will a Hawking 7dBi Omni-Directional Antenna work with my router?

Question

I have poor reception in my sons room from my linksys WRT54GS router.

Can i attach a Hawking 7dBi Omni-Directional Antenna to and do they actually make much of a difference?

Answer 1

It will make a bit of difference, jut keep in mind that when using a higher gain omni antenna indoor, you also increase the level of reflections and spurious, in a word noise. So higher gain antennas are more suited for outdoors operation. In Wi-Fi, you never know how wall material, distances or other factors sum up to improve or totally destroy your link.

I suggest you try the antenna first, and than worry about the results. Still I didn't figure if you were asking for this complicated mumbo-jumbo from us, or were you just asking if the antenna is physically compatible to the linksys? If the latter, you should worry about having on the antenna the RP-TNC female connector.

All the best.

Answer 2

There is no "accurate answer", since range depends on many factors, including obstructions, humidity, etc. In realistic terms, the difference between a 7dBi and 12dBi antenna would be small in terms of distance. The other end of this link would also be a factor. If it is a laptop, simply turning the laptop 90 degrees could make or break that 5dB difference in those antennas. Also, range for two identical antennas and same power would depend on the receive sensitivity of the receiving device (on both ends) in question. Some devices have poor receivers, others have better sensitivity. That alone can change the distance by a large factor. That all said, in "free space", the difference in distance between a 7dBi and 12dBi antenna with 1000mW at 2.4Ghz and 0dBi antenna at other end is "about" 10km vs 18km (plus or minus a bit) This does not take into account atmosphere or device timing issues, Fresnel effect, receiver sensitivity, etc... This is in theory over open "space" with no attenuation by the air. This is an example only, to compare the two antennas. It does not mean that will be the actual distance in real life...

Answer 3

depends on the physical location of the wireless receiver and the wireless router. if they are located on the same floor but separated by several rooms yes it will help. if they are on different floors and separated by a floor/ceiling, yes. if they are located on different floors but at an extreme angle it (different sides of the house) will help very little.