got 1 mile which was all we needed. Any photos?

Unfortunately I forgot the usb cable for the camera, or I could upload one of a large balloon that's just landing. I've watched about 30 go past from the bristol ballon festival.

pca

I'm getting very strange looks from passersby, but no-one is saying anything

pca

I feel like a very good farmer... A man out standing in his field

pca

LOL

5 miles is good. Does the AP have anything special attached/done to it?

Gareth

A big omnidirectional antenna on the roof.

pca

What kind? The link I did used two dishes although I'd much prefer to use an omni at one end as it makes panning up a heck of a lot easier. All the ones I've seen are a tad expensive. Any designs you have that you don't mind making available would be greatly appreciated.

I did a job the other day for someone who was feeding his whole village and beyond off WiFi, using his BB Sat for Uplink to the net, although I am pleased to say we got him ADSL now

I was impressed with how small the stuff on the roofs were and the range he was getting off pretty much off the shelf kit. One interesting thing he mentioned was that they weren't using a mesh style setup, this only increased overheads and they found they could the range they needed with just a couple of omni's. I think the most they needed was 2 miles, so 5 is quite amazing!

Very cool indeed, makes me wish I lived out in the sticks so I could have a play too

Cheers

Cris.