Cheaply And Easily Extend Wireless Range ?

[qwijibow 0]

Hey guys, My friend and I are trying to create a 2 computer Ad-hoc (no Access Point) network.Because 801.11g pci cards are so cheap (we got the MSI brand, based on thr rt2500 chip (supported by Linux nativly)) without really knowing is our two houses are in range.He lives a few houses away, well inside the 300meter range of the cards in open space, but obviously transmiting through a few layers of brick is shortening it quite a bit.We setup one card to run as an emulated AP (access point) with SSID broadcasting, and tried to get a connection working.we set both cards to transmit on maximum power, and at the slowest available bitrate ( 1Mbps )The frustrating thing is, the connection only works at night, a few hours after the sun goes down, and stops working shortly after the sun rises again.Also, the connection is very sincitive to moving the areal, just a few inches will kill the connection.The fact that the connection works at night leads me to surgest that we are on the absolute borderline of the card working.And the increace in tempreature of the air, (which i know to reduce transmition range) along with the increaced noise of others in my areas using wlan, the cards limits are pushed too far and the connection is lost.So.. i want to ask you.. Without spending much money, and without the need for too much skill, how can i increace the range.the antenna that comes with my card is has a small 2 Dbi gain, but higher gain areals, especially highly directional ones are quite expensive.I've seen the pringle can design, but cannot find the parts needed, and online retails require me to buy in bulk.Ive also had a little success building a satelite-like reflactor dish out of silver foil, but it seems to need to be re-aimed every few minutes... Possably every time my neighbours move whatever it is the signal is bouncing off, a car, the fridge door, who knows.Also, ive been reading about antenna harmonics, and decided its just too complicated, but what if, i just build a hige copper structure, maybe the size of a chair, and used that as an antena, and just prey that whatever gain i lose in harmonics, i retrive in the sheer bulk and size.ANYWAY, enough babbeling.. does anyone have any ideas for a penniless student type, with little skill soldering / welding, who mainly just wants to play with wireless just for the fun of it.. ?Thanks.

[Hercco 0]

If the homemade antennas that you can find instructions online are too complicated I don't think there's anything you can do with little money. I've read through some of the building instructions and they don't seem very difficult to do. I could have implementem them but I just didn't bother as a 17e antenna works fine for me. And I'm no electronics specialist; I study communicaions engineering but strictly in the software side

[netc0n 0]

I have the a pretty good connection to the internet from a Linksys USB adapter...the 20$ one. I'm not using it right now but if i plug it in a pick up a connection from someone else. I could get the internet for free if i wanted. Those Linksys usb adapters are pretty good on signal especially the more expensive 54g with speedbooster that is about 70$ new. I really hate routers because of the firewall. Even if i use port forwarding or just open up every port it doesn't matter...it still acts as an external firewall. Right now i two computers connected directly into the cable modem and it works best...just have one plugged in usb. But for wireless...you can just buy an excellent access point or something.

[photographerguy 0]

my best friend (who is a system admin for a pretty big company) swears by the pringle can setup.i thought he was kidding when he told me about it, but i guess it works really well. good luck.