capt.bill11 wrote in
:

But the antenna came with the correct end fitting to hook to the
Linksys box. But what I'm not sure about is whether by just hooking
the WiFi antenna to one of the two antenna posts on the Linksys box I
should then start picking up local WiFi sites?

Whoa! This is a broadband ROUTER, not a BRIDGE or GATEWAY or REPEATER
(keywords). It's made to be the SOURCE of wifi broadband, connected to a
cable modem or DSL modem via Ethernet....NOT a wifi listening device, a
receiver connectable to other wifi systems.

The two antennas are called "space diversity antennas". They both
transceive the same signals and listen to the same channels. A "voter"
in the box determines which antenna has the best signal from your wifi
laptop/PDA/Skype Phone and uses that antenna. (My Netgear has 7 antennas
built into its internal phased array panel.)

You can't connect a wifi router to a wifi access point, then repeat what
it says to another wifi box like a laptop. The data flow is from the
Ethernet WAN port. It has no way to connect to a wifi hotspot.

I'm using a Linksys "Range Expander" in my car:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...ldpagename=US%
2FLayout&cid=1130267578138&pagename=Linksys%2FComm on%2FVisitorWrapper
This box IS a wifi repeater station. You put it on the edge of usable
wifi coverage from a wifi hotspot and it REPEATS the hotspot data, bi-
directionally, with wifi devices (laptop and Skype Phone here) that would
normally be out-of-range of that hotspot. At my local Denny's, there's
an unprotected linksys wifi router that has a lousy signal INSIDE the
metal old-fashioned diner style restaurant (Nothing at Denny's is DINER
PRICED, however, another matter.) So, when I carry my laptop or Skype
Phone into Denny's for breakfast, I plug this 110VAC repeater into a 75W
inverter-in-a-cigarette-lighter-plug, into the 12V port on my dash. The
AC line runs out the door seal to the Linksys repeater laying flat on the
roof with its little plastic antenna sticking up (it rotates). Signal
from the weak hotspot INSIDE Denny's goes from 1 bar to 4 bars out of 5
on the little Netgear Skype Phone, and I have solid phone service at
breakfast through it.

Repeating DOES have a drawback! If you add the time it takes to receive
data, store it, then transmit it back out to another wifi device, that
takes TWICE as long as connecting directly....for boxes like mine. Data
comes in half as fast as it did directly, but with a much better signal
that doesn't fade and dropout. For just browsing, Skyping, all but
downloading big files, it matters not but is something to think about.

Now....to get faster service....you need to buy a high powered Access
Point and run Ethernet from the access point up the mast to the computer
in the boat. That means the AP needs to be up the mast, powered by one
cable and Ethernet cable comes down the mast, not RF coax cable. If you
put another router on the other end of that Ethernet cable, you end up
with the problem of the second router inside the boat, which wirelessly
would connect to your laptop, INTERFERING with the receiver up the mast
talking to the hotspot....slowing us down to repeater speed, or worse as
it's not synchronized if the hotspot can't hear your laptop direct to
avoid crashing the signals simultaneously transmitting. RF on the air
ISN'T clairvoyant or magic...it's ANALOG.


Or do I need something that the antenna plugs into first then that
"box" gets plugged into the eithernet in port on the Linksys box?

That box won't work to connect to the hotspot. You need an ACCESS POINT
up the mast that REPLACES the wireless transceiver inside your laptop.
You connect the mast-topped AP to the computer via Ethernet wires.

These access points look like:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...ldpagename=US%
2FLayout&cid=1133201998719&pagename=Linksys%2FComm on%2FVisitorWrapper
Now, THIS product solves running TWO wires up the mast because it adds
the DC power to run the AP at the remote location (mast top) to the
Ethernet data on the Ethernet cable. At the computer end of the wire,
there is an interface box that you plug AC or DC power into and run the
Ethernet connections through it where it adds DC power without screwing
the data. Notice all access points have WAP in their Linksys model
numbers.



Because right now the WiFi antenna is hooked to the and we are in sight
of a local hot spot but can not get to the internet via the Linksys
box.
But we can if we sit on deck with just the WiFi cards in the laptops.
For what it's worth it's a WRT54GS Linksys box.



This is because the WR (wireless router) has no facility to connect to
another wireless access point. It is not an access point, itself. You
got the wrong box....WAP54GPE or my little wireless repeater box is the
box you need. Sorry....

Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.