Cisco Triband or Senao Wireless G PC Card

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

I am in the market for a new wireless PC card for my laptop. My trusty old
Orinoco Gold has worked great, but I need a little more range due to
increased radio interference in my area. So I am looking at some of the
higher output cards.

A lot of people like the Ciscos (100mW), while others like the Senaos
(200mW). My Orinoco does a decent job at 30mW, so I don't need a ton of
extra power. The good thing is that the Ciscos are now competitively priced
(can get the triband for under $80 shipped), so the only real issue is
performance. For now, I will be keeping my SMC2655W 802.11b access point
(although this will likely be upgraded to a Senao later), so the immediate
focus is on the card (I'd rather deal with antenna issues only if the PC
card upgrade option fails).

So, Cisco or Senao. Any thoughts? (I've seen comparisons of these
manufacturers, but mostly for the 802.11b products).

Thanks.

DCWhitty

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

> Ahem. More power is not a great solution for interfence. All you'll
> be doing with your higher power transmitter is creating more
> interference for someone elses receiver. Meanwhile, your receiver
> will still hear the same amount of interference it heard with the
> Orinoco card. What will you do when everyone is running high power
> xmitters? The real solution to interference it to adjust the antenna
> patterns, location, or gain to avoid the sources of interference.
>

Jeff, thanks for the reply. I've given this a fair amount of thought. I had
read both of those articles before, and particularly the one on receiver
sensitivity. Adding a suitable antenna would be the optimal solution (my WAP
doesn't have removable antennas, so I would have to buy one that does before
erecting an external solution). And relocating the WAP in my house would
require lots of test drilling of holes to find a suitable path down to my
basement (my WAP is on the second floor). I have central A/C, so there's
plenty of metal flashing and ductwork to contend with. I'm not in the mood
to tear up and repatch sheetrock just to run some Cat5E (at least not at the
moment). So it's either get a better WAP with an antenna, or get a better PC
card.

> >
> >So, Cisco or Senao. Any thoughts? (I've seen comparisons of these
> >manufacturers, but mostly for the 802.11b products).
>
> Here's a bunch of articles and sources for the Senao cards.
> http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/SenaoCard
>
> Comparison of various cards receiver sensitivity:
> http://www.freenetworks.org/moin/i [...] ensitivity
>
> Senao puts out 3dB more power than Cisco, and is about 3dB more
> sensitive on receive. I would go with Senao.
>

I was leaning toward the Senao, but my concern is the radiation issue (if
there is one) and battery usage. A 200mW card would likely kick out a fair
amount of energy, and would kill my laptop battery in no time (forcing me to
keep it on the charge cord, which kind of defeats the "wireless" notion).

And while the radiation info. is still up in the air, I would rather contend
with the radiation from a 100mW card than a 200mW card. If I were able to
scale down the power of the Senao to 100mW (and kick it up to 200mW only
when I really needed the juice), then the Senao should be a no-brainer. But
I wonder whether the Senao, scaled down to 100mW, will give me the same
performance that the Cisco will at the same level.

Decisions, decisions!

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 01:32:08 GMT, Steve Caple
<stevecaple@commoncast.net> wrote:

>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> I used to have a long flexible shank drill that I used to
>> re-route wires inside walls. If you can get to the attic and to the
>> top of the wall, you can drill straight down as far as you need to go.

>How long was that drill?

You should see the condom the comes with it. My drill bits are rather
short. Only about 3ft. Some types are 6 ft long. However, I have a
collection of rigid and flexible extensions that will extend the bit
to perhaps 25ft. I've never tried to actually drill something through
two floors in one time. I think 10 or 12ft is what I was using to go
through one floor. Power was supplied by a Milwalkie "Hole Hawg"
drill (Polish drill), which would fit nicely between the studs.

Long flex drill bits.
http://www.thomasregister.com/olc/ [...] exible.htm
http://www.lashen.com/vendors/BES/Fish_Bits.asp
Note the small hole near the tip of the drill bit to use as a pull
line anchor.

Milwaukee Hole Hawg drill:
http://www.mytoolstore.com/milwauke/1670-1.html


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831.336.2558 voice http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
# jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# 831.421.6491 digital_pager jeffl@cruzio.com AE6KS

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 16:52:32 GMT, Steve Caple
<stevecaple@commoncast.net> wrote:

>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> However, I have a collection of rigid and flexible extensions that will
>> extend the bit to perhaps 25ft. I've never tried to actually drill
>> something through two floors in one time. I think 10 or 12ft is what I
>> was using to go through one floor.

>What I really wondered was how much whipping about was involved (of the
>drill shaft / extensions that is) and how you would get the bit started in
>drilling through a fireblock some 5 feet below the ceiling?

No whipping at all. That only happens if you use an ordinary drill
bit and high rpm's. With a self-feeding auger and a 300rpm drill, the
shaft does very little flexing and absolutely no whipping. Getting
the auger into the center of the fire block is tricky, especially when
the wall is full of fiber-itch insulation. However, once the upper
hole is center drilled, the others are almost self aligning. Some
installers use a foam pad around the drill bit to help center the
initial drilling in the wall, but it blocks the view and methinks is a
waste of effort.

It does take some practice, and I will confess to having drilled
sideways through the drywall twice before I learned to go slowly,
measure twice, and not to make assumptions. Also, there's a potential
problem with electrical wiring in the walls, especially Romex. When I
was doing wiring, I just made it a point to avoid anything near a wall
outlet or switch. Today, I would use a tone tester to locate the
electrical wiring exactly.

>Glad to hear you't practicing safe, if boring, drilling.

That was many years ago. Now days I just watch the scenery go by.
Probably caused by too much exposure to RF.


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831.336.2558 voice http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
# jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# 831.421.6491 digital_pager jeffl@cruzio.com AE6KS