Hi, David, and thanks for the post (left below).

Are you saying that you hoist an antenna which is also a bridge? And that
the cat5 uses 2 sets of the twisted pairs, one for power and the other for
signal?

Where does the power and signal come from in your laptop/computer? In my
case, the wifi is built into the computer. I was hopeful of not having to
buy another card, carrying coals to Newcastle, so to speak...

Thanks.

L8R

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Morgan 461 #2
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
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"David Moore" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I went from being able to receive one access point with high packet loss
to
receiving more than 20 solid high signal strength access points.

The problem with most wifi receivers is that their interface to your
computer is either pcmcia or usb. In both cases there is a severe
limitation
to the height of your antenna.

My solution was to use a Netgear wifi bridge. This product has ethernet
out
allowing the device with antenna to be elevated up to 300 feet. In my
application I simply installed the pcb of the bridge into a water proof
nema
enclosure and hoisted it up to within 3 feet of the top of my mast. In a
standard ethernet cat 5 cable there are 8 wires and only 4 are used to
make
a connection. I used the unused set of four to provide DC power to the
bridge. This therefore means that there is only one cable going to the
elevated box.

To my delight, the first time I powered up the elevated bridge I was able
to
receive more than 20 access points.

This solution has worked so well for me that the next time I pull my mast
I
plan to mount the nema enclosed wifi bridge perminately to the top of the
mast.

Hope this helps.
David