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Check out my latest project... The Budgie Run.
The Budgie Run
The Budgie Run is an attempt to create a connection between an access point and a laptop that are 28km apart without the use of an amplifier. We (myself and my good friend Karl) will be using off the shelf components to build our rig.
The Name
The name comes from a saying me and Karl have.. Mr Budgie says Cheap Cheap Cheap. In other words, keep projects simple and cut costs where you can. We would be dangerous with money, which is why we are always broke. So the Budgie Run is a link on a budget.
The Location
Since Wifi works best with an LOS (Line Of Sight), we chose a rather high location for the link. The AP (Access Point) will be located at my house while the laptop will be pearched on Three Rock Mountain. From the back of my house, there is a perfect LOS of the RTE transmitters at the peak. This makes it a great place to establish the connection.
Google Earth View of Link. The Access Point will be in Daars North, while the Laptop will be stationed at Three Rock Mountain.
This is a view from the back of my house. The transmitters are clearly marked in the photo.
The Equipment
The Budgie Run is still in the planning stages so the exact equipment we will be using is still undecided. Heres what we are planning on so far..
Since this is a long link, some home made antennas will definitely be needed. The Access Point Side will probably use a larger antenna than the client. We were thinking of using a BiQuad receiver coupled with an old satellite dish. This would make a great and very cheap high power 26dBi Directional Antenna. The beam width would be an acceptable 10 degrees.
This is a biquad antenna. Its shape allows it to pick up 2.4Ghz waves efficently.
This is an example of a dish fitted with a biquad antenna.
On the client end, we are a little undecided. At the moment we plan on using a 14dBi Cantenna to connect to the AP. We need something light and portable yet quite powerful.
We will also be using two Z-Com High Power PCMCIA Wifi Cards rated at 300mw each. One will be used with the client laptop and one will be used as a home receiver using the hostap drivers. Since these cards would have such a large output when connected to an antenna, we both plan on getting our Radio Experimenters Licence before trying the link. This will allow us to operate equipment up to 25watts.