13 Nov
2007
13 Nov
'07
3 a.m.
OLPC Washington DC LAN?
Since the OLPC laptop is supposed to form its own 802.11 network, with higher power than usual links, I wonder if some ham ingenuity could somehow put up a "802.11" hub or repeater on a nice high tower in the Wash DC area, and those with an OLPC could point a small 4 foot dish at the "hub" and then we could all be networked together?
We have found the 18" dishes give a gain at 2.4 GHz of about 18 dB or so. If the range of the OLPC is on the order of 1/4 mile, then 18 dB could extend that to 4 miles if the hub could come up with 6 dB omni gain... Maybe 10 miles with a 4 foot dish...? And we could have multiple hubs.
Gonna order two asap..
Bob, Wb4APR